Burton has crafted a solid reputation in the film industry for his unique style of cinematography. His works, namely "Ed Wood", "The Corpse Bride", "Sweeney Todd" showcase his preference for escapism emphasizing absurdity and profundity. From imagery to characterization, he has a reputation for impressing his audiences with cleverly crafted mis- en- scene and unpredictable plot choices. Adapting the story of Lewis Carroll's, "Alice In Wonderland" for Disney represented a challenge that his devoted fans were eager to see. His execution hyped for months prior to the film's release and opening weekend the film banked 160 million dollars in sales at US box office.
Critics were just as keen as fans of Burton's to see what his take on Wonderland would be like as this is not the first time that Lewis Carroll's Alice In Wonderland has been adapted for film. The novel has been remade time and time again; the most well known version being Disney's animated version. The question on everyone's lips was whether Burton's adaptation would take a direction of preserving the original content and intention of Carroll's novel or deviating from this path. Burton went with the latter. His version was distinctly different from the original novel and any adaptation to date.
Traditionally Alice In Wonderland tells the tale of a girl's exploration of a dream like society inhabited by eccentric characters. This storyline remains the premiss in the modern adaptation. However thats about all Burton keeps the same. One of the most noticeable differences was the characterization of Alice. He boldly depicted Alice not as a youth but as a lady in her early 20's struggling with a relational predicament. Alice's character evolves through the plot and we understand this story to be a journey of self discovery. The character of the Mad Hatter was explored with psychoanalytical depth as was the Queen of Hearts. Burton's choice to replace Carroll's original language with metaphoric dialogue was one that allowed Burton to show a modern audience a distinctive interpretation of his characters motivations. Interestingly he chose to tell the audience that Alice had been to Wonderland once before. At times like this it felt as if Carroll's story wasn't being told accurately and Wonderland had lost some of its authenticity but to the most part it was intriguing to watch and wait for the next Burton stamped surprise.
The film is visually spectacular for 3D cinema and does not disappoint fans looking to see (larger than life) visual representations true to Lewis' descriptions of Wonderland. Burton uses hyper-realistic costuming and color to drive characterization and define the structure of the matriarchal society that inhabits Wonderland. CGI and animation effects allow a fantastical feel and explore the imaginative elements in the novel. Burton connects with traditional Alice In Wonderland fans by juxtaposing (Carroll inspired) animation with realism; the animated cheshire cat appears and disappears into the background and Alice grows and shrinks realistically.
Tim Burton's Alice In Wonderland is not the traditional Alice story. This is an exciting, unorthodox adaptation about a Wonderland that had a strong impact on my heart because the film's storyline was distinctly different to the ofiginal novel. The changes in the character Alice made her easier to relate to in a modern context. Her personal evolution in the story was inspiring to me and I left the film with a message encouraging me to follow her lead in cultivating personal strength and willpower to slay any dragons in my reality by first gaining confidence in practising this in fantasy (my writing). As a fantasy writer, I was inspired by Burton's fearless response to a challenge to depict an imaginary world that has been described by many other artists with his own unique flair and intentionality. The poetic dialogue made me get excited about creating characters like the Mad Hatter; that play with conventions of language to communicate even deeper subtext. Wonderland is well worth visiting.
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