Alice in Wonderland (I) (2010)

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.

Director:

Tim Burton

Writers:

Linda Woolverton (screenplay), Lewis Carroll (books)

Stars:

Johnny Depp, Mia Wasikowska, Helena Bonham Carter

Won 2 Oscars. Another 20 wins & 42 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Johnny Depp	...	Mad Hatter
Mia Wasikowska	...	Alice Kingsleigh
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

Storyline

Alice, an unpretentious and individual 19-year-old, is betrothed to a dunce of an English nobleman. At her engagement party, she escapes the crowd to consider whether to go through with the marriage and falls down a hole in the garden after spotting an unusual rabbit. Arriving in a strange and surreal place called "Underland," she finds herself in a world that resembles the nightmares she had as a child, filled with talking animals, villainous queens and knights, and frumious bandersnatches. Alice realizes that she is there for a reason--to conquer the horrific Jabberwocky and restore the rightful queen to her throne.

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Plot Keywords:

queen | destiny | rabbit | engagement party | animal | 

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Taglines:

The White Rabbit

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Genres:

Adventure | Family | Fantasy

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

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

Details

Official Sites:

Disney [de] Disney [fr]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

5 March 2010 (USA)

Also Known As:

Alice in Wonderland: An IMAX 3D Experience

Filming Locations:

Antony House, Torpoint, Cornwall, England, UK

Box Office

Budget:

$200,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

£10,555,220 (UK) (5 March 2010)

Gross:

$334,185,206 (USA) (2 July 2010)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Walt Disney Pictures, Roth Films, Team Todd

Technical Specs

Runtime:

108 min

Sound Mix:

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

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

When The Hatter undergoes one of his personality changes, not only does his voice become deeper but the make-up around his eyes changes and the color of his eyes become darker as well.

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Goofs

When Alice eats the sweet bar labeled "Eat Me" to get herself enlarged and be able to pick the key from the table and starts growing. The camera first takes the shot from up and her thighs can be seen coming out of her skirt as she grows bigger. The shot continues from the front and it shows the dress getting shortened again from the knees and her thighs coming out.

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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.

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Crazy Credits

The ending credits have flowers going from dead to blooming, a sun rising and setting, and vines moving around.

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Connections

Version of Alice in Wonderland (1915)

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Soundtracks

"Refined Tastes"
(uncredited)
Music by Matthew Cruft
KPM Music Ltd

User Reviews

Treading water in Wonderland

Sometimes I think that I should like Tim Burton movies more than I do. Don't get me wrong, the man has made some excellent films, such as the masterful Ed Wood. But all too often, despite an agreeable tendency towards visual flamboyance, I leave his films feeling somewhat underwhelmed. Alice in Wonderland is a case in point. It's a movie where CGI effects rule the day. But the trouble is that the true weirdness that is at the heart of this story is not captured at all with all the computer-generated imagery on-screen. Sure it's very efficient and well-designed but like CGI in general, it's far too polished to really strike a chord and convince. There is a distinct lack of wonder in this Wonderland. The otherworldly weirdness is dissipated too by the use of overly-familiar voices to give life to the various denizens of this world, we are left thinking 'Oh that's Stephen Fry, hey isn't that Alan Rickman, I'm sure that's Christopher Lee and isn't that the bloke from Little Britain, etc'. It consistently takes us out of the movie and grounds the characters in a way that is just counter-productive. We want weirdness from an Alice in Wonderland film, not slick CGI and famous voice-over actors.

There is also a dangerously cosy predictability at play here too. Tim Burton, Johnny Depp, Danny Elfman – they say familiarity breeds contempt, well that's a bit strong but it IS seriously lacking in surprises and you cannot help think that all three individually talented men could do with taking a break from each other for the good of their careers. Depp's Mad Hatter is pretty uninspired by his standards, while Burton's visuals and Elfman's music are nice but ultimately completely forgettable. I found it very difficult to care for any of the characters in this film, and that is never a good thing. It also meant that the conclusion came across as deeply trite, as we have been given nothing to empathize with. We don't know or have any interest in these characters, so when Alice goes around her extended family one by one imparting her new knowledge onto them, it means nothing. It also doesn't help that the journey to Wonderland has made absolutely no difference at all to the title character's state of mind – at the beginning she does not want to get married to the upper-class chump and at the end she does not want to get married to the upper-class chump. So you are left wondering what exactly was the point?

I saw this in 3D and if there is one thing that this film has taught me it's that I am done with this 'new and improved' technology. I sensed it was a gimmick even before I watched Avatar; now I am certain. A bad film is a bad film, and no amount of extra visual depth is going to change that one iota. It's all surface-veneer, and really that's this movie's ultimate problem, there is nothing of interest within the CGI/3D. A great shame, as the source material is undeniably compelling.

I realize that I am almost done here but I have not even mentioned the worst thing about the film. What was it? It was when the Mad Hatter and then, subsequently, Alice do a truly cringe-worthy little dance near the end of the film. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. I half-expected Britain's Got Talent winners Diversity to pop up in a cameo appearance at this stage and join in with some urban street dancing manoeuvres. That didn't happen. And that is, at least, one saving grace.