Alice in BLUNDERLAND???

When Tim Burton fans (myself included) have heard of his recent project on a spin-off of Lewis Caroll's long-time novelty, fans went mad as the Hatter. Things got curiouser and curiouser on how Burton's "re-imagining" of Alice would turn out. For those unfamiliar with Burton, he shaped goth through most of his subversive works, most notably with Nightmare Before Christmas and Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. As expected, the film was subject to be texturized with Burton's signature dark and quirky theme, along with a Disney convention, in a clever mix of live action and 3-D animation. However, after the film finally hit the big screen, casual movie-goers and fans alike shared similar sentiments in a mix of disappointment and amazement. Although through the years there had been many adaptations of Alice in Wonderland that we came to know, this time however, we would wonder, is it really THE Alice we've known?

Subsequently after the movie release, Burton's Bettlejuice purists were fazed by this new installment, dissatisfied for lacking the same degree of "creepiness" prevalent in Burton's previous works. Literary loyalists of Caroll's original Alice's Adventures in Wonderland on the other hand, despise the reconstruction of the plot, sacrificing the minimal narrative coherence in the book. Much of its character concentrated on the "literary nonsense" it was supposed to delineate, that of which according to them, was lost, making Burton's undertaking on the plot not so well-received. Whether or not Burton had lost his muchness after deciding to derail the story from its original plot scheme to give ground to an emotional framework, which he felt was inadequately portrayed in the book, still, people come to enjoy its marvelous visual compensation.

Fortunately, the times have been able to cope up with the intricate demands of Burton's imagination. The CGI advantage rendered breathtaking ambience of the espousal between Burton's and Caroll's imagery. On top of that, the cast displayed a bedazzling gothic Victorian pomp spectacle as the flamboyantly whimsical entourage behind the concept, but few seem to have been able to stretch their characterization through the aisle. Let alone Johnny Depp, who played as Tarrant Hightopp, the Mad Hatter with his eccentric best. Though the noticeable disparity may give a wrong impression on his own interpretation, likewise, the instruction of Burton suggested that his delight in the oddity gave reason beyond doubt. Better yet, we know that Johnny Depp acted as a loosely-based Hatter, and not as himself.

Among the grotesques designed by Burton, is his franchisee and domestic partner, Helena Bonham Carter, as the imperiously shrewd, both literally and figuratively "bloody big-headed" Red Queen, Iracebeth of Crims, according to the ever evaporating Chessur, the Cheshire Cat voiced-acted by Stephen Fry. Alongside her is the menacingly cadaverous Ilosovic Stayn, Knave of Hearts played by Crispin Glover. Her completely virtual opposite is Anne Hathaway, who played the overbearingly dramatic White Queen, Mirana of Marmoreal. As for Alice Kingsley, she was played by Mia Wasikowska, specifically chosen by Burton. We have known her as Alice Lidell, this curious and imaginative little girl, who chased the unceasingly jumpy Nivens McTwisp, the White Rabbit, voice-acted by Michael Sheen, and fell down the rabbit hole 10 years earlier. But now she comes back as a 19-year-old ingenue, who appears to be "Not-exactly-Alice" as described by the sagely smoking caterpillar Absolem, voice-acted by Alan Rickman, although some don't completely agree like the tubby twins Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum, both played by Matt Lucas. Hereon, we find that the adolescence of Alice was a device used by Burton to dismember the lingering traces of her childish temperament for the sake of the film's plot development. She was the Alice we knew alright, but now she has grown, slightly different with a new surname, but all the same, striven to be in propriety with the book's conceived persona.

The film's overall composition was viewed indecisive in terms of the insignificant differences made to cover up for its flaws, but on the contrary, its appeal reconciles those changes made to be realized that Burton intended for it to be solely an extension in its own right. Compared to its predecessors, Burton escalates it into a whole new different worldview, an ideology possessed by directors based on their own personal foundation; a way of representation unique of his own perspective. Burton fans could not deny the feel to it, as to clearly he had already established his penchant for his subversive ways, which Burton fans came to love, long before in his older works. Even Lewis Caroll may fall into the rabbit hole of Burton's consciousness, and surprisingly he may find a Wonderland of macabre wonders he could relate to the underlying sadism that elude immature readers from his bizarre fantasy.

Simplistic—a word inappropriate to describe the elaborate redesign, but in the confusion of its making, it proves just as worthy. Obviously evident in the story pattern in the film was a succeeding climax, which proves necessary in my opinion, as a relief from the monotony of Caroll's intellectually evasive nonsensical word play. I personally had myself inflicted with a pounding head after reading Caroll's work, which compelled me to immerse myself in footnotes, later to find out that even serious scholars grovel over his works just to decipher and simplify it to bring out the sophisticated humor that it had been selfish of.

It is utterly useless to debate over things, which have not been fully grasped, especially to those brash movie critics who fail to put gravity on the weight of their accusations to justify the faults within the aesthetic values of the film. My sentiments goes compliant with the disposition of the Red Queen: Off with their heads!

☆☆☆☆