The ever talented Johnny Depp has teamed up with his good friend Tim Burton to create yet another eerily portrayed movie. Alice in Wonderland begins with Alice at her very own engagement party at the ripe old age of 19. The scenery and acting in the beginning scenes before falling down the whole are very much in line with Tim burton and his style of cinematography, the actors are all creepy as ever and it is a decent beginning. However once she falls down the hole, the movie takes a turn for the worse.




Not for children

Once down the whole the movie begins to play out like the original Alice in Wonderland which everyone is so familiar with, of course now she must save Wonderland with the help of her old friends. The setting for the movie should have been a great experience if only Tim Burton and the writers could have actually chosen an age group to target this movie towards. Within 15 minutes of the movies’ beginning Alice finds herself speaking to a caterpillar which is a well known player. One thing about the caterpillar set me off from ever taking a child to see the movie. He smokes a bong. I know this has been done in the original as well, but to me I don’t believe I want to see a movie with my child or anyone’s child with characters smoking a bong in a mystical land.

The caterpillar is not the only element of the movie that I don’t find appealing for a child to see. The idea that the evil queen is murdering other animals in the kingdom by chopping off their heads throughout the movie is generally a no-no for children. Kids do not like to see any harm come to animals in films, especially talking animals.

Not for adults

Now that we’ve established that the movie isn’t for children we can establish that it isn’t for adults. Within the first 15 minutes that I spoke of earlier while Alice is speaking to the caterpillar, the caterpillar lays out the entire movies plot by showing her a scroll of the elements to come. To me I don’t want to know the end of the movie within the first section of it. I found it annoying and ruined the rest of the movie for me. The movie is then played out as though it was all predestined to happen and there’s nothing she truly could change about the world because it was already laid out.

The movie plays out originally in a rather creepy and eery fashion, but once down the hole, Alice and the characters are more sad than creepy or strange. The movie becomes too animated and becomes more of a children’s animated style than what an adult would enjoy viewing. Johnny Depp is creepier as Willy Wonka than as the mad hatter.

Disney 3D

I saw the film in the 3D viewing theater. This was a large mistake, this may be because I have been spoiled by the gorgeous film Avatar. Watching Alice in Wonderland was a test on my stomach and my head. If the characters weren’t using obvious tricks to create a 3D effect, they were moving so quickly everything on screen blurred to the point of nausea and headaches. After the movie was complete I heard most of the people in the theater complaining about not feeling well, I’m to be included in that. Disney needed to take a note from Avatar and realize that 3D is not made for gimmicks, but to add another level of depth to the movie.

Overall the movie could have been something if I had gone out and lit up a joint or two before entering the theater it might have had a fighting chance, but if you don’t then it will be a  complete waste of time and a $13 ticket.

As always if you have any comments, questions, or suggestions feel free to comment below.