(no subject)
❀ I'm late, I'm late! Again!
Happy Birthday, nutmeg3!! :D
I hope you had a wondrous day. If you didn't: here is a raincheck for another wondrous day to be cashed in a.s.a.p.
❀ On Thursday, I saw Alice In Wonderland. Not in 3D. *sigh* I screwed up and looked at the wrong showtimes. (And this, after putting in my contacts - specifically so I wouldn't have to wear 3D glasses over my glasses - for the first time in over two weeks, even though my eyes aren't completely back to normal.) I could have come back a few hours later for a 3D showing, or maybe tried another theater. But I was there and decided to just stay.
Visually, it was a feast. As with most Tim Burton movies. I thought Tim captured the surreal, nonsensical, dangerously dreamlike atmosphere of Carroll's world very well. Even with the deviations from text, the spirit remained there. Interesting blend of elements from "Adventures" and "Through the Looking-Glass." I assume more people are familiar with the former, so it makes sense for Tim to have revisited/referenced it despite the fact that the film focuses on Alice's return like the latter. I loved the rocking-horse-flies, all the court animals, the ramshackle tea party with the deteriorated windmill in the background, the tumble down the rabbit-hole with assorted shelves and sundry of other items and the room at the bottom. I liked that the characters straddled the line between endearing and just short of irritating, which carries over from the stories as well. At least for me, I should say - I always found most of the characters, including Alice, to be awesome and frustrating, often simultaneously. It served to make them real, despite the unrealness of everything, and certainly rendered them more interesting. Johnny's Mad Hatter is a great example of this: swinging between moods (hell, even personalities - what was with that sudden onset of Scottishness?), sweet and maniacal and fidgety and doddering and sensible and even heroic. The subtext of romantic tension between the Hatter and Alice was intriguing while a bit disquieting too.
Further on the subject of the Mad Hatter: did the enlarged eyes remind anyone else of Elijah Wood? Eye Man!
And further still, did anyone else find the dance rather jarring? It felt out of place to me. Ditto for Alice's echoing of it in the garden upon her exit. I get that it was a light, little "fuck you" to the snobbish crowd and its social standards... but it seemed forced.
Loved Michael Sheen's and Alan Rickman's (whose voice I will never tire of hearing) White Rabbit and Caterpillar, respectively. Crispin Glover's Knave reminded me of Alan in Robin Hood - so darkly sexy. Deplorable, really! But in a hot way. Heh.
Dormouse was very cute and feisty, but didn't seem very Dormouse-like.
It's been awhile since I've read the stories, but were all the names from the original text? I mean, the White Rabbit's real name, and the White Queen's and the name of her castle? I don't recall the Caterpillar having a name either. And it seemed like Alice pulled some of them out of thin air without those names being told to her (or us) beforehand.
While I liked the journey of Alice discovering herself, realizing her strength and autonomy, I don't think we got to see enough of that journey. Nor did we get to see enough behind the conflict: the Red Queen is simply evil (possibly from a brain tumor o_O) and the White Queen simply good, and we just have to accept it as fact because it's what we're told. But I did like that the dominant characters here were female, all strong in their own ways. I loved the image of Alice going off to battle in her armor, looking vaguely reminiscent of Joan of Arc but without quite so much martyrdom.
During several points during the movie, I was reminded of LOTR. The swooping shots of the Red Queen's castle brought to mind similar shots of Minas Tirith (the castle itself almost mimicked MT, only with the turrets and such trimmed in red). Likewise, the scene between Alice and the White Queen on the balcony reminded me of Gandalf and Pippin the night before the big battle in ROTK.
And another LOTR connection: Hi, Marton Csokas!
To be honest, the movie didn't meet my expectations. And those expectations were high, possibly too high. Sometimes Tim knocks it out of the park (as with Sweeney Todd) and sometimes he makes a valiant effort but fails to make a movie that's anything more than decently entertaining (like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory). It's good, very good, but I think Alice lacks the sheer brilliance that I know Tim can bring to the screen.
And, to be fair, this is also one of my favorite stories. Which raises expectations even more. But so was Sweeney, and Tim not only met but exceeded my expectations for that adaptation.
That said, I do want to see it again. In 3D this time. (Note to self: try reading the listings next time.)
