I did not like this movie.
No, wait. Let me rephrase.
I hated this movie.
I'm not entirely sure why I didn't like it. I mean, so many other kids my age absolutely loved it. For some reason, though, it never really sat well with me. Maybe it was the annoyingly bright artistic style, maybe it was the random pace of the story, maybe it was simply the fact that I never found it especially interesting. When other kids were freaked out by the Cheshire Cat, I - the kid with the anxiety problem - was thoroughly unimpressed. I actually found him more annoying that frightening.
Maybe that's what the whole deal with this movie is for me - I just found it incredibly annoying. And thus, I tried to avoid watching it whenever I could. The VHS tape of it that we had has since mysteriously disappeared, so I have fortunately been spared watching it for the past decade.
As you can imagine, since this was pretty much my first exposure to the story of Alice in Wonderland, I was never especially inclined to go and read the real story. I tried to start it when I was about ten or eleven, but the story made so little sense that I just couldn't get into it. I think the problem I had then was that I had developed a rigid idea of how a book was supposed to be structured - you know, with strong characters and a good plot. Alice in Wonderland, as those who have read it will know, does not have much in the way of story. Alice is a strong enough character, I suppose, but she is the only one who serves any kind of constant role. For the most part, the book consists of random encounters, none of which really serve to propel the story. In fact....does this book even have a story?
It wasn't until later, at the mature age of 17, that I read the book all the way through. The reason for this was a rather strange one - I was excited about seeing Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland, and while I certainly wasn't expecting the movie to follow the book (even I knew that Alice isn't a 20 years old and going around slaying things in the book), I was curious enough to want to try it.
So I did.
And it was.....okay.
Well, I mean, it was a good book. I can see why it has become a classic of children's literature. Much of what the characters say is quotable GOLD. Alice is a quirky, yet proper little girl, which I liked. It's just a matter of personal opinion, I guess. I like books with a coherent and interesting plot, and again, Alice in Wonderland does not have that. So while I liked it somewhat, I found it overall rather dull.
What? Don't give me that look. That's just my personal opinion. I suck. That's the way of things.
Just to make this all the more awkward, I will out and say that I definitely prefer Alice in Wonderland in movie form. I mean, aside from the Disney cartoon.
More specifically, I love Alice in Wonderland in Tim Burton movie form.
What? I shouldn't love it? It was a stupid and overrated movie?
Well, let me tell you something, kiddo - I was hyped up for MONTHS to watch this movie. It had pretty much every single one of my favorite actors/actresses in it - Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Stephen Fry, Anne Hathaway, Alan Rickman, etc. - it was directed by one of my favorite directors, Tim Burton, and it had a soundtrack composed by Danny Elfman. All this, coupled with the fact that it looked awesome in the trailer, got me more excited for a movie than I have been in a long, loooong time. I wasn't the only one, either - when I went to see it on opening day, there were kids lined up to the end of the block. Dude, this movie was gonna RULE. I had BETTER like it, for all the hope I had for it.
And you know what? I actually thought it was a pretty darn good movie. I mean, yeah, the story is rather formulaic, but I hesitate to criticize it too harshly. I actually really like this movie. Is it genuine pleasure, or rigid loyalty?
Heck if I know.
I will defend it, though. With great passion and enthusiasm, I will defend it. Just watch.
Some say that the movie really strays from its intended structure by having a plot - not just that, but a very overdone plot at that. To this, my argument is this: the reason that the original story was so random was because it was being told from the point of view of a child. It was, in essence, something that could very easily have been invented by a seven-year-old girl. I like to think that Wonderland is some sort of manifestation of Alice's own imagination. Following this, I believe that in this movie, Alice has grown older and therefore has a different, more mature way of seeing things. At the age of 19, things are darker, more adult. Things also have a different and, very likely, more structured way of working. We see at the beginning that she has a great and vivid imagination, but things also have a place and a plot. When you're a kid, you don't know how things work, and so you make stuff up. When you're older, you know more about how the world rolls. Your imagination is less rambling and more structured. So, in Alice's new Wonderland (or, um, Underland), things would follow this new structure.
"But it clearly establishes that Underland is supposed to be real, and NOT just a figment of Alice's imagination!" you say. Well, in my delusion, I will reply by saying that while the world may be real, it's influenced by Alice's imagination. Duh. I'd like to say that it's a half-dream, half-reality - a magical world that exists in a sort of alternate universe, perhaps quite literally underneath our own. A sort of parallel dimension.
Of course, more than likely, I am giving this movie waaaay too much credit for its complexity. But, you know, that's another good thing about this movie - it gives you room to come up with your own ideas of how things work in this crazy, twisted world Alice finds herself in. And it's intriguing enough that you'd actually want to.
I love Tim Burton's dark, twisted fairy-tale style. It's so cool, to see an idyllic childhood fantasy transformed into something darker, more sinister-looking. But Burton rarely steps over the line with his style - the spirit that belongs to a childhood fairy-tale is still there. In many of his movies, Burton touches on the subject of appearance and character - how you can see someone and think one thing, and then come to know them and discover something entirely different.
Like the tall, eerie figure of Jack Skellington, lamenting the emptiness he feels in scaring people, even though he's very good at it and it's the center of his existence; the frightening visage of Edward Scissorhands, contrasting with the innocent and earnest expression he wears on his face and with which he conducts all of his behavior; the strange and twisted-looking Mad Hatter standing beside Alice on the battlefield, hearing Alice saying, "This is impossible!" Turning to her, he replies, "Only if you believe it is."
And then there's Alice herself, who, while pretty and plain on the outside, stalwartly states, "I believe five impossible things before breakfast!" and takes her strange surroundings in with a calm, childlike sensibility.
You can say what you like about cliches and dialogue and formula, but personally I find this movie endearing, lovely, and thoughtful. Alice in Wonderland is NOT an easy story to re-invent, but I think that Tim Burton did a pretty darn good job, considering. I love this movie, and am very, very glad that I own it - so I can bring it out on rainy days, and smile to myself at the specialness of it.
