Review of Alice in Wonderland (2010) by Jeffrey N — 08 Oct 2014

While I saw the original 1951 animated film when I was a child, and had the LP that told the story in an abridged form during my younger years, I've never read the Lewis Carroll novels, nor do I really remember much from Walt Disney's original masterpiece. What I can attest to is how beautiful and entertaining Tim Burton's version was.

I've read several reviews from those who did not care much about this film. Those who hated the deviation from the original story. Those who hated the deviation from the animated film. Those who thought it was another fantastical, yet watered down, version of Tim Burton's imagination.

I suppose all of those opinions could be true. However, while I can understand how tired it is to continue seeing Depp in a lot of makeup and playing what appears to be the same character with a different voice in yet another Tim Burton movie, the fact is, this was a Disney feature film. It wasn't budgeted for Tim to go all "Tim Burton" on it. It needed to appeal to kids and adults alike, and this film greatly achieved that. Disney is using the most colorful and imaginative director to bring to life another Disney classic in order to achieve the same success as Pirates of the Caribbean. Adults and children alike are very familiar with Tim Burton and Johnny Depp, so to have expected anything more than what was delivered was unrealistic. To go farther Tim Burtonesque would have resulted in a movie Disney would not have been able to market. To move further away from Tim Burton would have watered down what Tim is good at.

The visuals, action and theatrics of Alice in Wonderland were the perfect mix of original story, contemporary taste and modern talents. No one else could have pulled this film off better.