Back Stage

SASA MAJUMA | Friday March 19, 2010 00:00

 

It is the latest from Tim Burton's stable, a place populated by his favourites including his wife Helena Bonham Carter and Johnny Depp who stars in most of his films. 'Alice' combines acting with graphics and CG characters such as Absolem and Cheshire Cat, but they are given voices too. Some of the creatures, like the Jabberwocky-well ... do go and see and hear for yourself.

This new film is not your normal 'Alice' as found in the many previous movies about her going back over 100 years. Those events in this film transpired about a dozen years ago. Alice Kingsleigh (acted by Mia Wasikowska) is now 18 going on 19 and ready to be married off. Her suitor she finds boring, but a white rabbit in a waistcoat is entrancing (voice of Michael Sheen). At any moment she will prefer it over the man her mother wants her to marry, an upper-class twit (Leo Bill). Our mature Alice seems to have forgotten her previous adventures in Wonderland - it was only a dream - or was it? She keeps asking herself and others. 'How can I be the wrong Alice when this is my dream?'

The new adventure is made possible by combining Lewis Carroll's original tale, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865) with Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There (1871) where the other creatures are found including the Jabberwocky; some are left out, others are added. Enjoy the frumious Bandersnatch. What is amazing is how much the film has kept to the vision found in the original drawings by John Tenniel.  We know that Alice will meet the bulbous-headed Red Queen (Helena Bonham Carter), later the shining, floating White Queen (Anne Hathaway), and discover after her long bouncing fall that she has arrived, after a series of ups and downs in stature, in Underland. We also know that the 'Frabjous Day' will soon arrive.

The Red Queen rules all now, her power made possible by her penchant for booming out 'Off with her head', and the support she gets from her Stayne, the dark Knave of Hearts (Crispin Glover) with his eye patch. The ace up her sleeve is her Jabberwocky (voice of Christopher Lee).

The floating Cheshire Cat (voice of Stephen Fry) with its wide toothy grin will take Alice to the Mad Hatter (our beloved Johnny Depp). Tweedledum and Tweedledee (both played by Matt Lucas) will seem to merge into Siamese twins, even bounce off each other in their roundedness. Absolem the blue hookah-smoking Caterpillar (voiced by Alan Rickman), absorbed in his haze, will still have the final word. When the cat cries 'Down with the bloody big head', we know who he is referring to.

The Mad Hatter's perpetual tea party, 'My favourite trio of fanatics', attended by March Hare (voice of Paul Whitehouse) and Dormouse (voice of Barbara Windsor), provides a unique sanctuary for Alice when the Red Queen's minions come looking for her head. Now what were tea pots made for? Alice will even get to fly sitting onto the brim of the Mad Hatter's hat.

Bayard the Bloodhound (voice of Timothy Spall) is a double agent, ever hopeful of freeing his wife and pups from the clutches of the Red Queen. The chorus of the Tall Flower Faces (voice of Imelda Staunton) is also here. Listen for the recitation of the famous poem Jabberwocky by the Mad Hatter, 'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves did gyre and gimble in the wabe'- he will even get a chance to make a multitude of hats for the Red Queen.  Burton's most recent scary movie that did very well in the box office was Coraline (2009). In 2008 Burton's Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street picked up an Oscar nomination for Johnny Depp as 'Best Actor'. Depp is famous for his Edward Scirrorhands (1990). Burton also made The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) and his marvellous film, Sleepy Hollow (1999) that also starred Johnny Depp. Tim Burton's Corpse Bride (Mmegi, 12 February 2005) used voices, puppets and CGI. Also out in 2005 was his 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory' (Mmegi, 12 August 2005). Alice in Wonderland is one hour and 48 minutes long. It is rated PG (but it could be scary to those under 13). The director is Tim Burton. The script is by Linda Woolverton. It is based on Lewis Carroll's children's books. The cinematographer is Dariusz Wolski. The editor is Chris Lebenzon. The music is by Danny Elfman. The costumes are by Colleen Atwood. The senior visual effects supervisor is Ken Ralston and the makeup design is by Valli O'Reilly. Email:sasa_majuma@yahoo.co.uk