Alice in Wonderland 2010

This movie was a tough one to review, for me. I grew up loving the Disney classic Alice in Wonderland. The thought that Disney was going to take my all time favorite classic and let Hollywood rape it was absurd, to me. Still, I wanted to see it more than anything. So, here's my review of the Alice in Wonderland sequel.

Now, most people went into this expecting a remake since it wasn't titled “Alice in Wonderland 2” or something. As a remake, this movie would fail. It shares characters, but the plot is completely its own. As a sequel, it doesn't make much sense until the middle/end of the movie, but once that glorious moment arrives, it's like everything just comes together wonderfully.

The development that was done on the character Alice and her family was extraordinary, even if the family is only seen for a total of about 20 minutes on screen, if not less. You get to meet her father and mother and sister and insane aunt and all sorts of other people in her life, when in the classic it was just her and a bit of her sister. This movie is completely different from the classic, besides the base characters. You have Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum, the White Rabbit, the Mad Hatter, the March Hare, Abosolem (Mr. Caterpillar), the Queen of Hearts (also known as the Red Queen), a new character, the White Queen and, of course, Alice. All of these characters are introduced quite quickly, and are seen almost as soon as Alice gets to “Underland”. The character development and personality went beyond my expectations.

The character Alice is grown up and the movie focuses more on her as a person than on her adventure through Wonderland. Some people may be disappointed in this fact, but I really like what they did with Alice. She seemed more real. She had a personality and voice in the movie, and demonstrated growth. The visual effects were stunning, and I highly recommend seeing it in 3D, if you choose to see it at all. The dialogue was weak, at times, and there aren't many funny parts. I didn't laugh through the entire movie except for maybe once, despite there being some obvious jokes thrown in. It was very dramatic and the climax of the movie really delivered. Who would have thought that Alice ends up in a suit of armor, wielding a sword preparing to fight the Jabberwocky? Not me. She transformed from an innocent little girl, lost in a world of her imagination, to becoming a hero amongst the people of another land. It's like I saw my childhood grow and become something epic. This movie will never replace the classic, in my heart, but it certainly delivered on all points. I went into this movie with high hopes and low expectations, and I was blown away. I give Alice in Wonderland an 8/10. I loved it.