Whenever people hear the title "Alice in Wonderland," usually the first thing they think of is the Disney version.
And...yeah, actually, that's not such a bad version to think of.
The story about a young girl who finds herself trapped in a very strange, mysterious land
is much more based on the journey than finding twists or turns.
The character of Alice is a bit of a blank slate.
She's the normal person that's supposed to play off all the weird, strange things that she comes across.
It plays very much like a road trip movie--you come across something strange, you have an encounter with it, and then you move on to the next strange thing.
Like I said, the focus is not the twists and turns, but all the oddities that she comes across.
It's like "Dante's Inferno;" it's more a study of what you're seeing than what you're experiencing.
But with that said, the girl that got to play Alice is actually pretty good.
Her name's Kathryn Beaumont, and she does a really good job actually giving some character to this person.
The dialogue from "Alice in Wonderland" is not easy to recite, and it's not easy to make casual.
But she does a pretty good job.
She's curious, she's polite, she's nice, but can be pushed to her limits.
She tries to join in the fun, but often finds herself too frustrated.
And she's also very logical.
Which makes a lot of sense in a story like this, because this is a world where logic almost has no place.
-"He went that way."
-"Who did?" -"The White Rabbit."
-"He did?" -"He did what?"
-"Went that way." -"Who did?"
-"The White Rabbit!" -"What rabbit?"
-"[slightly out of breath] But didn't you just say--I mean--oh, dear!"
-"Can you stand on your head?" -[huffs]
-My favorite characters are your favorite characters.
I love the Mad Hatter, I love the March Hare, I love the Cheshire Cat.
They're all absolutely crazy.
But at the same time, I think the fun with them is that you never know if they're threatening or not.
Their mood swings are just so fast, and you never know if something really dangerous is gonna happen, or if they're just playing along.
Half the time, I don't even think THEY know.
-[chuckles, laughs, then gasps] "You may have noticed that I'm not all there myself." [chuckles, then laughing fades]
-The Queen is one of my favorite funny villains.
Actually, watching her again, I realize I actually did take a lot of the Nostalgia Critic from this character.
Just how quickly she can turn from calm and collected to just screaming like a little child.
-[Queen yelling]
-I really do love pathetic, whiny brats in a grown-up body, but somehow have a ton of power.
And I love watching Alice trying to figure out what's the right thing to say and right thing to do because she knows that any second, her head could be gone.
And actually, that's a pretty dark aspect to the story, isn't it?
How many characters do actually get their heads chopped off in this movie?
Just because they don't show it doesn't mean it isn't happening.
It's pretty grim.
Wonderland itself is very different from other interpretations.
It doesn't have a bright, colorful background; it's very black.
Most of the backgrounds are black.
But that's always great, because when color DOES come in, it's always bright, it's always clashing, and it always pops.
Some people have problems that they cut out too much from the original books, and, well, it's a Disney film.
And an animated one at that.
You sort of have to get whatever you're given.
I will say, with all the forced Disney sequels out there, how come this never got one?
There is literally a sequel book to "Alice in Wonderland."
Why didn't they just change things around a bit and start putting in some of the other characters?
Like the Knight, the Turtle, the Griffin--there's a ton of areas you could go with this.
But oh well.
What I do like about "Alice in Wonderland" is that it does make the transition into movie form.
That's the trap I think a lot of other movie versions fall into, is that they try to follow the book a little too closely.
Ironically, with the Tim Burton one, I don't think they followed it enough, but I've complained about that enough before.
"Alice in Wonderland" is creative, it looks great, it's a wonderful journey movie,
and the majority of it works because the main character is just so likable.
I have very few complaints about it, except honestly, I would have liked to have seen more.
But I guess that's a good complaint to have.
If you're looking for a movie that's big on story, surprises, and character development, this is probably not the place to look.
But I think most people going into "Alice in Wonderland" know what they're gonna get.
And in my opinion, this is one of the better versions.
[vocalizing]