You're mad, bonkers, off your head! But I'll tell you a secret: All the best people are.
I really don't get out to the movies as much as I'd like to. I'm more likely to spend my disposable income on live music and my attention span does not lend itself to sitting still for more than an hour.
I think that the last three movies I saw in the theater were 3D and this was no exception. Aspect ration and popcorn butter aside, 3D is the sole element of the movie experience that cannot be replicated at home.
I went in with low expectations and I was still disappointed.
The visuals were amazing, but that's a given at this point for 3D film. The story left much to be desired, and I was already checking the time less than halfway through the movie.
My girlfriend pointed out the overwhelming focus on fashion. From the period piece costume of the real world intro to the whimsical Wonderland wardrobes, the clothes couldn't be ignored. Alice went through several costume changes and various haberdashery concoctions of The Mad Hatter were highlighted. It doesn't bode well for the overall impact of a film that the main thing we could say about it was the clothes were nice. Clothes should be part of the scenery and not overpower the plotline, which incorporated numerous elements seemingly designed to showcase a new dress or hat.
Johnny Depp's histrionic calculated wackiness is becoming grating. It didn't work in Tim Burton's last failed re-imagining of a classic children's novel-turned-film Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and, while slightly less irritating, it didn't work here.
Tim Burton, he of a current MoMA retrospective, has always incorporated a delightfully demented artistic element to his films and has often been a pioneer in new cinema technique, a prime example being the revolutionary claymation cult classic The Nightmare Before Christmas. But he used to be a great storyteller too. I hope he's gotten the remake bug out of his system and he returns to the contemporary fractured fairy tales like Edward Scissorhands and Big Fish that manage to dazzle visually while still retaining the human element that makes for stories to which one can continually return.
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