I was given the chance to see Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland on Wednesday night, part of a preview screening with Penguin Books Canada. I was so excited. My seven-year-old daughter and I were going to go together; some long needed time together. Well the night almost ended before it began when we arrived and couldn’t get in. Thankfully my sister-in-law, Heather, was attending and arrived with her friend before us. She graciously gave up her tickets so we could get in.
Thank you Heather for making my girl so happy (and me too).
When we entered the actual theatre it was packed. People were sitting in areas I didn’t think the theatre had seats. We reluctantly had to sit in the third row. And by third row I mean those orchestra seats at the very front where that one strange man sits on his own. No strange man, well, no strange man beside us. I was worried sitting so close, especially since the movie is 3D, the view would be distorted and detract from the movie experience, but I was happy to be proven wrong. Yes, sitting in those front rows isn’t ideal and I think we didn’t get the true immersive experience with the 3D affects, but the movie was still very enjoyable.
I must admit I wasn’t thrilled to hear that Alice in Wonderland was going to be in 3D. All I could think of was those hokey red and green screen images. Obviously it’s been a while since I’ve been to the movies. Disney 3D was quite impressive; it really had a 3D feel. There were the obvious birds flying by and swords coming at you, but there were subtle background images too, like floating dandelion fluff and leaves or a tree branch.
I should point out that this isn’t like Disney’s animated version of Alice in Wonderland, this is much darker, visually and character wise. That doesn’t mean it’s not a movie for younger members. I took my seven-year-old and she loved it, though my three-year-old, who loves the animated version, wouldn’t have enjoyed it at all. Movies on a large screen can always feel that much more overwhelming if it deals with something scary.
I thought Johnny Depp (the Mad Hatter) and Helena Bonham Carter (Red Queen) played their characters wonderfully. Johnny Depp’s Mad Hatter is animated and clever with a dark, subtly mad side making him enjoyable to watch. Helena Bohnam Carter did a great job making you dislike her as the Red Queen. Even the supporting characters, like Stephan Fry as the Cheshire Cat, Alan Rickman as the Blue Caterpillar and Matt Lucas as Tweedledee/Tweedledum were memorable. Actually the only character I didn’t enjoy was Anne Hathaway’s White Queen. I found her too superficial and la-dee-da-dee-da.
The movie’s mix of film and special effects work wonderfully together and present Wonderland as a magical but real world.
As for scary scenes, well there is the early chase scene by the naive and Red Queen’s card soldiers and the big fight scene near the end with Alice and the Jabberwocky. My daughter wasn’t scared by these, but my kids have seen Star Wars and Indiana Jones films and they have far scarier scenes in them.
Both my daughter and I really enjoyed Alice in Wonderland. I think we would have appreciated and experienced the 3D aspect and movie environment much more in different seats. It will certainly be a movie we will be adding to our home collection when it does come out but I’m so glad I’ve seen it on the big screen. Some movies are just meant to see larger than life and Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland is one of those movies in my opinion. I might just make another trip to the theatre to enjoy it properly.
Disney Interactive Studios is releasing a Wii and DS game to tie-into this movie release (I had a chance to preview them). Now that I’ve seen the movie, I’m looking forward to the games even more, available in store now.
