Saturday, March 27, 2010

My unofficial official review of Alice

Finally! My post about Alice in Wonderland. I know all of you have been patiently waiting for me to write something and you just can't wait any longer. (I am being sarcastic, just to let you know.) I have now seen the movie 3 times! That is a lot of times, but I really loved it and so I wanted to see it as much as possible before it leaves the theaters. Opening night I saw it in 3-D and the other two times I did not and thought it was still beautiful visually. I love Tim Burton films because I feel like he brings things that would be in my imagination to life, or at least someone else's imagination to life, but it makes sense to me. I really enjoyed his interpretation of the story, which was is mix between the original Alice and Through the Looking Glass with his twist to it, of course.

I think the animation was amazing. I think they made Wonderland look like the coolest place ever, I would live there if it was a real place. I am not kidding. Seeing it for the third time, I could really pick out a lot of the extra details that they put into it to make everything fit together and be consistent. But, I also picked out some mistakes that they missed, but that's just me being difficult and picky. I liked the cast for the most part. I have heard that a lot of people didn't like the the choice for Alice, but I thought she did well. I did not like Anne Hathaway as the White Queen. I think they could have cast that part a little bit better. For some reason, she wasn't very believable to me. The choice for Alan Rickman as Absolem the caterpillar wasn't my favorite either, it was his voice that I couldn't get over, I kept waiting for him to say "Harry Potter!" The caterpillar has some great lines in the movie, so I guess it I can let it slide. I love, love, loved Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter and Helen Bonham Carter as the Red Queen, I normally love them as actors anyway, but their characters really made the movie. Oh, and let's talk about Crispin Glover, he was the character Ilosovic Stayne, the Knave of Hearts, he was weird and creepy and made me laugh, and why hasn't he aged? He looks the same as he did in Back to the Future. There are some other great minor characters that are a fun to watch.

The music! The music was fantastic. I love Danny Elfman! Alice's Theme is amazing! I bought the soundtrack (Almost Alice) when it came out and I like a lot of the songs, even thought they are not included in the movie except for Avril Lavigne's song "Alice" during the credits. Some of my very favorites are "Tea Party" by Kerli, "Her Name is Alice" by Shinedown, "The Poison" by All-American Rejects and "Follow Me Down" by 3OH!3. The costumes were so cool, I loved Alice's dresses while she was in Wonderland, I would actually wear those outfits if I could! Example:

I think what I love most about all this Alice excitement is that is somehow brings me back to my childhood. I used to love to pretend that I was Alice trying to find my way through Wonderland and my bathroom mirror was the looking glass. I love being Alice. I was named after my Grandmas that are both named Alice. I still fall down rabbit holes on a regular basis, and I am normally lost looking for a way out of the life that has confined me. I have started reading the original story and Through the Looking Glass again, they are so much fun. My favorite line from the movie "You're mad, bonkers, off your head. But let me tell you a secret: All the best people are." This line makes me feel much better about myself. :) So, with all this said, I recommend going to see Alice in Wonderland! I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.


No comments:

Post a Comment