DVD Quick Review: Alice in Wonderland

I was really reluctant to see this version of Alice in Wonderland.  I'm a big fan of Johnny Depp, but much less so of Tim Burton or Tim Burton's Helena Bonham Carter (she's good in other things).  However, I've been really enjoying the early career of Mia Wasikoska (she plays Alice here, Joni in The Kids are All Right, and had a small role in Amelia that was fun) so I decided to give it a chance.  I don't know if it was Johnny's presence or the psychedelic "Wonderland" but I was strongly reminded of The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus.   This version of Alice took the source material from Lewis Carroll and went a bit further.  There are a lot of the characters and language used from the poem "Jabberwocky" - the bandersnatch, vorpal sword, etc. which did make understanding all of the dialogue difficult without subtitles.  The strange made-up words and then Depp's occasional Scottish accent (which I think was used to distinguish when he was "mad" and when he wasn't, but it's hard to tell) made most of the best dialogue hard to figure out.  Mia Wasikoksa was terrific - bending between disbelief of Wonderland's reality and committing to living in that reality.  Each of the classic characters were represented and it was nice that they didn't feel the need to explain them all, but understanding the underlying fight between the red and white queens made for a confusing battle (the White Queen isn't in the Disney version).  Anne Hathaway as the White Queen was ridiculous (her flitting about was stupid) and the big headed CGI Red Queen was also a bit overdone when the rest of the world didn't go quite that far.  But ultimately, the movie succeeds because you don't need to understand it, you just need to experience it and accept that we're all going to miss thing (go mad) from time to time.  Definitely not a kids movie.  3 of 5 stars/lambs

A non-Oscar post: Odd DVDs

I rented 2 DVDs recently that I couldn't finish. Usually, even if a movie is incredibly boring I'll at least skip ahead to the end and actually find out what happens. Then I probably won't even bother to review it, though perhaps as part of a DVD Roundup. I saw Coraline, the animated movie nominated for Best Animated Picture this year, but it was the type of animation that I just couldn't watch. I believe it's called stop motion animation, similar to The Nightmare Before Christmas or Corpse Bride, both of which I enjoyed somewhat. But, Coraline just started to be too creepy to be believable as a children's movie and odd to be for adults. The basic premise is that Coraline finds a secret door in her house that leads to a world where her parents are the opposite of her real-life parents. I'm sure things go horribly wrong and she realizes her real parents are the best, but I don't know as I only watched about 20 minutes and didn't bother skipping to the end. I remember this being released in 3D, which I think would only be creepier, but that's just me.

The other movie I wanted to like, or at least sit all the way through, was the remake of Fame. I should have known from the moment it was listed as a PG movie that it would be nothing like the gritty, musical version from the 1980s that I secretly loved. I was roped in my a good adult cast (for musicals) - Bebe Neuwirth, Megan Mullally, Kelsey Grammer, and Debbie Allen. However, they're all underused, and kids I've never heard of did very pale, washed out versions of what the movie used to be. Not even a good "High School Musical" version, just bland. I fastforwarded to the end to hear them sing the theme song, but didn't watch the last hour.

Did anyone particularly like either of these movies, such that I should give them another chance when they appear on TV? Please let me know if I've missed something great. Or cheer me on for saving hours of my life. Enjoy watching the Oscars on Sunday!