http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1014759/

I am not usually a fan of Tim Burton. To me his best films are Big Fish, and Ed Wood. Mars Attacks is fun too I guess. Alice in wonderland however has none of the magic that Big Fish had. Oddly enough the visuals are both the best and worst part of the film. They are beautiful to look at yet they feel empty. The problem with CGI is that some directors rely on it too much. CGI is what helped ruin The Lovely Bones. That film bathed in it's visuals to a point where the story became secondary. Same with Alice in Wonderland though it is a much better film than The Lovely bones. Let's start with the story. I was a bit iffy on making Alice an older girl but in the context of the story it works well. The girl who plays Alice Mia Wasikowska was pretty decent too. I remember her from Defiance, and That Evening sun. Even though she doesn't impress here as much as she has before I think she has potential as an actress. Having Alice return to Wonderland at 19 is an interesting concept and thankfully the film pulls it off very well. While in Wonderland she meets all her old friends and she learns that she must end the Red Queen's reign of terror. The cast in this film is fantastic, however they mostly feel either underused or missused. The Cheshire cat is the best character by far because he is voiced by Stephen fry. I don't think Fry was even playing a character, maybe he is actually a Cheshire cat. I don't know why but hearing Fry's voice is very relaxing yet fascinating at the same time. He makes the Cheshire cat sound more sophisticated than a sack of greasy brains. Alan Rickman is also quite good as the Blue Caterpillar. Then again when is he not good? Even though the cast perform their roles pretty well, their characters are made more annoying by the film's very forced and irritating quirkyness. It's hard to explain, but Tim Burton's characters recently all feel like just that, characters.

They never feel like people or things that I find interesting. Having quirky and weird characters is good, but the film better be able to support them otherwise we just have a bunch of weird people with nothing to do. Johnny Depp was my first major problem with this film. He is good in it I guess, but I think Burton should try working with a different lead actor because the Mad Hatter was just annoying as hell most of the time. His interactions with other characters are mostly overly weird and silly word games and filler that doesn't add much to the film. Depp seems to be talking to himself most of the time. Well not really he does interact with others but he never feels connected to anybody. That could be the point though since he is mad as a tub of soggy badgers. His madness starts off as endearing but by the end I just found him tiresome. Anne Hathaway was okay as the White queen, but her delivery felt too airy and weird for the sake of it. Really the problem I had with the film overall is it lacked wonder. Big Fish had some fantastic visual moments that were a pleasure to watch.

Alice in wonderland just overloads you with visuals that are meant to captivate but they end up becoming background to the dull and generic story. The visuals were just pretty to look at with the occasional symbolism. Visuals can mix with story well like in The Fall, but this film doesn't do it well. This film could have been a charming off the wall yet dark tale with fascinating oddball characters. Burton however decides to turn it into a cheesy and cliche good vs evil quest story with a climactic battle at the end. I never got any idea of why I should care about anyone in the film. Some characters were fun to watch like The Red Queen and her huge head but nothing else. The story didn't captivate me in the slightest. It also has an awful dance scene at the end that is probably one of the worst I have watched in years. Thankfully it doesn't last long. There is also a cliche and generic girl power message that while trying to make a point it just felt thrown in for the hell of it. This is not a bad film really. Some parts are fun and charming to watch, it just feels lifeless and empty compared to other much better films like Big Fish, and Tideland. I wouldn't recommend it but if you like Tim Burton then you may enjoy it.

Overall I give it a 5.5 out of 10.