Alice - Take Two!

As a child, Alice in Wonderland was one of my least favorite stories.  Admittedly I enjoyed the fairytale types like Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast and Snow White more than most - I guess you could say I was a very young romantic at heart.

I really did not appreciate all the strange creatures she encountered and her journey through Wonderland!  The new movie, although based on the original story, added a very clear life lesson - "You can not live your life doing what everyone tells you to do - you must learn to make your own decisions and stand up for what you believe in."

It was like a light bulb turning on in my head - the "Aha!" moment.  Alice was weak-willed, she followed directions all the time drank the potion in the bottle labeled "Drink Me" got really tiny, ate the cake labeled "Eat Me" and grew gigantic, and even believed what Absolem told her that she wasn't the right Alice - when she knew in her heart that she was!  She was a push over - people just walked all over her - no wonder I didn't like her character.

And like most of us in life, Alice needed to learn how to stand up for herself - her rights, her happiness, her beliefs.  She needed to undergo the metamorphosis from being weak to being a hero.  And she triumphs in the end - refusing marriage to an aristocrat in exchange for an apprenticeship in her father's company - becoming an independent woman of the world.

I loved the movie!  The characters were brilliantly cast and very colorfully presented - the mix of cartoon characters with real life ones in the scene was seamlessly done and very believable.  Johnny Depp was the perfect Mad Hatter - I can't imagine anyone doing a better job with that character - he was lovable and not annoyingly distant as I remember the written character was.  Helena Bonham Carter was a highly entertaining Red Queen - she gave the character dimension and depth - she was not just a silly woman screaming, "Off with their heads!" with no reason at all.  There was emotional damage behind the madness.

I wish this was the first Alice in Wonderland movie I had seen - I would have appreciated it more early on!

Good job on this movie - two thumbs up!  I recommend you all get the DVD and watch it now - if you haven't already.  It's a great new perspective on Alice.