Alice in Wonderland (2010)

Director:

Tim Burton

Writers (WGA):

Linda Woolverton (screenplay)
Lewis Carroll (books)

Release Date:

5 March 2010 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Family | Fantasy

Tagline:

You're invited to a very important date 3/5/10

Plot:

19-year-old Alice returns to the magical world from her childhood adventure, where she reunites with her old friends and learns of her true destiny: to end the Red Queen's reign of terror.

Plot Keywords:

Queen | Animal | Talking Animal | Jabberwocky | Garden

Awards:

2 nominations

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

Johnny Depp	...	Mad Hatter
Mia Wasikowska	...	Alice
Helena Bonham Carter	...	Red Queen
Anne Hathaway	...	White Queen
Crispin Glover	...	Stayne - Knave of Hearts
Matt Lucas	...	Tweedledee / Tweedledum
Michael Sheen	...	White Rabbit (voice)
Stephen Fry	...	Cheshire Cat (voice)
Alan Rickman	...	Blue Caterpillar (voice)
Barbara Windsor	...	Dormouse (voice)
Paul Whitehouse	...	March Hare (voice)
Timothy Spall	...	Bayard (voice)
Marton Csokas	...	Charles Kingsleigh
Tim Pigott-Smith	...	Lord Ascot
John Surman	...	Colleague #1

Also Known As:

"Alice in Wonderland: An IMAX 3D Experience" - USA (IMAX version)

MPAA:

Rated PG for fantasy action/violence involving scary images and situations, and for a smoking caterpillar.

Runtime:

108 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.44 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS-ES | Dolby Digital EX | SDDS | Sonics-DDP (IMAX version)

Certification:

USA:PG (certificate #45902) | South Korea:All | UK:PG | Ireland:PG | Finland:K-11 | Norway:11 | Australia:PG | Singapore:PG | Portugal:M/12 (Qualidade) | Switzerland:7 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:7 (canton of Vaud) | Argentina:Atp | Canada:G (Quebec) | South Africa:10M | Netherlands:9 | New Zealand:PG | Japan:G | Hong Kong:IIA | Brazil:10 | Canada:PG (Alberta/British Columbia/Manitoba/Ontario) | Malaysia:U | Sweden:11 | Denmark:11 | Germany:12 | Austria:6 | France:U | Taiwan:GP

Filming Locations:

Antony House, Torpoint, Cornwall, England, UK

Company:

Walt Disney Pictures

Trivia:

In the scene where the Hatter is making hats, there are two pictures next to the door where the Knave of Hearts enters. One picture is the Mock Turtle from "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" and the other is the Walrus from "Through the Looking-Glass".

Goofs:

Anachronisms: When the Hatter asks Alice if he's gone mad, she tells him he's "entirely bonkers." The word "bonkers" wasn't coined until after World War II.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Lord Ascot:Charles, you have lost your senses? This picture is impossible.
Charles Kingsleigh:Precisely. Gentlemen, the only way to achieve the impossible, is to believe it's possible.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Live from Studio Five: Episode #1.91" (2010)

Soundtrack:

Alice

Wonderful, but only a visual masterpiece.

Disney presents Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland

STARRING

Johnny Depp... as Willy Wonka, if Willy Wonka hadn't been Michael Jackson

Mia Wasikowska... as a winsome young lady Alice who discovers her inner fortitude

Crispin Glover... who doesn't dance, unfortunately

Helena Bonham-Carter... with a big head

Matt Lucas... as two Matt Lucases

Stephen Fry... who does actual voice acting and doesn't just read his lines

Paul Whitehouse... who against all my expectations, still does know how to be very funny

Alan Rickman... who nearly steals the movie, just by doing what he does best

Christopher Lee... who actually steals the movie with just two lines

AND

Babs Mitchell-Windsor... playing a character her actual, real size

I can see why the they've not really wanted to call the film a proper sequel. It is that, being the story of a nineteen year old Alice who returns to barely-remembered Wonderland, but it also lifts dialogue and scenes from the original books. The story is your standard journey, emotionally, but all set in a very Tim Burton Wonderland.

Which, of course, looks astounding. Wonderland is an amazing place, often colourful, but equally often ravaged and desolate. It's a treat for the eyes, with the imagination and design shining through the technology. (It's very, very good, but strange things happen if you look somewhere the 3D doesn't want you to look and there's the odd moment of strangely stiff animation, especially when human(-like) characters are completely CGI-ed up.)

Unexpectedly, it sometimes feels like one of the Narnia films (though makes those movies look like accountant-led spreadsheets that have been printed out on toilet paper and left out in the rain), but mainly it's exactly what you'd expect from Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland. It's a great big treat of a movie, to be sure. Given that it's Tim Burton working with Disney, it's often gruesome and scary, but not too much. It makes you laugh at times, it pins you to the back of your seat at others, it gets you leaning forward trying to drink in every detail of the place, but it's not ever actually surprising. You know what's up, you know where things are going and you're never shocked. (Maybe once, in a quiet, horrible scene that stands out, even amongst the rest.) Even if you've not seen a single still photo or second of footage, if you know Wonderland and you know Tim Burton, you can picture it yourself effortlessly.

So much of it is still in my head this morning, but it's all visual. There's no heartache or sense of triumph that lingers after a great story. Funny as it is, there's only one line I'm ever likely to quote (a single word). I just have these amazing images left in my brain. In that sense, then, it's appropriately dream-like.

I doubt I'll go back and watch it again at the cinema, but I'm most definitely getting the Blu- Ray when it comes out next week, or whenever Disney decided they should bring it out.

If it feels like I've damned it with faint praise, I don't intend to. It's all pretty wonderful for the two hours it takes to speed past you, but I just want to make it clear - nothing that goes into your ears or your heart ever quite matches what goes into your eyes.