Alice In Wonderland

Tim Burton and Johnny Depp have teamed up to make some movies that are always going to 'be around'. Alice in Wonderland is definitely one of those movies. Their movies don't change the way movies are going to be made in the future. They don't redefine a genre. They (maybe exclude Scissorhands from this) are always fun or good but, for me, never amazing. They are, however always really clever, kind of 'weird', and worth seeing. In fact, I have seen most of their movies more than three times because they are always fun to watch. This movie is getting bad reviews across the board and I don't think it should. I also don't think it should get amazing reviews across the board. I think it should just be chalked up as another Tim Burton and Johnny Depp movie. There are a few reasons why this is not getting good reviews and I think by looking at these reasons we can kind of see what this movie is about and how if you have not seen it yet, it would be better to know what it is about before you hear someone tell you if it is good or not.

It sucks that this movie has come out right after Avatar. James Cameron spent 8 years making Avatar with a budget that was ridiculous. Avatar has indeed ch

anged the way we are going to view and make movies. Mainly, because it took 3-D too a whole other level. Tim Burton and Johnny Depp were both adamant about people needing to see this in 3-D. I'm not completely sure I agree with them. Maybe last year you would have needed to see it in 3-D. But this year, Avatar has done such awesome stuff with 3-D that it is going to take a director tons of money and tons of time to match what Avatar did. The 3-D in this movie is not Avatar-esque and therefore is going to be a let-down to anyone that has recently seen and been amazed by neo-ferngulley.

It also sucks that Johnny Depp has created such a huge following for being 'weird'. It makes movie-goers way too excited about seeing him be weird in his next movie. Indeed, he is really weird and Edward S-hands, Jack Sparrow, Willy Wonka and Sweeney Todd are all weird. Indeed, JD and all these characters are really fun to watch. The problem is, and I think it has finally come out in this movie, is that at some point all these characters run together and JD doesn't seem as novel and cool as he once was. He is still really awesome in this movie, even though he does a special effects dance and meshes all his weird characters into one. But I can see why people are getting tired of it and need JD to stare eerily stare into their soul like he did in Sleepy Hollow, Secret Window and Donnie Brasco. It should be said though, that in my opinion, he was still pretty good in this movie.

Any remake of a classic story is going to garner some bad reviews. Even more so if that classic story is one that people may say, "The chess board scene was just so magical for me when I was a kid." about. The people that are going to be jacked about going to see this movie are going to be the same people that most likely have strong emotions about the story of Alice in Wonderland. And, it is probably safe to say, that Tim Burton's interpretation of Alice in Wonderland is going to be freakishly different than the average European or American kid's. So, yeah, Burton's means by which to tell the story is really different than the children's books and focuses on stuff that may or may not have any importance to the average viewer, but if you haven't seen this or if you have, I don't think being pissed about the movie not doing what you wanted it do in reference to your childhood memories is a good thing to judge the movie on. You would do better to just let it be a totally new story.

Speaking of the story, however, it was told so slowly in this movie. Avatar was told slowly but slow story telling fell in the wayside while you were being entertained with shit floating around in front of your face. The 3-D in this movie, until the very last scene was not spectacular enough to keep you entertained while the story or acting was average.

All in all though, I think this was a pretty good movie. Don't expect it to be an Avatar or S-hands and don't expect it to bring back the memories of childhood. Just expect it to be another movie where JD and Tim Burton are really weird and creative and I think you will like it.