Word: wonderland
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...earned just $14.5 million in its first three days at North American theaters, according to early studio estimates. That's way below industry predictions (in the low- to middle-$20 millions) and less than a quarter of the $62 million amassed this weekend by the defending champ, Alice in Wonderland, which has leapt like a White Rabbit past the $200 million mark in just 10 days. The Tim Burton-Johnny Depp effort is also a war movie, at least partly, but with the Red Queen and the White Queen, not Saddam Hussein and George W. Bush, as the executive adversaries...
...Alice in Wonderland” holds true to the fascinatingly eerie vibe synonymous with the Tim Burton brand but leaves much to be desired in the realm of plot innovation. The film fast-forwards many years after Alice’s (played by newcomer Mia Wasikowska) initial visit to Wonderland, depicting a 19 year-old Alice who has forgotten her prior experiences. The subsequent journey ensues when she discovers her hidden destiny to take down the reign of the stifling Red Queen, played by Helena Bonham Carter...
Despite the hopes that Burton would put his off-beat personal stamp on the material, the progression of events leading up to the final battle scene is entirely conventional, remaining predictable up until its final moments. Although the opening sequences are engaging and original, once Alice enters Wonderland, each scene is more foreseeable than the last. In fact, the film falls nicely into the standard fantasy epic plot, which is simply unaaceptable for an adaptation of “Alice in Wonderland.” Maybe this more mainstream approach is to be expected since some of Burton?...
...major redeeming quality is, as has long been expected from the colorful teaser images and trailers, its stunning visuals and special effects. Burton succeeds brilliantly at painting an astonishing Wonderland that is at once ominous and irresistibly intriguing. Much like Disney’s original animated film, “Alice in Wonderland” sets dark, foreboding tones around many of Alice’s new encounters. Especially when Alice first enters the rabbit hole, the looming doors and tattered walls cast a menacing environment that effectively looms over the miniscule Alice...
...state-of-the-art animation also allows for some reinvention of the classic Wonderland characters, which opens doors to some major differences. However, most of the traits that make certain characters—like the infamous Cheshire Cat—such distrustful personas are lost in this film. They seem to have toned down their trickery and traded it in for a more helpful, family-friendly approach to Alice’s strife. Wordplay and clever puns are still present, but the ever-cooperative actions of Alice’s companions do not match their tangled, devious verbal logic...