Alice In Wonderland (Live-Action)

Tim Burton and Lewis Carrol's "Alice" books seemed, when this project was announced, to be a perfect combination. I waited with great anticipation to see the result and I know many others did too - and I was not disappointed. The story follows an adult Alice, who is at a crossroads after being proposed to her by a wealthy heir, but one whom she feels nothing for. At just this moment, she espies the White Rabbit, who leads her into Wonderland, a strange land that she visited in her childhood, but believed to be just a dream. There she meets the familiar characters of the Mad Hatter and his tea drinking posse, Tweedledum and Tweedledee, the Caterpillar and the Cheshire Cat. They have been waiting hopefully for her return, as she is the one who will end the rule of the paranoid and violent Red Queen, a character amalgam of the Red Qeen from "Through the Looking Glass" and The Queen of Hearts from "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland". She eventualy becomes the champion of the benevolent but exiled White Queen and is set on a collision course with the Red Queen and her forces, including the sly and mean-spirited Knave of Hearts (who seems to amalgamate The Knave of Hearts from "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" and The Red Knight from "Through the Looking Glass") and the fearsome Jabberwocky, the dragon that protects the Red Queen from challenges. Many, it sems, were disappointed with this. Some complain that it eschews the books fragmented plot in favour of a quest structure, while others complain of the lack of storyline. Burton, by his own admission focuses on characters and imagery rather than story. This is a valid approach as cinema is a visual medium - not like a novel. This being said, I was surprised that Burton was more interested in a version with a story than the fragmented original, although this may not have been his decision alone. The result, however, works. There is just enough of a story to give the characters more of a history and motivation - a feature of Burton's previous film adaptations of "Sleepy Hollow" and "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" - in which characters were given more depth by introducing more of a back story. Yes, as many have pointed out, the film does utilise the monomyth structure as many other recent fantasy epics have - but stories do tend to use it - and this is not the first "Alice" adaptation to do so. The film has to be judged on the merits of how it achieves its own goal, and Burton's key is in using his distinctive imagination to give this "Alice" and this monomyth its own peculiar feel. Some may miss elements of Carrol's nonsensical wit that are not here, but there is sufficient essence of Carrol in the language of the characters and the confusion Alice faces in dealing with many of them. It must be remembered that much of the plot is derived from "Through the Looking Glass" which has more structure than "Alice in Wonderland". The story of "The Jabberwocky", a poem from "Through the Looking Glass" is also used in the plot structure - introducing the key folkloric motif of the special weapon - the Vorpal Sword. The brilliant result of this is in creating a new, surreal version of the monomyth filtered through the sensibilities of Carrol and Burton. The CGI I is used sparringly and has the weighted feel of Burton's stop motion work, making it feel more real and much warmer than much of the cold, slick CGI of other films. Some say that the 3D was tacked on and not integral, I offer other adjectives: unintruseive and understated. I ddo not want to walk away from a film with my memory focused on the special effects - to me there is a great failing in the characters if this is the case. Burton's brilliant visual quality stands out in every frame of the film - beautifully tonal and detailed. Slightly gothic and with a wonderful technicolour palette. All actors are outstanding. The CGI characters are voiced to perfection. Wasikowska is a curious and assertive presence without gushing at her surroundings like an Alice from a bad panto adaptation. Depp is a delighfully nuanced, bi-polar Mad Hatter with the right blen of whimsy and psychological damage. Bonham-Carter is a wicked Red Queen, delightfully spoiled and OTT, but also showing the damage that made her a monster. Ann Hathaway is a warm but motivated presence who has done exceelent work in the building of her character. Some find the characters a little cold - I find an emotional honesty rather than the sentimental syrup many expect from family fantasy and Hollywood movies in general. This is a wonderful fantasy that harkens back to great fantasy films like "Labrynth", The Dark Crystal", "The Princess Bride", "Return to Oz" and even Disney's earlier animations such as "Sleeping Beauty" "Snow White" and their original "Alice in Wonderland" - that were unafraid to be stylistically bold, slightly wierd, a bit scary, very whimsical and a lot of fun!

I love this movie!! And now I can watch it anytime I want!!

Johnny is all you need say. Loved the movie

Had never seen it before, fell instantly in love. Well done indeed.

