Alice in Wonderland

[shipperx]

I didn't see Tim Burton's "Alice in Wonderland" when it came out in theaters, but I rented it today (because it's summer and precious little is on TV). It's a bit of professional fanfic, I think, since it's not really any of the books but an extension of them with Alice coming back to Wonderland as a teenager (I had read somewhere that the decision to do this was because the original books wander around quite a bit and don't have a strong character arc for Alice).

I have to say that I rather liked Burton's story approach.

Alice is a young woman in the late 19th century being railroaded into a conventional 19th Century life, and he/they/whoever took the approach of reflecting her struggles in a dreamlike Underland/Wonderland with her trying to discover who she is, working up the courage to slay the Jabberwocky, proving to herself that she's strong enough to face her own issues, to take charge of her own life, to not conform, and to go out to have unconventional adventures in the real world. Rather a nice message to send little girls, I think.

Anyway, I enjoyed it.

Comments

[jamalov29.livejournal.com]

I enjoyed it a lot, too, enjoyed how Burton took the tale to create something different.
I also liked the young woman playing Alice,her 'journey' , and many moments that I thought were poetic.

[gamiila.livejournal.com]

So did I, when I saw it in the cinema a couple of months ago. Does the 3D work on the dvd, or did you watch it in the normal format?

[sharelle.livejournal.com]

I liked it too for many of the same reasons. I've never been a fan of Alice in Wonderland, in general (especially the Disney cartoon). I always found it creepy and unsettling. Strangely, the Burton version, which one might think would be even creepier and stranger, worked better for me story-wise than any other version I've seen.

[wildrider.livejournal.com]

I haven't had a chance to see it, but I'm glad to hear it's got a good story. I'd heard it was "pro fanfic" and wondered why it wasn't titled "Alice's Return to Wonderland" or something, because leaving the original title does seem to indicate the original story...

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

They do use much of the original story. She's simply repeating it.

It starts with her as a nine-year-old telling her father that she's had a bad dream (and explains enough that we know she's talking about Wonderland.) Then it cuts to a point where she's nineteen and we learn that her father died (at some point) and meet various people in her real life, most of whom remind us a little of the Wonderland characters. It's not exactly a one to one ratio on all of them (though Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum are quite obvious), but there are elements of people in her real life in Wonderland only in a vary strange dream-like way. There's a definite impression that the character of the Mad Hatter is influenced by her late father, which lends a sweetness to the Alice/Mad Hatter interaction and influences what is basically a story of Alice growing up.

In the real world she's being told to dress properly (i.e. a corset) and to marry someone she (and the audience) doesn't particularly like because he's rich and 'the best that she can do.' After all, she 'wouldn't want to end up [a spinster] like their aunt.'

Alice ends up wigging out, running away from confrontation, and falling down the rabbit hole to repeat many of the elements we remember from the original story with the Wonderland characters confused as to why she doesn't remember any of it. (One character says she's "lost much of her muchness" in the years since she was there last[since her father's death])

Storywise, the adventure is her learning to find the courage to be herself and take charge of her own life.

[ms-scarletibis.livejournal.com]

I haven't seen it, but I'd like to. Particularly after reading this.

And...did Depp remind you of Madonna at all to you in that make up? Just me then? Okey doke.

[wildrider.livejournal.com]

I definitely have to rent it!