Alice in Wonderland - A Magical, Mad Adventure, Filled with "Impossible Things"

When the prospect of creating a 21st century remake of Alice in Wonderland to compliment the 1951 classic arose in Tinseltown, it’s doubtful anyone had to consult a sagacious blue caterpillar before unanimously agreeing upon Tim Burton to stand at the helm. With such titles as Edward Scissorhands, The Nightmare Before Christmas, and Big Fish under his ever-extending belt, it’s little wonder “Wonderland” would be fertile ground into which Burton could sow seeds of outlandish whimsy and quirky, often grim, imaginations. But lest you think you’ve seen all of Burton’s tantalizing tricks, follow him down the rabbit hole into a breathtaking world of masterful design, beauty, and innovation that gets “curiouser and curiouser” in the very best of ways.

Unlike the ‘50s cartoon version of Lewis Carroll’s 1865 book about a day-dreaming schoolgirl, the Alice (Mia Wasikowska) of Wonderland 2.0 is a nineteen year-old woman who has visited “Underland” once before as a child, but her memories of the fantastical experience have faded into fragments of dreams. The day Alice is to become engaged to a snooty suitor happens to coincide with a very important date in Underland, one that introduces our heroine to her subterranean destiny.

Easily distracted by nature, and less than enthused about her imminent engagement to a lackluster lord, Alice ditches the dud and darts after a bunny in a tux, leaving a throng of spectators bewildered by her unladylike disappearance. As Alice plunges into a burrow, our 3-D glasses dive into action, following the damsel’s descent into Tim Burton’s phantasmagorical world of all things mad and maddening.

Making herself small, big, then small again, Alice finally makes her way into Underland where she is swiftly escorted to Absalom (Alan Rickman), a hookah-smoking caterpillar who speaks in riddles, inciting an identity crisis by which no one truly knows if Alice is the “right” or “wrong” Alice foretold to slay the dragon, Jabberwocky (Christopher Lee). This infernal creature along with a terrorizing Dodo bird and an army of truncating cards are all in service to the reigning Red Queen, played impeccably by Helena Bonham Carter. Only after realizing this surreal setting is no dream to pinch herself out of does Alice embrace her fate, supplanting Victorian mores of feminine behaviors with a strong will and warrior’s armor.

The Mad Hatter (Johnny Depp), Tweedledee and Tweedledum (Matt Lucas), the Cheshire Cat (Stephen Fry) and the other members of Alice’s anthropomorphic posse protect the protagonist as she seeks to defeat the Red Queen and return the crown to her less bloodthirsty, benevolent sister, the White Queen. While a creative and subversive retelling merely inspired by the novel follows a predictable trajectory reminiscent of The Chronicles of Narnia, it is the sheer brilliance of Underland that bewitches and wows. Anne Hathaway was the only actor I felt was miscast and frankly, annoying with her overly majestic gesticulations, which were better suited for Oz, The Movie’s plot.

Blending the best of both live action and animation, Wonderland bursts open like a pop-up book on steroids. From the pristine pastels of Alice’s London, to the Red Queen’s river of floating heads, the film offers a sensory experience that at once thrills and captivates as we marvel at the unfolding of a world torn from the pages of our wildest dreams. Perhaps you may be a little “bonkers” after you see this film, but in the words of Alice and her father, “all the best people are.”

5 stars