Psycho's Movie Reviews #415: Alice In Wonderland (2010)

Alice in Wonderland is a 2010 American dark fantasy film directed by Tim Burton from a screenplay written by Linda Woolverton. The film stars Johnny Depp in the main role, Anne Hathaway, Helena Bonham Carter, Crispin Glover, Matt Lucas, and Mia Wasikowska, and features the voices of Alan Rickman, Stephen Fry, Michael Sheen, and Timothy Spall. A remake of the 1951 Disney film of the same name, Alice in Wonderland follows Alice Kingsleigh, a nineteen-year-old who is told that she can restore the White Queen to her throne, with the help of the Mad Hatter. She is the only one who can slay the Jabberwocky, a dragon-like creature that is controlled by the Red Queen and terrorizes Underland's inhabitants. In this situation, the Hatter and Alice fight against the Red Queen to protect the world.

Alice in Wonderland was produced by Walt Disney Pictures and shot in the United Kingdom and the United States. The film premiered in London at the Odeon Leicester Square on February 25, 2010, and was released in the United Kingdom and the United States through the Disney Digital 3D, RealD 3D, and IMAX 3D formats as well as in conventional theaters on March 5, 2010. It is also the second-highest-grossing film of 2010.

Alice in Wonderland received mixed reviews upon release; although praised for its visual style, costumes, musical score, performances and special effects, the film was criticized for its lack of narrative coherence. It received three nominations at the 68th Golden Globe Awards, including Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy. At the 83rd Academy Awards, Alice in Wonderland won Best Art Direction and Best Costume Design, and was also nominated for Best Visual Effects. The film generated over $1.025 billion in ticket sales and became the fifth highest-grossing film of all time during its theatrical run.

While not the first such film in general, Alice in Wonderland started a trend of live-action fairy tale and fantasy films being green-lit, particularly from Walt Disney Studios. A sequel, titled Alice Through the Looking Glass, was released on May 27, 2016.

Plot

In London, 1871, troubled by a strange recurring dream and mourning the loss of her father, 19-year-old Alice Kingsleigh attends a garden party at the estate of Lord Ascot. There, she is confronted with an unwanted marriage proposal by Lord Ascot's son, Hamish, and the stifling expectations of the society in which she lives.

Unsure of how to proceed, she spots and pursues a familiar rabbit wearing a waistcoat and carrying a pocket watch, due to her lack of sleep, and falls into a deep rabbit hole under a tree. She enters a small door by drinking from a bottle labelled 'Drink Me' (called Pishsalver) and emerges to a forest in a magical place called Underland where she is greeted by the White Rabbit, a Dormouse, a Dodo, Talking Flowers, and identical twins Tweedledee and Tweedledum who all apparently know her.

Though Alice asserts that this is all a dream, she learns that she is destined to slay the Jabberwocky and end the tyranny of the Red Queen, as foretold by Absolem the Caterpillar. The group is then ambushed by the ravenous Bandersnatch and a squadron of Red Queen's knights, led by the Knave of Hearts. All are captured; except Alice, who escapes; and the Dormouse, who takes one of the Bandersnatch's eyes.

The Knave informs the Red Queen that Alice threatens her reign, and he is ordered to find her immediately. Meanwhile, Alice is greeted by the Cheshire Cat who guides her to the Mad Hatter, the March Hare and the Dormouse's tea party. The Hatter explains that the Red Queen took over Underland, usurping her sister the White Queen; and that he joined the resistance after she destroyed his village and killed his family. When the red knights appear, the Hatter helps Alice to avoid capture by allowing himself to be seized instead. Later, Alice is found by the Knave's Bloodhound who is actually allied with the resistance. Alice insists on being taken to the Red Queen's castle to rescue the hatter. Alice eats a cake labelled 'Eat Me' (called Upelkuchen) and grows tall, infiltrating the castle as a courtier named “Um.”

Alice learns that the vorpal sword, the only weapon capable of killing the Jabberwocky, is locked inside the Bandersnatch's den. The Knave attempts to seduce “Um”, but she rebuffs him, causing the jealous Red Queen to demand for “Um’s” beheading. Alice obtains the sword and befriends the Bandersnatch by returning its eye. She then escapes on the back of the grateful Bandersnatch and delivers the sword to the White Queen; who gives Alice a potion that returns her normal size. The Cheshire Cat uses his shapeshifting powers to save the Mad Hatter from execution. The Hatter then incites rebellion amongst the Red Queen's subjects. The Red Queen attempts to quell the rebellion, but the Hatter and his group escape. Absolem finally gets Alice to remember that she has been to Underland when she was a little girl (calling it “Wonderland”), and she finally realizes that Underland is real. Absolem advises her to fight the Jabberwocky, just before completing his transformation into a pupa.

