Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Alice in WonderLand Review

The original Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll is a delicious Victorian oddity, a children's book whose bizarre dream world, unforgettable word play, and young heroine have captured the imaginations of artists as diverse as James Joyce, Dali, Jefferson Airplane, Jan Švankmajer, and, of course, Tim Burton.

It was only a matter of time until Burton tackled this classic, a dive into the subconscious littered with nonsensical rhymes and literally crazy characters. As the wonderful Annalee Newitz points out, "As [Carroll's] protagonist Alice moves from dreamy encounter to dreamy encounter, watching nursery rhymes coming to life and fighting bloodthirsty monarchs made of cards, we witness something that for the Victorians was just as stunning as a giant dynamo. Psychiatry was in its infancy in the 19th century, and this brave new science suggested there was a method in madness. The muddle of our dreams might illuminate the truth about human consciousness; the murmurings of madwomen could shed light on how so-called sane people think."


I guess you’ve already seen all the movies, so you’ll know that this is not the adaptation of two novels by Carroll, Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, but an original storyline that sees the return of a wing of nineteen in the country Wonderland, ruled with an iron fist and broad appeal to be beheaded by the Queen of Hearts. According to a prophecy only Alice can liberate the country and deliver the kingdom to the White Queen, sister of the Red Queen. To do so will kill the dragon Ciciaramba (would be the Jabberwocky, but everyone translates it as he prefers) Vorpal brandishing a sword.

Burton’s approach to the film reminded me of Planet of the Apes. Then the director declared that he would have made a remake of the 1968, arguing correctly that if one wanted to review that history, he could look at the original. Excellent insight, but we all know how it ended. On this occasion, said he did not want to create a mix ofAlice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass , as did the other directors who have grappled with the material. According to him, these movies are translated into a series of bizarre incidents and encounters in which Alice is no longer a spectator role. What I wanted to accomplish was instead a work with a complete and consistent with a greater sense of history. Again, great intuition and great respect. Unfortunately, the end result is not up to expectations.

Even the Mad Hatter. Always good Johnny Depp, but I got tired of seeing him making funny faces and grimaces in the movies of Burton? Excellent, the young Mia Wasikowska in the role of Alice. I appreciated the irony of acting over the lines of Anne Hathaway, made up like a transvestite with those lips, andHelena Bonham Carter . The cast includes many other great actors, but between heavy makeup or digital playback and dubbing Italian, you lose the subtleties of their acting. I discovered the presence of many actors that I appreciate, Stephen Fry and Alan Rickman at all, just reading the names in the credits.

Last note on 3D. Not worth it to me. To see something out of the screen and some tuft of grass in the foreground separated from the background have to seethe film with dark images and colors a bit ‘off. I do not know if it’s the fault of the 3D ADR of Rome, but I also heard other people complain that in other films and other films because the 3D effect of this lack of brightness and I read somewhere that is a characteristic of three-dimensional headlamps . Dark to see the movie gave me trouble in the UP, imagine here! To date I have not seen a movie where the 3D has added something to the experience. Perhaps I’ll see 3D avatars (yes, still have not seen it), but other than that, hardly going to see other films in three dimensions, at least until it can be relinquished to the brightness for the depth.

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