Shattered Glass
Tim Burton’s Alice In Wonderland is a joyless journey through the looking glass, a frustrating tale with a distinctive yet unpleasing look. Emotionally detached and visually off-putting, its cardinal sin is that it fails to engage the audience. That’s not to say there aren’t intriguing elements in the film.
The rendered locations, costumes and characters sparkle with creativity, yet somehow get lost in the overall aesthetic, as if a dark cloud settled over Wonderland, sucking the life out of anything or anyone struggling to burst through and be noticed.
Johnny Depp, usually reliable, is part of the problem. He offers a take on the Mad Hatter that emphasizes the ‘mad’, leaving us intrigued by his immersion in character but making it difficult for us to connect deeply with who he is. More importantly, we struggle to feel the same connection between his character and others in the film, noticeably Alice (Mia Wasikowska). As a result, when Alice prepares to depart from Wonderland after bringing down the Red Queen (Helena Bonham Carter) by slaying the Jabberwocky on Frabjous Day, what should be a tender goodbye between her and the Hatter (think Dorothy parting from the Scarecrow in Oz) falls noticeably short.
Still, the film begins with promise as we meet Alice, briefly as a child, then a young woman attending a grand outdoor party. She is the only partygoer among hundreds unaware that the event is her engagement gig. A ridiculous but wealthy young Lord is about to propose. But she doesn’t love the fool and rushes off. A woman, it seems, can leave a man standing (or in this case kneeling) at a gazebo as well as an altar. She wanders away, falling down a rabbit hole. That’s one way to escape an unwanted suitor.
In Wonderland the tale movies dutifully along, with Alice shrinking and growing based on what she drinks and eats, meeting colorful caterpillars, talking animals, strange people and fearsome creatures. She struggles to accept her ‘dream’ as real and, more importantly, the vital nature of her pre-ordained role to set things right in the strange land she now inhabits. There are no wasted scenes along the way, but pace is not a substitute for emotional engagement and even though the plot moves, the journey is tedious.
There are two noteworthy performance in the film. Wasikowska is promising as Alice, interesting to watch as an intellectually curious young woman who transforms during the course of events from an observant but detached young lady to a battle-worthy warrior. It will be interesting to see her in other roles, find out whether she has range and appeal playing real-life dramas, romantic comedies and the like. This, her first major film, is a promising introduction.
While Wasikowska shows promise it is Helena Bonham Carter who stands out, the only thing, real or animated, that truly sparkles in this oddly depressing endeavor. Her Red Queen barks orders with the conviction of a spoiled child, self-indulgent as much as mean, hiding her insecurities behind a loud voice and big head. She uses people and pigs and anything else at her disposal merely as props to satisfy her own whims and continued supremacy.
Crispin Glover, one of the most interesting but underused actors of his generation, plays her faithful enforcer Stayne, the Knave of Hearts. He does so with unusual restraint. Glover can be a unique and odd presence on the screen, his strange quirks, squeaky voice and herky-jerky manner leaving an indelible impression; i.e. George McFly in Back To The Future (1985). But here Glover seems oddly muted, as if he alone among the cast understands what’s happening around him, that the film in which he plays a part is falling short, offering the audience a dark and detached retelling of this famous tale, one that is sadly unworthy of their full attention.
Oh what might have been!
Alice In Wonderland
Starring Mia Wasikowska and Johnny Depp
Directed by Tim Burton
5¾ out of 10 (not recommended) on the Movie Fraction Rating System™