The Queens gather their armies on a chessboard-like battlefield and send Alice and the Jabberwocky to decide the battle in single combat. Alice fights the Jabberwocky, as the two armies battle. Alice finally defeats the Jabberwocky by beheading it. At Alice's victory, the red knights turn against their ruler. As punishment for their crimes, the White Queen banishes her sister and the Knave into exile together.

The White Queen gives Alice a vial of the Jabberwocky's purple blood whose power will bring her whatever she wishes. She decides to return to her own world after saying farewell to her friends. Alice then wakes up and gets up out of the rabbit hole, with messed up hair, a scratch on her arm, and her dress all torn and dirty from her fall. Back at the party, Alice refuses Hamish's proposal and impresses Lord Ascot with her idea of establishing oceanic trade routes to Hong Kong, inspiring him to take her as his apprentice. As Alice prepares to set off on a trading ship, a blue butterfly lands on Alice's shoulder, which she recognizes as Absolem.

Production

Tim Burton signed with Walt Disney Pictures to direct two films in Disney Digital 3D, which included Alice in Wonderland and his remake of Frankenweenie. Burton developed the story because he never felt an emotional tie to the original book.

He explained "the goal is to try to make it an engaging movie where you get some of the psychology and kind of bring a freshness but also keep the classic nature of Alice." On prior versions, Burton said "It was always a girl wandering around from one crazy character to another, and I never really felt any real emotional connection." His goal with the new film is to give the story "some framework of emotional grounding" and "to try and make Alice feel more like a story as opposed to a series of events." Burton focused on the poem "Jabberwocky" as part of his structure, and refers to the described creature by the name of the poem rather than by the name "Jabberwock" used in the poem. Burton also stated that he does not see his version as either a sequel to any existing Alice film nor as a "re-imagining". However, the idea of the climax of the story being Alice's battle with the Queen's champion, the Jabberwocky, was first added in the video game American McGee's Alice, and the landscape, tower, weapons and appearance of Alice in those scenes of the film are very reminiscent of the same scenes in the game.

Antony House in south Cornwall, England, which served as Lord Ascot's estate in the film

This film was originally set to be released in 2009 but was pushed back to March 5, 2010. Principal photography was scheduled for May 2008, but did not begin until September and concluded in three months. Scenes set in the Victorian era were shot at Torpoint and Plymouth from September 1 to October 14. Two hundred and fifty local extras were chosen in early August. Locations included Antony House in Torpoint, Charlestown, Cornwall and the Barbican, however, no footage from the Barbican was used. Motion capture filming began in early October at Sony Pictures Studios in Culver City, California, though the footage was later discarded. Filming also took place at Culver Studios. Burton said that he used a combination of live action and animation, without motion capture. He also noted that this was the first time he had filmed on a green screen. Filming of the green screen portions, comprising 90% of the film, was completed after only 40 days. Many of the cast and crew felt nauseated as a result of the long hours surrounded by green, and Burton had lavender lenses fitted into his glasses to counteract the effect. Due to the constant need for digital effects to distort the actors' physical appearances, such as the size of the Red Queen's head or Alice's height, visual effects supervisor Ken Ralston cited the film as being exhausting, saying it was "The biggest show I've ever done, and the most creatively involved I've ever been."

Sony Pictures Imageworks designed the visual effects sequences. Burton felt 3D was appropriate to the story's environment. Burton and Zanuck chose to film with conventional cameras, and convert the footage into 3D during post-production; Zanuck explained 3D cameras were too expensive and "clumsy" to use, and they felt that there was no difference between converted footage and those shot in the format. James Cameron, who released his 3D film Avatar in December 2009, criticized the choice, stating, "It doesn't make any sense to shoot in 2D and convert to 3D".

Music

Longtime Burton collaborator Danny Elfman's score was released March 2, 2010. It debuted at #89 on the Billboard Top 200 albums chart.

Almost Alice

Almost Alice is a collection of various artists' music inspired by the film. The lead single, "Alice" by Avril Lavigne, premiered on January 27, 2010, on Ryan Seacrest's radio program. Other singles include "Follow Me Down" by 3OH!3, "Her Name Is Alice" by Shinedown, and "Tea Party" by Kerli. The album was released on March 2, 2010.