Happy Birthday, nutmeg3!! :D
I hope you had a wondrous day. If you didn't: here is a raincheck for another wondrous day to be cashed in a.s.a.p.
❀ On Thursday, I saw Alice In Wonderland. Not in 3D. *sigh* I screwed up and looked at the wrong showtimes. (And this, after putting in my contacts - specifically so I wouldn't have to wear 3D glasses over my glasses - for the first time in over two weeks, even though my eyes aren't completely back to normal.) I could have come back a few hours later for a 3D showing, or maybe tried another theater. But I was there and decided to just stay.
Visually, it was a feast. As with most Tim Burton movies. I thought Tim captured the surreal, nonsensical, dangerously dreamlike atmosphere of Carroll's world very well. Even with the deviations from text, the spirit remained there. Interesting blend of elements from "Adventures" and "Through the Looking-Glass." I assume more people are familiar with the former, so it makes sense for Tim to have revisited/referenced it despite the fact that the film focuses on Alice's return like the latter. I loved the rocking-horse-flies, all the court animals, the ramshackle tea party with the deteriorated windmill in the background, the tumble down the rabbit-hole with assorted shelves and sundry of other items and the room at the bottom. I liked that the characters straddled the line between endearing and just short of irritating, which carries over from the stories as well. At least for me, I should say - I always found most of the characters, including Alice, to be awesome and frustrating, often simultaneously. It served to make them real, despite the unrealness of everything, and certainly rendered them more interesting. Johnny's Mad Hatter is a great example of this: swinging between moods (hell, even personalities - what was with that sudden onset of Scottishness?), sweet and maniacal and fidgety and doddering and sensible and even heroic. The subtext of romantic tension between the Hatter and Alice was intriguing while a bit disquieting too.
Further on the subject of the Mad Hatter: did the enlarged eyes remind anyone else of Elijah Wood? Eye Man!
And further still, did anyone else find the dance rather jarring? It felt out of place to me. Ditto for Alice's echoing of it in the garden upon her exit. I get that it was a light, little "fuck you" to the snobbish crowd and its social standards... but it seemed forced.
Loved Michael Sheen's and Alan Rickman's (whose voice I will never tire of hearing) White Rabbit and Caterpillar, respectively. Crispin Glover's Knave reminded me of Alan in Robin Hood - so darkly sexy. Deplorable, really! But in a hot way. Heh.
Dormouse was very cute and feisty, but didn't seem very Dormouse-like.
It's been awhile since I've read the stories, but were all the names from the original text? I mean, the White Rabbit's real name, and the White Queen's and the name of her castle? I don't recall the Caterpillar having a name either. And it seemed like Alice pulled some of them out of thin air without those names being told to her (or us) beforehand.
While I liked the journey of Alice discovering herself, realizing her strength and autonomy, I don't think we got to see enough of that journey. Nor did we get to see enough behind the conflict: the Red Queen is simply evil (possibly from a brain tumor o_O) and the White Queen simply good, and we just have to accept it as fact because it's what we're told. But I did like that the dominant characters here were female, all strong in their own ways. I loved the image of Alice going off to battle in her armor, looking vaguely reminiscent of Joan of Arc but without quite so much martyrdom.
During several points during the movie, I was reminded of LOTR. The swooping shots of the Red Queen's castle brought to mind similar shots of Minas Tirith (the castle itself almost mimicked MT, only with the turrets and such trimmed in red). Likewise, the scene between Alice and the White Queen on the balcony reminded me of Gandalf and Pippin the night before the big battle in ROTK.
And another LOTR connection: Hi, Marton Csokas!
To be honest, the movie didn't meet my expectations. And those expectations were high, possibly too high. Sometimes Tim knocks it out of the park (as with Sweeney Todd) and sometimes he makes a valiant effort but fails to make a movie that's anything more than decently entertaining (like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory). It's good, very good, but I think Alice lacks the sheer brilliance that I know Tim can bring to the screen.
And, to be fair, this is also one of my favorite stories. Which raises expectations even more. But so was Sweeney, and Tim not only met but exceeded my expectations for that adaptation.
That said, I do want to see it again. In 3D this time. (Note to self: try reading the listings next time.)