Alice in Wonderland Impressions

In spite of all I have said about Tim Burton in the past, I will admit that "Alice in Wonderland" had the potential to be a great movie. The acting was decent, though Alice felt very bland at times, the voice work was great, and the visuals were amazing.

Pretty much everything else, however, was rather terrible. The story and the dialogue felt forced and awkward, especially a lot of the insertions of lines from Lewis Carroll's work, and far too many convenient solutions revealed themselves in light of the character's problems. You never feel like any of the characters are in danger and all you can really do is sit back and watch things happen. There also seemed to be quite a few pacing with the film issues as all of the events outside of "Underland" felt rushed and shallow (there are barely any formal introductions to the "real"characters) and in Underland events seem sporadic and whimsically arranged. This especially hurts the ending of the film because it is really difficult to know what to make of things. More than a few of the liberties taken with the original work felt needless and awkward as well.

I am awarding Tim Burton's "Alice in Wonderland" one and a half stars out of five for having potential, but not doing anything with said potential. By the end of the film, you will have no choice but to wonder whether or not the visuals alone can make this film worth the time and money you spent on it. In my case... they just couldn't do it.