Release/Reception/Box Office

On February 12, 2010, major UK cinema chains, Odeon, Vue, and Cineworld, had planned to boycott the film because of a reduction of the interval between cinema and DVD release from the usual 17 weeks to 12 (possibly to avoid the release of the DVD clashing with the 2010 FIFA World Cup, which was Disney's pretext for cutting short Alice's theatrical run but UK exhibitors protested that Alice would be less threatened by the World Cup than other titles). A week after the announcement, Cineworld, who has a 24% share of UK box office, chose to play the film on more than 150 screens. Cineworld's chief executive Steve Wiener stated, "As leaders in 3D, we did not want the public to miss out on such a visual spectacle. As the success of Avatar has shown, there is currently a huge appetite for the 3D experience". Shortly after, the Vue cinema chain also reached an agreement with Disney, but Odeon had still chosen to boycott in Britain, Ireland, and Italy. On February 25, 2010, Odeon had reached an agreement and decided to show the film on March 5, 2010. The Royal premiere took place at the Odeon Leicester Square in London on February 25, 2010, for the fundraiser The Prince's Foundation for Children and The Arts where the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall attended. It also did not affect their plans to show the film in Spain, Germany, Portugal, and Austria. The film was released in the U.K. and US, in both Disney Digital 3D and IMAX 3D, as well as regular theaters on March 5, 2010.

On the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, 51% of 279 critics have given the film a positive review, with an average rating of 5.8/10. The website's consensus is: "Tim Burton's Alice sacrifices the book's minimal narrative coherence—and much of its heart—but it's an undeniable visual treat". According to Metacritic, which calculated a weighted average score of 53 out of 100 based on 38 reviews, the film received "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average rating of "A−" on an A+ to F scale.

Todd McCarthy of Variety praised it for its "moments of delight, humour and bedazzlement", but went on to say, "But it also becomes more ordinary as it goes along, building to a generic battle climax similar to any number of others in CGI-heavy movies of the past few years". Michael Rechtshaffen of The Hollywood Reporter said "Burton has delivered a subversively witty, brilliantly cast, whimsically appointed dazzler that also manages to hit all the emotionally satisfying marks", while as well praising its computer-generated imagery (CGI), saying "Ultimately, it's the visual landscape that makes Alice's newest adventure so wondrous, as technology has finally been able to catch up with Burton's endlessly fertile imagination." Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly said, "But Burton's Disneyfied 3-D Alice in Wonderland, written by the girl-power specialist Linda Woolverton, is a strange brew indeed: murky, diffuse, and meandering, set not in a Wonderland that pops with demented life but in a world called Underland that's like a joyless, bombed-out version of Wonderland. It looks like a CGI head trip gone post apocalyptic. In the film's rather humdrum 3-D, the place doesn't dazzle—it droops." Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times awarded the film three out of four stars and wrote in his review that, "Alice plays better as an adult hallucination, which is how Burton rather brilliantly interprets it until a pointless third act flies off the rails."

Several reviews criticized the decision to turn Alice into a "colonialist entrepreneur" at the end of the film setting sail for China. Given Britain's role in the First and Second Opium Wars during the Victorian era and the foreign domination of China through "unequal treaties", China expert Kevin Slaten writes, "Not only is it troubling imagery, for a female role model in a Disney movie, but it's also a celebration of the exploitation that China suffered for a century."

Game developer American McGee, best known for creating Alice and Alice: Madness Returns, was asked in a 2011 interview about Tim Burton's interpretation of the title character since both versions share almost similar dark and twisted tone of Wonderland. McGee praised the film's visuals and audio but criticized the lack of screen time Alice had compared to the other characters. He felt Alice did not have any purpose in the story and that she was merely used as a "tool".

Alice in Wonderland has grossed $334,191,110 in North America and $691,276,000 in other territories for a worldwide total of $1,025,467,110 against a budget of $200 million. Worldwide, it is the second-highest-grossing film of 2010. It is the third-highest-grossing film starring Johnny Depp, the highest-grossing film directed by Tim Burton, and the second-highest-grossing film of Anne Hathaway. Additionally, it is the second-highest-grossing children's book adaptation (worldwide, as well as in North America and outside North America separately).

On its first weekend, the film made $220.1 million worldwide, marking the second-largest opening ever for a movie not released during the summer or the holiday period (behind The Hunger Games), the fourth-largest for a Disney-distributed film and the fourth-largest among 2010 films. It dominated for three consecutive weekends at the worldwide box office. On May 26, 2010, its 85th day of release, it became the sixth film ever to surpass the $1 billion mark and the second film that had been released by Walt Disney Studios that did so.

