Even when he tackles darker subject matter, Tim Burton always manages to bring a touch of whimsy to his films.  On the surface, Alice in Wonderland seems to be the perfect tale for the eccentric filmmaker to put his own spin on. With Alice oscillating wildly between giant and diminutive proportions, two queens vying for control of the land, and anthropomorphic fauna and animals, the tale seems ripe for a wild re-imagining.

Trouble is, Burton leaves the enchantment at home along with warmth and heart. The resulting movie is rather cold, devoid of color and brightness (save for the mad hatter’s shock of orange hair and startling green eyes) and not a lot of fun. I’m not saying that makes it bad, but it was very different from what I was expecting.

In this particular retelling, Alice is a grown woman instead of a little girl. At a large party she learns she is to marry a stodgy bore of a man. She rushes off to be by herself and falls down the rabbit hole into the “underworld.”  There she encounters the characters that we are all familiar with. There is the white rabbit (voiced by Michael Sheen), the Cheshire Cat (Stephen Fry), the stoned-out-of-his-cocoon caterpillar (Alan Rickman), and of course, the Mad Hatter (Johnny Depp.)

This version of the  Mad Hatter is a more tragic character with a brutal back story to explain his madness.  I found Depp’s portrayal of the Hatter annoying and frenetic, crazy for the sake of being crazy. He drifts in and out of a heavy Scottish brogue for reasons not immediately clear.  I wish the character had been toned down a bit as I think it would have made him a little more likable.

Continue Reading →

Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland is certainly turning heads with every new image and trailer that the film has to offer. Mostly because of how outrageous Burton’s style seems to be with this timeless classic, and of course his continued success when partnering up with Johnny Depp.

Fans of both Depp and Burton will get an eyeful in this new clip that’s been released for the film. In it, we get a glimpse at Depp, while he talks about Burton’s take on the classic. Also, some great shots of Twiddle-Dee and Twiddle-Dum, as well as the Cheshire Cat and even Crispin Glover as The Knave of Hearts.

The film also stars Helena Bonham Carter, Anne Hatheway, Alan Rickman, Kingdom’s Stephen Fry, Christopher Lee, and Mia Wasikowska as the titular Alice.

Check out the clip after the jump, and be sure to see much more from Burton’s wild new world as time draws closer to the March 5th release date. There are also rumors that Disney is buying time during next Sunday’s Super Bowl for an extended trailer, so be sure to get your DVR’s ready!

Continue Reading →

Sure, all the news and focus of the internet, right now, is on the new Iron Man 2 trailer which, in my opinion deserves the amount of excitement that it’s inspired. But, that’s not what we’re talking about now. The new trailer for Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland, is online and gives us a pretty thorough, and spectacular glimpse into Burton’s creation of Wonderland.

We see the White Rabbit, the Red Queen and her main man, The Knave of Hearts, and yes, the Mad Hatter. It looks fantastical, and certainly Burton inspired, if still in that candy-coated look that he’s had on previous film Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

The film’s synopsis reads as, “19 year-old Alice, returns to the whimsical world she first encountered as a young girl, embarks on a fantastical journey to find her true destiny and end the Red Queen’s reign of terror.” And the trailer gives us glimpses of the Jabberwock, the Mad Hatter’s companions the Dormouse and the March Hare; as well as the Cheshire Cat, and Tweedledee and Tweedledum.

The film features Johnny Depp, Anne Hathaway, Helena Bonham Carter, Stephen Fry, Alan Rickman, and Mia Wasikowska as Alice, along with a multitude of others. It’s scheduled for release March 10, 2010, in 3-D and IMAX.

Continue Reading →

There is lots to be said about what we’ve seen from Tim Burton’s upcoming reimagining of Alice in Wonderland, and most of it is about Johnny Depp’s performance as the Mad Hatter. While that will be a definite selling point for the film, there are still many things that it has to offer, such as the distribution in Disney 3D and IMAX 3D.

The rest of the cast fills out quite nicely, with Anne Hatheway, Helena Bonham Carter (Burton’s wife), Crispin Glover, and Mia Wasikowska joining the cast. Expect this to be about as twisted as the way Lewis Carroll originally imagined it.

The film hits theaters in 3D and IMAX on March 5th, 2010, but you can check out the brand new poster that has hit the web, along with an invitation to join The Disloyal Subjects of the Mad Hatter on Facebook. From there, you can become a fan to get major updates on the film and goodies for you to download.

Otherwise, keep it here as we bring you new stuff on Alice In Wonderland in the future, and check out the first full poster for the film after the jump.

Continue Reading →

It seems rather fitting that the Mad Hatter would show up unannounced in the middle of the Alice in Wonderland panel, especially when said hatter is Johnny Depp. MTV has reported that Johnny Depp surprised fans at the Disney 3-D panel at San Diego Comic-Con by showing up at the end of Tim Burton’s presentation of footage from the film.

The addition of Depp to the stage was a memorable end to the panel discussion, which began with filmmaker Tim Burton getting cheers from the crowd. The presentation included a teaser trailer of various footage from the film in 3-D, with Burton laughing about all the wacky characters included in his version of Alice in Wonderland.

“Looks like a freak show, doesn’t it?” the director laughed while the character images graced the screen.

Burton said the Alice in Wonderland film isn’t a faithful adaptation of the classic book by Lewis Carroll, but instead takes the characters and various scenes from the book and molds them into an updated story.

Alice in Wonderland stars Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Anne Hathaway, Alan Rickman and Mia Wasikowska and is scheduled for a March 5, 2010 release. Our coverage of Alice in Wonderland continues tomorrow right here at The Flickcast.