Alice in Wonderland 2010... Disappointed

I know I am a little late on reviewing Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland, but having just seen it, I felt the need to express my disappointment in a film that has made over $1 Billion worldwide.

To start off I just want to acknowledge that I didn't hate this movie at all, I was just expecting more from it. If I had to rate this film, I'd give it a "blah" rating... I actually thought (going into this film) it would be something that I'd enjoy because Tim Burton directing an Alice in Wonderland movie seemed like the perfect blend.

Well, maybe on paper.

So here goes it... I know Alice in Wonderland is a dream, well the original one anyway, and it kinda of lends itself to random events and a skewed visual aspect. However, since this is a live action movie with Alice as 19, I really wished the story could have been stronger and a bit darker. I can only compare this to the Harry Potter series, which deals with similar "growing into adulthood" themes that also locates itself in a different world of weird and crazy creatures.

With that being said, Alice in Wonderland seems to be short on really getting to the inner nature of its characters, which probably could have made the film more interesting. Some might say this is a PG movie for kids, so being too dark would not a good film make... However, Harry Potter has always been a bit dark, but yet proves to yield more depth in its characters.

The other thing that made me icky about this film is the abundant use of CGI. I wasn't too thrilled because it made everything look weird; the filmmakers decided to create a world that's somewhat of a cartoon, but not really a cartoon (the Red Queen's bigger than average head, the talking CGI rabbit, the Mad Hatter's random Beetlejuice dance at the end of the film... i could go on).

Maybe I should have seen this movie in 3D, because of all the colors and the weird characters in the film would have made it more enjoyable. However, I was still expecting more from the master Tim Burton, who brought us Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands, and even Sleepy Hollow. His last few movies, it seems, I couldn't really get into.

I remember watching the animated Disney version of Alice in Wonderland as a kid, and it did indeed have wonder. This live action version of Alice in Wonderland, however, has left the wonder out. Maybe, I've grown out of wonderland, perhaps?

What are your thoughts on this years Alice in Wonderland? Did you enjoy it?