In North America, Alice in Wonderland is the forty-fourth-highest-grossing film but out of the top 100 when adjusted for inflation. It is also the second-highest-grossing film of 2010, behind Toy Story 3, the second-highest-grossing film starring Johnny Depp and the highest-grossing film directed by Tim Burton. The film opened on March 5, 2010, on approximately 7,400 screens at 3,728 theaters with $40,804,962 during its first day, $3.9 million of which came from midnight showings, ranking number one and setting a new March opening-day record. Alice earned $116.1 million on its opening weekend, breaking the record for the largest opening weekend in March (previously held by 300), the record for the largest opening weekend during springtime (previously held by Fast & Furious), the largest opening weekend for a non-sequel (previously held by Spider-Man) and the highest one for the non-holiday, non-summer period. However, all of these records were broken by The Hunger Games ($152.5 million) in March 2012. Alice made the seventeenth-highest-grossing opening weekend ever and the fifth-largest among 3D films. Opening-weekend grosses originating from 3D showings were $81.3 million (70% of total weekend gross). This broke the record for the largest opening-weekend 3D grosses but it was later topped by The Avengers ($108 million). It had the largest weekend per-theatre average of 2010 ($31,143 per theatre) and the largest for a PG-rated film. It broke the IMAX opening-weekend record by earning $12.2 million on 188 IMAX screens, with an average of $64,197 per site. The record was first overtaken by Deathly Hallows – Part 2 ($15.2 million). Additionally, it had the biggest opening weekend for a film starring Tim Burton, smashing the previous record held by Planet of the Apes. Alice remained in first place for three consecutive weekends at the North American box office. Alice closed in theaters on July 8, 2010, with $334.2 million.

Outside North America, Alice is the thirteenth-highest-grossing film, the highest-grossing 2010 film, the fourth-highest-grossing Disney film, the second-highest-grossing film starring Johnny Depp and the highest-grossing film directed by Tim Burton. It began with an estimated $94 million, on top of the weekend box office, and remained at the summit for four consecutive weekends and five in total. Japan was the film's highest-grossing country after North America, with $133.7 million, followed by the UK, Ireland and Malta ($64.4 million), and France and the Maghreb region ($45.9 million).

Budget $150–$200 million

Box office $1.025 billion

My Review

To me it is very hard not to give this movie a 10 (I don't like giving away too many 10s) because I find it very difficult to find anything I don't like about the movie. To me it is a masterpiece. The characters are very well defined, the actors play their roles very well, and the movie moves at a very good pace, leaving time to breath, but also keeping you enthralled. Tim Burton is a masterful film-maker, and his films do tend to be of the highest quality (ignoring Batman of course). In this film he revisits the story of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (as well as Jaberwocky and Through the Looking Glass) and though it may reflect events in these previous stories, it is not the book that Lewis Carrol originally wrote.

Alice is now 19 and she has been haunted by strange dreams since she was a young girl. She is a very imaginative girl, and her father always encouraged her imagination, however he is now gone, and she is expected, at the age of 19, to become a proper English lady, so is taken to a party to get married. We can see from the beginning that she is not the normal English aristocratic girl, but is fed lies (such as you really don't want to turn out like Aunt Imogen, and that this guy is the only guy that will make her life complete) but she can see that the choice she must make will affect the rest of her life.

While she is wondering around the party, she catches glimpses of the White Rabbit, and is also remembering scenes from her childhood (such as painting white roses red), but when the question is finally asked of her, she flees, and falls down a hole after the White Rabbit, and lands up in Underland. This is one of the changes that Burton has applied to this realm. While the original story was a nonsense tale written for children, Burton has turned it into a true fantasy tale. As soon as Alice steps out of the tree into Underland, we immediately see Tim Burton's touch to this story, with the strange and fantastic realms that are characteristic of his movies.

It turns out that Alice has been prepared for this moment as she is the one ordained to slay the Jabberwock and to free Underland from the Tyranny of the Queen of Hearts. It is the Jabberwock that gives the queen her power, and as soon as it is taken away from her, she is beaten and exiled. I always love a film that ends with the antagonist being exiled as it, to me, is a greater punishment than death. Death is the great unknown, whereas exile keeps the person alive, while forever reminding them of the crimes that they committed (though it is not always the case, as an exiled person can simply burn with rage and seek vengeance).

This film is a fantasy quest, in that the quest that Alice undertakes is reflective of her quest to come to understand who she is and her role in the world. While the events in Underland take place over a number of days, only five minutes pass in the real world, though it is in these five minutes that Alice comes to discover who she is. She begins denying her destiny, and then comes to understand that the only person who is in charge of her destiny is herself. However, in discovering this, and taking a stand, it becomes clear that it was destiny for her to reach this moment. It is then when she draws the vorpal sword, and believes that she can slay the Jabberwock, that she truly comes into her own.

We see this as the film winds up magnificently. The slaying of the Jabberwock, and the freeing of Underland is not the end of the film. Alice returns to the real world, and while some may become despondent in returning to the same old boring world, Alice is not, and takes what she learns. She is an adventurer at heart, not an English lady. It is her desire to travel the world, and to pick up where her father left off. While it may be somewhat unrealistic for her to go into business with an English gentleman at this point in history, we need to remember that she is a lady of high standing, so we cannot have her running off into the underground. Instead she retains the image of the heroine as the move closes with her boarding the ship, taking pride of place, and sailing off to China where no doubt she will face many new adventures. 10/10!!!!!