"Alice In Wonderland" Review

Why it took Tim Burton this long to make a movie adaptation of “Alice In Wonderland” I’ll never know. Considering Burton’s previous accomplishments of making movies with weird worlds and isolated protagonists, it seems like he would have tackled Lewis Carol’s classic book years ago. But then back then he’d have to make sets to create the world he does here, which would have been tedious and expensive. Now he can just put his characters in front of a green screen for half the cost and just as nice a look. To say this movie looks great would be an understatement as for all the complaints Burton gets on his storytelling I hear very little complaints of his visual accomplishments.

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Back In The Game

After a month long break it's time to get ready for the 83rd Academy Awards.  As it stands there are still ten films that can be nominated for Best Picture, and already there are some early stand outs.  "Alice In Wonderland" is not likely to get any major awards nominations, but Tim Burton's latest should easily sneak into some of the visual effects categories.  Right now there are two movies that look like good potential Best Picture nominees: "Shutter Island" and "Greenberg."  "Shutter Island" would make perfect sense early on even in this game.  Yeah it's a horror film but it's also directed by Martin Scoresese and starring Leonardo DiCaprio.  Both these men look like they are potential Best Director and Best Actor nominees (respectively).

The other Best Picture potential is Noah Baumbach's critically acclaimed "Greenberg."  This movie has potential for nominees for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Supporting Actress.  However if there's only one nomination for this film it very well could be for Ben Stiller's remarkable out-of-character performance as the title character.  Having finally found a role that shows he can be a serious actor, Stiller looks like a shoe-in for Best Actor at this point in time.  Other early potential nominees is Dreamworks "How To Train Your Dragon," which is threatening to defeat Pixar's winning streak in the Best Animated Feature category.

Also of note is Disney's critically acclaimed documentary "Waking Sleeping Beauty."  Though the Academy ignored the last Disney doc "The Boys: The Sherman Brothers," this new movie about Disney's great revival of their animation legacy in the late 80's is getting audiences to stand up cheering after the movie is over.  Chances are something more important might win the prize in the end, but this movie has the potential to get audiences behind it enough to get the nod.  The race may just be starting, but it's looking oh so promising already.

"Alice In Wonderland" Johnny Depp Trailer

I keep hearing how Disney plans to release multiple trailers for Tim Burton's upcoming "Alice In Wonderland" movie. Trailers starring Alan Rickman, Helen Boham Carter, and all those other famous people that are starring in the film. So far all the focus has been on Johnny Depp as The Mad Hatter. While I get the fact that Depp is famous and a big box office draw, focusing the ad campaign on him still strikes me as odd seeing that The Mad Hatter very much a supporting character, and too much Depp in the ads could prove fatal once the public realizes just how little of the film he's in.