Alice in Wonderland

Thank goodness for Alice.

I thought it was quite the clever re-imagining. Mia Wasikowska did a stunning job of it. She maintained that sort of whimsical naiveté that recalls the original Alice - young Alice - and maintained it convincingly. And, of course, Johnny Depp was a perfectly Mad Hatter. His performance even brought something new to the role: a certain resemblance to split personality disorder. (Apologies if this is alluded to in the novel. Yet again I deserve to be covered in tomato etcetera for the fact that I have not yet read it.) My opinion of him stays very high.

Moving on, the visual effects were wonderful. Even if Crispin Glover's animated body was consistently unnerving, it was more than made up for by the Bandersnatch with his shark-style double rows of teeth. And of course the Jabberwock. On the subject of the Jabberwock, does anyone know the difference between 'Jabberwocky' and 'Jabberwock'? There's a flair button on facebook which asserts the former is plural and the latter singular. Personally I was always simply confused by the whole thing. I'd only be more so if Jabberwocky is plural - I always thought there was only one of said beast. Oh well.

For this production I simply must touch on the costuming. Alice's outfits get progressively more interesting as the movie goes on, ending of course with armor complete with vorpal sword. I love movies that put heroines in full armor. It made me remember Elizabeth: The Golden Age. There's something very triumphant and poetic about ladies in armor. I'm not exactly sure what it is, but I hope to see it more often.

In short my assessment is that Alice in Wonderland is a film with an all-star cast, impressive visuals (in both two and three dimensions), and admirable costuming: in my book, a success. But before I depart, ladies and gentlemen, how is a Raven like a Writing Desk? I'm sure I don't know. I suppose we'll have to wait and see if the Hatter wakes up from his perpetual quicksilver-induced daze enough to tell us one day.