I recently saw Alice in Wonderland. I have to say it was a magnificent film, though I do have to agree with some of the critics who said that Johnny Depp was upstaged by Helena Bonham Carter, sorry Johnny, but she stole the show. With her large head and almost obnoxious voice, I seemed to want to see more of her than him. I feel so ashamed seeing as how I LOVE Johnny and pretty much despise Helena; don’t get me wrong I am sure she is a great person I just don’t care for her acting. In this film, though I may not like it, I think she has finally changed my mind.
I thought the use of CGI and special effects to recreate Lewis Carroll’s world, was a good choice, though I thought the story line was a little lacking. I seemed to be so caught up in Johnny Depp’s weird eyes and orange hair, and Helena Bonham Carter’s yelling to realize that there really wasn’t much of a story. The basis is that the Red Queen, played by Carter is taking over Wonderland, and Alice returns to put the crown back into the White Queen’s hands. Sounds like a story we have hear time and time again, only with different actors, different time periods and lost of really good makeup.
All in all, I think the fact that the storyline is lacking is supposed to be the point, it must be more about the characters themselves than what is going on around them. I also very much enjoyed the ending, when Alice stood up to her oppressors and was not going to sit around while they planned her life. She then decided she wanted to pursuer her father’s lifelong dream and she became a business woman, which of course at that time was the equivalent of being gay. As I watched Alice do all that it first, made me proud to be a woman and that we still see strong independent women in the film industry and second it made me want to go after my dreams that I feel are beginning to go to the wayside. I feel I should go after them, before it is too late and life my life the way I want to.
