Alice in Wonderland (2010)

What I expected:

It was hard not to be excited about the prospect of Tim Burton taking on Alice in Wonderland. It is a dark and twisted tale, inspired by a drug trip, that takes place in a world that makes no sense. How perfect for Tim Burton. To add further fuel to my arousal, the early stills were breathtaking, which I posted about previously.

What I got:

When you first meet Alice (Mia Wasikowska,) she is now a grown woman of 20, so already you know not to expect the same story as in the book or in the original animated Disney classic. She shows early signs of being at odds with her Edwardian lifestyle, and when she finds herself on the receiving end of a proposal of marriage in front of hundreds of people, she has no choice but to take a moment to investigate a rabbit in a waistcoat that keeps beckoning her, instead of accepting the offer.

What follows is a wonderous romp through the looking glass, Tim Burton style.

Everyone is older now, and the politics between the queens has deteriorated into open war. My favorite character in the whole movie is the Red Queen (Helena Bonham Carter.) She is wonderfully preposterous with her huge head and short temper. Anne Hathaway plays the White Queen and she lets out some of her disturbing side, which is  new and very welcome. Johnny Depp is scene-stealing as the Mad Hatter and the voice talents of Stephen Fry and Alan Rickman are put to good use as the Cheshire Cat and the Blue Caterpillar respectively. Crispin Glover is Stayne, the Red Queens knight and right hand man and he does a good job of the role. I am not much of a Crispin Glover fan, but he does well here.

The art direction is the true star of this movie. It is so lush and fully realized that it takes your breath away. Lewis Carroll would be truly pleased to see his characters comport themselves in such a marvelous world. Tim Burton has truly created a masterpiece in Alice in Wonderland. This one is worth seeing on the big screen and a must for the DVD collection as well.

Niels Hansen is the co-owner of Hansen Creative Services, a graphic design firm near Columbus, Ohio which specializes in employee communications and small business marketing.

Watchmen (2009)

What I expected:

Let me say off the top, that I have not read the graphic novel, so if I sound like I don’t know what I’m talking about, that’s why. As a consequence, I had very few preconceived notions about what to expect. I tend to like movies made from comic books, and noir also tends to suit me. The characters are obviously complex and flawed (always good.) so all in all I was optimistic.

What I got:

Should you have to read the book before you see a movie? Normally, I don’t think so. I recognize that in many cases you get more out of the film if you know the backstories of all the characters before you go in. Harry Potter would be a prime example of where that works well. The Golden Compass is another where the movie cannot possibly capture the richness of the book world.

Conversely, The books of The Chronicles of Narnia might bore you to tears and turn you off to the point that you never make it to see the movies. Disney’s The Lion, The Witch & the Wardrobe is a prime example of a movie that far outshines the book and I would suggest that Lord of the Rings did the same for Tolkien.

That being said, I think a movie should be able to stand on its own. The narrative should reveal enough essential material to the viewer that you get a fully contained experience from the movie itself.

Unfortunately, I did not get that with this movie. I found the plot confusing and the issues unresolved. It didn’t help that the cinematography was dark, grainy and gloomy to the point where I could not tell what was going on.

Frank Miller (Sin City, The Spirit)  does a nice job of the modern noir genre, but unfortunately Zach Snyder who created this one does not. His previous movie was 300, which was also grainy and confusing. I guess you find something you do well, and you stick with it?

Even the CGI work seems oddly off kilter. Dr. Manhatten (Billy Crudup) is the glowing blue guy and I’m sure he is not supposed to seem human, but he just looks fake. I know that is often the case with glowing figures in comic books, but movies can do better than this.

I did enjoy several of the performances in the movie. Jeffrey Dean Morgan does a wonderful job as the creepy degenerate The Comedian. I also enjoyed the mother-daughter superhero interplay between Silk Spectre (Carla Gugino) and Silk Spectre II (Malin Akerman.) You just don’t see nearly enough of that. I think the only other time I have seen that idea is in The Incredibles. Malin Akerman also does a nice job of wearing the Spandex! She is a perfect combination of Xena Warrior Princess and Catwoman. Yum.

If you loved the graphic novel and as a result find this movie a worthy extension of that world, more power to you. Personally, I think the material deserved better than what it got from this movie.

Niels Hansen is the co-owner of Hansen Creative Services, a graphic design firm near Columbus, Ohio which specializes in employee communications and small business marketing.