ions of "Alice in Wonderland," Burton provided explanations of the characters and their purpose in the movie. I appreciate the fact that Burton took the time to explain characters and their stories. He is well known for characters having flashbacks from their childhood or a previous time in their lives. In contrast to Walt Disney's tame version, Burton gives a sense of completion in this film and he provided answers that were not addressed in the cartoon. What made the film even more interesting is that the setting takes place when Alice is 19 years old. Since the plot takes place during the 19th century, Alice has been set up for an arranged marriage and her betrothed is a brown-nosing dream killer named Hamish. Alice, who is unaware of this arrangement arrives to the garden party with her mother but it is really an engagement party.
Trapped in a world of proper etiquette and high expectations from the party guests that she accepts the proposal, Alice doesn't give Hamish an answer. Instead she follows a white rabbit wearing a waist coat and holding a pocket watch. While following the rabbit, she ends up at an old tree with a huge hole next to it and falls into it. At the bottom of the hole, she lands into a strange room with a key, a drink that decreases her size and a cake that increases her size. After getting the right size, Alice arrives in the garden and is reunited with her childhood friends: the White Rabbit, the Cheshire Cat, the Mad Hatter, Dormouse the Caterpillar, Tweedledee and Tweedledum. However, unlike her childhood experience, she does not remember who they are and thinks that all that is occurring is just a dream.
Alice embarks on a journey in which she fulfills her destiny and rediscovers who she is. Throughout her experience in Wonderland, she also learns that she can make her own decisions and that she does not have to live up the expectations of society.
The book by Lewis Carroll is at times grim and dark so this was naturally a match for Burton. His trademarks of pale makeup, dark colors and eccentric characters are throughout this film. This movie has many metaphors and a lot of the things that occur are applicable to real life. For instance, it is crucial to never lose your sense of self. If you do, people who surround you have the power to take over your life and sometimes it turns out to be negative. Everyone has the opportunity to make their own decisions for themselves and that everyone has a destiny that has to be fulfilled. The people in Wonderland were similar to the people in Alice's reality. Since the movie has just been released, it would be wrong to give away the juicy details.
Another important factor that Burton addressed in the film was good versus evil. The good always conquers evil, no matter how much power the evil side might have. Alice also learned that sometimes when you stand for what's right, you stand alone.
Moreover, it teaches to beware of who you surround yourself with. The people that the Red Queen surrounded herself turned out to unreliable and fake. Additionally, the Red Queen felt that she deserved the power to reign because she is the eldest, however, it just comes to show that just because one can have power doesn't mean that they deserve it. Overall, the film was well written and there was never a dull moment. Johhny Depp and Mia Wasikowska did an excellent job. Normally, I do not care for the story of "Alice in Wonderland" because it a dark story, however after viewing film, it is definitely a must see.
Well done.
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