Review:
Alice in Wonderland Trips Down the Rabbit Hole...in 3D (Ooo)

3D movies have become all the craze, since Avatar blew away box office records only a few months ago. Since then, studios have been pushing and pushing for more movies to get the 3D treatment. Not because it’s the future though, but simply because it gives them an excuse to jack the price x2 and make way more bang for their buck. Alice in Wonderland very much felt like one of these movies.

Directed by legendary, and visionary director Tim Burton, comes this fantastic, mature, and dark retelling of Alice in Wonderland. In actuality, the movie is more like the continuing stories of Alice, as she is 19 years old and returning to Wonderland when situations are worse than ever. The red queen has taken over, and is cutting the heads off everyone who dares cross her.

For the most part, the story is exciting and fun. It’s fairly simple, but takes a few interesting twists to keep you enjoying yourself. There’s a lot of classic lines from the original story, including “Curiouser and curiouser,” and of course the caterpillar and his “Who are you?” but there’s enough new additions for this adaptation to feel fresh.

The acting is fantastic. Johnny Depp plays a fantastic Mad Hatter, and newcomer Mia Wasikowska is well fitting for the role of Alice. Some of my favourite characters, however, are the animated Caterpillar voiced by Alan Rickman, and the fantastic Cheshire Cat by Stephen Fry. So much of the film was animated, that it got to the point I began to wonder "why make it live action at all?"

Admittedly, the visual effects were amazing. Absolutely fantastic, I loved the aesthetic of everything. And so much of everything was computer enhanced, including the red queen, and even Alice in scenes where she had to be too big or too small. The direction and detail that went into everything is so mind-blowing, and works perfectly.

As said, however, the 3D wasn’t so good. My first impression of the movie was poor, with some shoddy 3D effects sparsely littered throughout the first 20 minutes. In fact when there was 3D, which wasn’t often, it was blurry and hard to make out. The movie improved as it went on, but I came across another problem. Some scenes were vibrant and bright, but some really weren’t, and considering the glasses you wear are tinted, those scenes were very hard to make out. This movie just quite likely shouldn’t be watched in 3D. Admittedly, the Cheshire Cat had some cool 3D effects with his smoke, but that was about all the 3D had to offer.