After several months of waiting, it finally happened: Tim Burton's latest "Alice in Wonderland" came out. Of course I had to go and see it right away. In fact, twice in a row.
But, oh the disappointment! The movie was alright but it didn't live up to the hype. I did enjoy it as far as escapism went but unfortunately that's it. The bad side of being a genious like Tim Burton is that the bar is pretty fucking high for each movie; what would be amazing by any other director is now quite neutral in his own category. One specific thing that eats me is the use of clichés: I mean, seriously, why use Red Queen's repeated line when decapitating her champion in the final fight? I do think having the head bounce down the stairs to Red Queen's feet would have been fantastic without that patronising cliché that was used. Also, too bad Alan Rickman's face wasn't used in the CGI compilation of the caterpillar in the end.
On positive side, the Hatter was pretty interesting. Not as mad as I expected -although Depp does really nice job with the occasional glimpses of more plain insanity. Luckily we have the Hare! Now that's fantastic! He's hilarious.. "spoon!". While watching I kept wondering just exactly how some of the things were done, like expanding Bonham Carter's head like that. Perhaps the DVD release will have extras in it; I' probably going to get it so I can watch them and the movie in 2D.
Speaking of 2D... I will never again go see two 3D movies in a row. The system does indeed cause headache before long (to me the limit is about three hours).. the question is why? I'll have to see if I can find that out somewhere. Until then I suggest taking the glasses off: you can watch the film without them but the picture will be a bit odd, as if you're seeing in double. The 3D factor wasn't really used in the film much. In some occasions, most notably during the falling sequence (and the poor hedgehog!), it was interesting but most of the time it was just there. I am very much looking forward to seeing the film in the regular way. And I am so not going to go and watch "Avatar" after this. DVDs in waiting again...
2 kommenttia
Rokkihomo
13.3.2010 14:14
I'm the one who went to see Avatar twice.
Not because it would have been even close to anything of a masterpiece, but... escapism. That and the 911 -allegory.
Alice's turn sometime next week, I hope.
Splenetic
14.3.2010 19:59
911 allegory? Back on top of the To See List.
And don't be put off by my comments of Alice. It just proves Burton's genius that I can bitch about something as trivial as the points I made. Clearly the story and actors are fantastic since this is the worst I can say. Also one mustn't forget the influence of the headache. The 3D criticism, however, is still standing. But I could go and see Avatar as long as I don't watch anything else in 3D before or after the movie. 9/11... hmm...