2 Guys 1 Couch

Seeing the original trailer for this movie made me so happy to see that Tim Burton and Johnny Depp were involved with this project. The original Disney animated classic remains an all-time favorite for many, myself included. Tim Burton has provided us with so many wonderfully distorted films. Many of the times Depp has been included in these tales.

Johnny Depp plays the role of the Mad Hatter. The problem with this is that it’s cool. It’s actually too cool for this movie. It feels like there was this huge back-story and script written for the Mad Hatter just so we could have more Johnny Depp-time. Alice is somewhat of a side-story because mostly you just want to see what’s going on with that crazy Mad Hatter.

I thought Johnny Depp did a great job. I also thought the girl that played Alice, Mia Wasikowska, was a nice fit. The entire look of the movie is a magically twisted backdrop of Wonderland. It feels entirely too dark at times compared to the story and it just lacked something. Maybe it’s because the entire movie was done in front of a green screen and most of the characters were either digitally created or enhanced. 

Even when Alice meets the White Queen, Ann Hathaway, it still feels like an overlay of darkness. Darkness has a place in Alice in Wonderland, for sure. There is no doubt about that and it would be hard for anyone to come close to what Burton has done here visually.

It just falls slightly short in certain categories, but that’s the problem with remaking a story that everyone knows so well. This is far from the story in the animated Disney movie, which is a good thing. It just didn’t live up to unworldly high expectations.

Highlights – Helena Bonham Carter as the Red Queen.

Luckily for me, Shane does such a good job outlining the story I  can pretty much tell you what I think, which is good considering sometimes Shane just has horrible taste in films. This is one of those times. Tim Burton directed this snorefest which was a carbon copy of “Sweeney Todd”, which was a carbon copy of “Charlie & The Chocolate Factory” which was a..well you get the picture. Every movie Tim Burton makes is like the last, even using the same actors every time. I love Johnny Depp, but doesn’t it seem a bit like he sold his soul to Tim Burton and now has to endure one Integrity-rape after another in endless servitude?

Shane brought up a backstory around Depp’s character Willy Wonka, I mean The Mad Hatter and I don’t understand what he doesn’t understand. Tim Burton has a chubby the size of the Washington Memorial for the guy, doesn’t it make sense he would revolve the film around him? I mean he was on the poster after all.

The movie, in my opinion (the right opinion) isn’t even worth watching if you’ve watched a Tim Burton film before. Even if you haven’t don’t watch this one-watch “Edward Scissorhands”. You’ll be glad you skipped this wet fart of a movie.