Alice in Wonderland

Idiosyncratic, eccentric, and unconventional? Perhaps. Enjoyable, charming, and timeless? Absolutely. This newest take on the enchanting Alice in Wonderland/Through the Looking Glass stories by Lewis Carroll is an endearing film, full of delightful characters, equal parts nostalgia and originality, and another beguiling performance from Johnny Depp. The combination of vibrant visuals and a timeless story of a seeming loss of artless childhood, the limitless power of imagination, and the wellsprings of creative life, Alice in Wonderland succeeds.

The story is known well, to say the least. Alice slips into a hole and into another world, with size-altering potions and cakes, talking rabbits, and a disappearing cat with a very large grin. In this film, Burton’s Alice returns to Underland, or Wonderland, only to think herself in another of a series of elaborate fantasies, repeatedly musing aloud that she is just dreaming. We follow her as she discovers the world of Wonderland to be all-too-real, a fascinating land of adventure where she plays the heroine. Or she’s supposed to anyway. She thinks. Maybe. Meeting the Mad Hatter (Depp) and the Queens (Helena Bonham Carter and Anne Hathaway) along the way, Alice finds herself in the midst of one fateful encounter after another. In the end, she will have to face herself and her fears and “believe in impossible things.” (Something her father did six times before breakfast, and we could all do well to learn from his example.)

That great storyteller and thinker C.S. Lewis once wrote, “Sometimes fairy tales say best what needs to be said.” In Alice’s case, what needs to be said? Well, for starters, the truth of the land of imagination. We create and inhabit and learn from the universes we call into existence, and we are hopefully better for it. Alice inhabits a world in which the impossible occurs quite frequently. We soon discover this world is no dream; it is as real as she is, and lives are at stake.

Tim Burton clearly understands the power of the imagination, that faculty of inspired creation, and in this film we are privy to his ability to transform the screen into another world, and to transport us as well. Alice is played simply and sensibly with the guileless guile of a girl coming of age by Mia Wasikows (Defiance). And with the help of faithful Burton companions Depp and Bonham Carter, the other-wordly aspects of Wonderland are magically brought to life before our eyes. Geared towards children, Burton at times leans too heavily on stereotypes here, and the finale could have used more oomph, more complexity, if not more uncertainty. On the whole, though, this film is another wonderful reprise of Alice’s enviable adventures.

This film is certainly catered to a younger audience in many ways, but, to some extent, the beauty of the story is its ability to shine through for exactly this reason. In his dedication to The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, C.S. Lewis wrote to Lucy Barfield, to whom he was Godfather, “Someday you will be old enough to start reading fairy tales again.” If you are old enough, then see this film. If not, wait a few years, “take it down from some upper shelf, dust it, and tell me what you think.”

Rating: 3/4 Stars