Alice in Wonderland

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Story-wise, the book does not make a lot of sense. What makes the book stand out is the very clever wordplay, some of which are also used in the movie. But you cannot make a movie from play of words alone, so how can it be made interesting? Do it in 3D. Drown the moviegoer with CGI. It actually works. This movie is one hell of a visual feast, better seen in 3D or you miss out on half the fun. The Wonderland in the movie gives justice and perhaps, even outdoes the Wonderland in the book. Sorry, biased judgment from a member of a very techie generation.

One does not need to read the book prior to watching the movie but it would not hurt to do so. The book is really very short anyway. They veer away from the original but not that much. The main story arc stays the same with a few subplots tweaked, probably an attempt on coherence. No need for it though, its being surreal should suffice. To quote Alice, It is a all a dream, after all. The weirder, the better.

As already noted before, Johnny Depp's Mad Hatter looks like Madonna. The role contributes a lot to making the film genuinely surreal. Like Helena Bonham Carter, Depp seems to be getting a lot of weird roles lately that it is no longer that out of this world to see him tackle this one.

Helena Bonham Carter is really the Queen of the Weird. Who else could have played the role of the Red Queen without being creepily awkward, specially with all the constant Off with his/her head! rants? The thing about Helena is that people are already used to her playing loony roles and so she comes off as adorably strange.

The director is Tim Burton again. No wonder Depp and Helena are in it. The three of them are like some sort of package deal? They always work together. And they always rock.