In spite of having to read many negative reviews, I was still curious to see this movie. I not a huge Burton fan neither, although I've enjoyed some of his previous work. But it was something about «Alice in Wonderland» which seemed appealing; its visual look and its quirky characters. Still I had in mind the several hostile reviews, which accused this movie to be a flat, soulless and muddled attempt of a classic, which I also feared it would. But after finally seeing the movie, I can claim my disagreement with the reviewers. In fact, I'm not sure if we even saw the same movie. What exactly was so terrible about it? Overall, I found «Alice in Wonderland» to be very entertaining. I feared that the movie would lose some of it's magic as the main character entered to Wonderland, but fortunately it never did. I enjoyed the movie from the very start to its very end. It's a cute fantasy/adventure movie, equal to the «Harry Potter» and the «Narnia» flicks (although I personally felt «Prince Caspain» had some slight weaknesses). But beware; there are some frightening creatures that may scare the youngest in the audience, so the PG rating is suitable. One of the films biggest advantages is it visuals. With it lush and dark landscapes, cute animals and colorful costumes, the flick is beautifully to look at and I can't wait to enjoy the sharpness of the picture on Blu Ray. The score of Danny Elfman is effective and gives the movie a dreamy, atmospheric tone. The characters are mostly passable. They don't steal the show entirely, but neither do they appear as distractive or annoying. Although I've always liked the original novel of Lewis Carroll, I must say that I found this new twist of the story fresh and creative, depicting the «wrong» Alice's adventures in Wonderland as a young adult. Linda Woolverton, who's behind the excellent screenplays for «Beauty and the Beast», «The Lion King» and «Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey», has written a solid and decent script to «Wonderland». Many have claimed this screenplay to be muddled and confusing, but I didn't felt it that way at all. Once again, did we even saw the same movie? Mia Wasikowska is quite decent as Alice. Although she doesn't have a distinctive emanation/charisma who characterizes other young actresses at her age, she's still delivers a nice and acceptable performance. Personally I felt her screen presence expanded during the movie. Johnny Depp is indeed a good actor. To claim anything else, would be a like claiming that the climate isn't humid in the rain forest. Although I've never been crazy over Depp's work, he's goofy and great as The Mad Hatter, which is indeed the best character in the movie. Helena Bonham Carter is also believable and funny as the Red Queen (just prepare yourself to hear «Off with his head» at least a hundred times during the movie, ha ha). While Anne Hathaway, on the other hand, is warm and passable as the White Queen (although I must confess it was a little distracting to see her with a blonde wig and with a British accent). In fact, I can't see anything wrong with this new Burton version of «Wonderland». I truly enjoyed it and recommend it to everyone as possible. It didn't deserve the negative criticism at all, in my opinion. With quality films like this, perhaps I could finally forgive Disney for its recent mistakes? (*Cough, leaving hand drawn animation behind and promoting teen stars as crazy, cough*) So follow every white rabbit you see and follow him to the hole... Wonderland is waiting... BONUS FEATURES Unsurprisingly, most of the bonus features lies on the Blu ray disc. However, the amount of the bonus features are disappointingly skimpy. The featurettes are divided in two sections. First are the Wonderland Characters and Making of Wonderland. First up in the Wonderland Characters-section is "Finding Alice", which is about the casting of main lead. During a short brief or times, there are interviews with Mia Wazikovska, Tim Burton, Helena Bonham-Carter and Anne Hathaway. They bring up Burton's vision that differs from the Novel, the character arc of the protagonist and some of the clothing designs. Wazikovska herself comes off as a humble, mature and reflective young woman. Next on the list is "The Mad Hatter", which is about Depp's insights on his character. Depp manages to give a brief, but interesting research about real hatters, while he talks about his own sketches and visions for the Mad Hatter, comparing to Burton's sketches for the character. And of course the costume and stylizing of the character. "The Futterwacken Dance" explains the origins of the fictional Futterwacken dance which Depp's character dances in the movie. The dance was based on an internal joke between the director and Depp. Without spoiling too much, there are interviews with several guys who were in charge of the "Futterwacken". Next is "The Red Queen", which centers about the origins of the Red Queen. Interviews with Bonham-Carter and technical members of the crew, they discuss the design and the costuming of the character, as well as Helena's own thoughts of her own performance. "Time-Lapse: Sculpting The Red Queen" is a short video demonstrating the transformation and sculpting of Helena as the Red Queen, while Helena and other make-up artists narrates during the video. Next is "The White Queen", which is about the creation of The White Queen. Hathaway explains her own, early visions for the character, as well the costuming and the other crew members' thoughts of the character. The first featurette in the Making Wonderland section is Scoring Wonderland. An interesting featurette about the scoring of the film. During an interview with composer Danny Elfman, we'll receive his thoughts about his collaboration with Burton, as well as his process about the film scoring and especially making the "Alice" anthem. Quite interesting and informative. Effecting Wonderland is an interesting featurette about the CGI aspect of the film, the creation of the fully CGI characters in the film and how to exaggerate the looks of the human characters with CGI. Stunts in Wonderland is a brief featurette about the stunt process of Mia Wazikowska. Making the Proper Size is about the process of giving the character of Alice the proper size. Interviews with Waizkowska and other crew members reveals the process of making Wazikowska look to small or too big in the various scenes in the film. Cakes of Wonderland interviews a baker which made all the cakes in the final film, especially the Eat Me cakes. She talks about the ingredients which she used in the film to make the cakes. Tea Party Props centers about the making of the Iconic Tea Party table and all of its props. So there you have it; Tim Burton's version of Alice in Wonderland. While it's not one of the most memorable movies of its genre, it is still a solid and good movie that has gotten way more underrated than it deserves. The quality of the picture is superb and so is the sound. While most of the featurettes are interesting and enjoyable, there could still have been of more of them. However, this edition is still recommendable for every fan of this movie.

