Project Milliner

Yesterday afternoon, through no fault of my own, I saw Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland

It was part of a negotiated agreement with H., for doing the spelling bee and multiple activities Saturday, and still getting to Hebrew School Sunday morning. He enjoyed it. J. was a little scared. As for me….well, I expect the degree to which you enjoy the movie has to do with how much you enjoy Tim Burton as a rule. The only Tim Burton film I've ever truly liked was Beetlejuice.

Mileage varies, I know, and if you like the Tim Burton aesthetic, you’ll probably like this one. To me, the tone seemed equal parts sour, lugubrious and cutesy. The Lewis Carroll books, which made a huge impression on me when I was a kid, get most of their charge by dealing with absurd (or disturbing) things in a matter-of-fact way. Now, I doubt that it was any part of the intention of the Burton movie to capture the feeling of the books, but it was still a striking contrast: it seemed to be trying to get that same charge by dealing with absurd (or disturbing) things in a bombastic way. With an extra layer of bombast on top.

Which is not to say that it didn’t have its moments. Most of them, needless to say, courtesy of Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter. I’ve never seen an interpretation of Alice in Wonderland that took the Hatter’s profession quite so seriously, and the best parts of the movie played like some kind of weird mash-up of Alice in Wonderland and “Project Runway.”

There’s a cute running gag about the way every time Alice changes size her clothes don’t fit any more, and have to be ever more cunningly re-cut, re-draped, or re-tied (a couple of times courtesy of the Mad Hatter). Alice spends a chunk of the movie slightly over-sized, stalking around the Red Queen’s castle in some hastily sewn together curtains (a la Scarlet O’Hara), looking like some Amazonian ‘80s supermodel.

And the Hatter gets some great scenes in which he—makes hats. And peddles his hats to the Queen. And fights people with his hats. And hat pins.

I wish I could say that it was all done with a light touch. But I guess that’s not what you go to a Tim Burton movie for.

The boys and I agreed that the CGI Jabberwocky was awesome, though.

NB: Kathryn Bigelow, in contrast, deserved that Oscar like nobody’s business!