While my recent review of Alice in Wonderland has been published on ReelTalk Movie Reviews, which you can read here, some of it has been modified, so I am posting my original review below!:
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"Johnny without Depth"
When going to see a Tim Burton film one would expect to see Tim Burton-esque characters on screen, especially memorable performances by the likes of none other than Johnny Depp. But did Johnny deliver?
Having recently watched the picture, I must say that visually, the pic was a pleasant ride through the Wonder Land. The story took us from the beginning, exposing Alice's dream maker genius father who then passed on, and came to the present where Alice had to face the challenge of conformity of her family trying to be-wed her to an aristocratic bore of a man named Hamish (Leo Bill), the son of Alice's late father's business partner.
The story flawlessly took us from one act to the next, showing motivation to each character for doing what they had to. For instance Bayard the Bloodhound (voice by Timothy Spall), was sent to find Alice by the evil Red Queen, and in exchange he has been promised freedom for him and his pups. The steaks were high for Bayard to find Alice, but when he did, he couldn't help but give in to her charm and persistence.
There were plenty of fun characters in the story, such as Tweedledee and Tweedledum (voice by Matt Lucas), the Cheshire Cat (Stephen Fry), the White Rabbit (Michael Sheen), and many others.
Alice (Mia Wasikowska) was also quite charming. She had a very natural persona and was a real pleasure to watch on screen. It was even rumored that she beat Lindsay Lohan to the part. However, while she was adorable to watch, it seemed that her character lacked to inspire curiosity and imagination. She went from scene to scene, wandering about, trying to resolve the conflicts, but she seemed to lack insight and appreciation for the environment she was in, and watching her one would question whether she even had a strong internal bond to the Wonderland.
An enjoyable element of Alice in Wonderland was the positive message the film had sent to its target auds. That message was ?we are all in charge of our own life and destiny, and nothing or no one can stand in our way'. That message of course was alluded every time Alice would face an external conflict or obstacle, and when such obstacles challenged her, she would say something like [paraphrasing] ".this is my dream, and I can do anything. Nothing will stop me."
However, the character we all came to see on the big screen was undoubtedly the Mad Hatter, played by none other than Johnny Depp. With his crazy green eyes and a lunatic persona, the Mad Hatter was given all the recipes to deliver a grand performance, but unfortunately failed to leave the viewer with a memorable impression.
Burton himself admitted that to him "[Alice in Wonderland] was always a girl wandering around from one crazy character to another, and I never really felt any real emotional connection." His goal was to give the pic "some framework of emotional grounding" and "to try and make Alice feel more like a story as opposed to a series of events."
He certainly made a visually beautiful cinematic work. However, watching the film in 3D didn't add, nor take away from the experience. With the exception of Alice's fall into the Underland, watching it in 3D wouldn't have mattered. But just like the thrill one gets from their first visit to Vegas, after it's all over, your money is gone and you're left with feelings of a cheap thrill and zero memorable impressions.
Without Burton's well-developed signature character, it may as well have been a sugar-coated version of a Ron Howard film.
