Burton's Alice
The fact that this is even a thing that exists in the world makes me possibly happier than the film itself ever could. Let me just say, if this movie had existed when I was a kid I would be a very different person today.
Not actually Danny's strongest score (right now I think my favourite is Chocolate Factory). It's not really noticeable except in the random inexplicable dance number (:DDDD). But Colleen Atwood has fucking outdone herself with the costumes, holy shit. I mean, wow. I already was kind of in love with her designs but this is a whole new level of amazing. I want an Alice doll with little versions of all her costume changes. But really I want most of them for myself.
As expected, Hatter got a lot of screentime compared to the other Wonderlanders Underlanders, but it really was Alice's story, not Johnny Depp In A Hat. Also he did that thing where the character sometimes has one accent and sometimes has another, which I pretty much always find fascinating even if here it was kind of random. I liked the Hatter more than I had expected to!
Dee and Dum were great, with dialogue similar to their weird bits in Looking Glass, overuse of "contrariwise" and all. I liked their interpretation of the March Hare, but I wish he had had more screentime. This might be my new favourite Cheshire Cat, he really felt like a cat in ways that other versions kind of don't. The Dormouse was a complete departure but I don't even care because she was so awesome. But the Rabbit... Wasn't enough of a departure, 'cos he just made me think of AiW!Rabbit only less cool 'cos he doesn't have rollerblades. The Caterpillar... I am kind of neutral on. The voice was great, but the character didn't grab me. The Jabberwock was like Tenniel's drawing come to life (only, with pointy teeth so it is believably a monster). The Jub-Jub Bird was like my drawing come to life. I wasn't as fond of the Bandersnatch, though. (Mine was better.)
The story reminded me a bit of Looking-Glass Wars, only done right. (Sorry if anybody reading this really liked Looking Glass Wars. I thought the bits with Dodgsen were kind of neat but other than that I didn't like it all that much.) The White Queen's makeup still weirds me out. Anne Hathaway already has really big lips, making them black against everything else white is kind of a silly decision. They basically made her into the Good Witch of the North here, which I guess suits the story but where is my mad old lady who turns into a sheep?? The Queen of Hearts Red Queen was SO FUCKING AWESOME, though. I feel like she was channeling Miranda Richardson in Blackadder, which is the best way to play Queens, as far as I'm concerned.
Now, on to things that annoyed me:
1. Alice just deciding not to wear a corset, when the costumes suggest they are quite a bit too early for Dress Reform. That's like deciding not to wear your underwear! Dresses designed for corsets don't fit without them! I know we can only make movies about Ladies Who Were Ahead Of Their Time, but really.
2. Alice's clothes not changing size with her. Seriously, can someone give me a legitimate reason for that to happen? And not a creepy creepy fetishy reason? I just. What was that? (It did allow for lots of costume changes, which were nice. But still, what the fuck why is she naked all the time.)
3. Making Wonderland ~~real makes it lose a lot of its charm. Without quirky dream-logic, it's just not Wonderland, you know? It could be any hidden-magical-world. (I have this problem with basically all Dark Takes On Wonderland*)
4. The ~romance angle with Alice and the Hatter. I pretty much find Alice/Hatter creepy always (although I haven't seen the SyFy Alice yet). He was an adult when she came to Wonderland Underland the first time! Not every story about a girl needs to have a romance in. (Although he seems to think she is a boy on at least two occasions, that could be an interesting angle to explore.)
5. Jabberwocky is the title of the poem. The creature itself is a Jabberwock, no Y.
* Because it's not like the original is dark at all! Oh wait, yeah it is. Read a book. /crotchety
Not actually Danny's strongest score (right now I think my favourite is Chocolate Factory). It's not really noticeable except in the random inexplicable dance number (:DDDD). But Colleen Atwood has fucking outdone herself with the costumes, holy shit. I mean, wow. I already was kind of in love with her designs but this is a whole new level of amazing. I want an Alice doll with little versions of all her costume changes. But really I want most of them for myself.
As expected, Hatter got a lot of screentime compared to the other Wonderlanders Underlanders, but it really was Alice's story, not Johnny Depp In A Hat. Also he did that thing where the character sometimes has one accent and sometimes has another, which I pretty much always find fascinating even if here it was kind of random. I liked the Hatter more than I had expected to!
Dee and Dum were great, with dialogue similar to their weird bits in Looking Glass, overuse of "contrariwise" and all. I liked their interpretation of the March Hare, but I wish he had had more screentime. This might be my new favourite Cheshire Cat, he really felt like a cat in ways that other versions kind of don't. The Dormouse was a complete departure but I don't even care because she was so awesome. But the Rabbit... Wasn't enough of a departure, 'cos he just made me think of AiW!Rabbit only less cool 'cos he doesn't have rollerblades. The Caterpillar... I am kind of neutral on. The voice was great, but the character didn't grab me. The Jabberwock was like Tenniel's drawing come to life (only, with pointy teeth so it is believably a monster). The Jub-Jub Bird was like my drawing come to life. I wasn't as fond of the Bandersnatch, though. (Mine was better.)
The story reminded me a bit of Looking-Glass Wars, only done right. (Sorry if anybody reading this really liked Looking Glass Wars. I thought the bits with Dodgsen were kind of neat but other than that I didn't like it all that much.) The White Queen's makeup still weirds me out. Anne Hathaway already has really big lips, making them black against everything else white is kind of a silly decision. They basically made her into the Good Witch of the North here, which I guess suits the story but where is my mad old lady who turns into a sheep?? The Queen of Hearts Red Queen was SO FUCKING AWESOME, though. I feel like she was channeling Miranda Richardson in Blackadder, which is the best way to play Queens, as far as I'm concerned.
Now, on to things that annoyed me:
1. Alice just deciding not to wear a corset, when the costumes suggest they are quite a bit too early for Dress Reform. That's like deciding not to wear your underwear! Dresses designed for corsets don't fit without them! I know we can only make movies about Ladies Who Were Ahead Of Their Time, but really.
2. Alice's clothes not changing size with her. Seriously, can someone give me a legitimate reason for that to happen? And not a creepy creepy fetishy reason? I just. What was that? (It did allow for lots of costume changes, which were nice. But still, what the fuck why is she naked all the time.)
3. Making Wonderland ~~real makes it lose a lot of its charm. Without quirky dream-logic, it's just not Wonderland, you know? It could be any hidden-magical-world. (I have this problem with basically all Dark Takes On Wonderland*)
4. The ~romance angle with Alice and the Hatter. I pretty much find Alice/Hatter creepy always (although I haven't seen the SyFy Alice yet). He was an adult when she came to Wonderland Underland the first time! Not every story about a girl needs to have a romance in. (Although he seems to think she is a boy on at least two occasions, that could be an interesting angle to explore.)
5. Jabberwocky is the title of the poem. The creature itself is a Jabberwock, no Y.
* Because it's not like the original is dark at all! Oh wait, yeah it is. Read a book. /crotchety