Love this movie

Anne Hathaway and Johnny Depp... what a great combination of stardom to pepper into this thrilling children's story with a bit of a twist. We all know the basics of Alice in Wonderland, but it's an enjoyable path down the "suspension of disbelief" to have it delivered in this context. It's as much a coming-of-age story as an adventure and love story... with all kinds of humourous little asides and more than a bit of gore and guts in the dragon slaying scenes... so might not be approriate for all ages.

Already had the dvd but lost it. Great movie!

Der Film ist auch sehr gut

LOVED IT..REALLY ENJOYED THIS TALE.GO FOR IT

OJO: Comento sólo la versión 2D Imagen y sonido extraordinarios, de lo mejor que me he encontrado nunca, para sacar todo el rendimiento a un buen equipo casero. V.O. en Inglés y excelente doblaje al Español, con voces muy adecuadas a los personajes (en algún caso incluso "más adecuadas" que las originales). Buenos extras, con un interesante making-of que incluye extensos comentarios del director y los actores. Sobre la película, me ha parecido excelente, posiblemente la mejor versión sobre Alicia de las que se han hecho en cine. Gran dirección de Tim Burton, producción cuidada al máximo en todos los detalles (fotografía, vestuario, planos, efectos especiales, maquillaje). El personaje de Alicia muy bien desarrollado, a caballo entre lo infantil y lo adulto, lleno de matices. Gran elenco de actores que dan un enorme nivel, empezando por una jovencísima y casi desconocida hasta entonces Mia Wasikowska, que sencillamente "es" Alicia. No es que ella se meta en el personaje, es que el personaje se mete en ella. Y además un sensacional Johnny Depp, una excelente Helena Bonham-Carter y una muy correcta Anne Hathaway. Recomendación entusiasta para los niños que pronto van a dejar de serlo y para los adultos que en el fondo siguen (seguimos) siendo un poco niños.

Tout est bon sur tout les plans; Tim Burton s'est surpassé: le casting des personnages est si judicieux, que déjà la présence des individus contribue naturellement à leur crédibilité. En fait, si le réalisateur campe l'histoire en pleine Angleterre victorienne, prêtant hommage au monde traditionnel du livre de 1865 de Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, il s'inspire largement (sans en parler dans les bonus du jeu PC bien antérieur à la parution du film, American McGee's Alice, jeu développé par Rogue en 2000, les soldats de la reine rouge, de l'apparence du chat et les décors présentent des similitudes très troublantes... associant l'oeuvre d'alice in wonderland à " De l'autre côté du miroir" de l'écrivain et poète anglais Lewis Carroll); l'héroïne principale, l'australienne d'origine polonaise Mia Wasikowska allie une apparence éminemment romantique slave, avec ses longs cheveux blonds bouclés et ses lèvres charnues tranchant un teint Timburtonien blafard, et elle se démène avec énergie pour affronter ses peurs et démons, pour quitter sa position de babydoll ( à l'époque place bienséante pour une jeune femme à marier de la bonne société), afin de devenir une femme, qui assume choix et risques. Johny Depp ne nous étonne plus, tellement il développe des talents accomplis de caméléons, il allie ici une fragilité proche de la folie, et un courage désespéré de chapelier prêt au sacrifice au service de la reine blanche. Je suis enchanté de mon achat, mon fils de 6 ans, apprécie beaucoup le film, je lui ai tenu la main, dans certaines scènes de tension émotionnelle plus que hémoglobine. Le film reste beau et très immersif; le son comme l'image sont vraiment d'une HD irréprochable tant en qualité image ,en piqué pixels, que dans la progressivité du champs de profondeur, pas de flou, tout est surprenant et ne fatigue pas les yeux, pour le son, tout dépend de votre sensibilité, la fougue de la VOST sous la direction d'interprètes jeunes comme Lavigne.

Arrived okay. Watched the movie. The resolution of the video visually looked like it was in 720 and not in 1080. I watched it on my computer. The sound and video quality was very good just the same. I chose this version because it was not animated, and was produced with real actors. Production quality of this video (movie) was excellent. Very enjoyable to watch. If you like this type of story/video, it would be very enjoyable to watch. Disney movies are always of terrific quality and well produced.