Drug dealers prepare to make tons of cash, Alice In Wonderland arrived this weekend, and it was a trippy, visual, entertaining delight. The movie takes place with Alice returning to “Underland” 13 years after she first visited and meet the Mad Hatter and all of his friends. She meets up with everyone again, but this time must defeat a giant dragon monster in order to dethrone the evil Red Queen. In the end the story turns into a chosen one must defeat the villain in order restore happiness throughout the land deal, in the vein of Narnia, but who cares. What you get is wonderfully dark and fun tale, and thankfully Tim Burton does a good job at mixing together elements from the old story into this new one. Did we really think he wouldn’t?
The movie is every bit as entertaining and weird as you’d expect. Visuals are all realistic and highly detailed, making everything of course look like a giant mushroom trip. My favorite scene had to be the tea party set in the field against a broken down, sad looking windmill. All of the characters from the original story are present including Tweedle Dee and Dum, the caterpillar, The Mad Hatter and his mouse and rabbit, plus a very cool Cheshire Cat that evaporated like magic and had very clever wit. One thing that surprised me was how dark and twisted some of the events were that took place. Yes it’s Tim Burton and he always does that type of thing, but it’s a children story essentially, and seeing someone’s eye removed from its socket will always take me back a bit.
So, of course run out and see this. There’s really nothing else on right now and if you’ve already seen it, do it again. Maybe in 3-D.
