Mad-Hatter Tea party with Lewis Carroll's chessboard

The new Alice in Wonderland film has inspired a whirlwind of parties and events around the world.  It's great that the Alice books can stimulate so many imaginative ideas! Even though I may not be particularly keen onLewis Carroll's chessboard on exhibit at University of Illinois Tim Burton's Alice escapade, I am thrilled to see so many people get excited about the Alice books.

We were happy to be invited to a Mad-Hatter's Tea Party at the University of Illinois's Rare Book & Manuscript Library.  The Library was finishing a good exhibit of Lewis Carroll and Alice in Wonderland materials that are housed there titled "Curioser and Curioser: The Games and Mindgames of Lewis Carroll."  The most interesting objects on exhibit were the chessboard that Lewis Carroll used and letters that Carroll wrote to a child in mirror script.

It was an astonishingly fun party for children and adults surounded by objects that Carroll either created or owned.  The party featured giant cards, a beautifully set tea table, cookies marked "Eat Me," and an A chocolate and fondant chessboard cake.amazing cake shaped liked a chessboard complete with chocolate and white chocolate chess pieces.  The Cheshire Cat told the true story of her origins.  The Mad Hatter munched on carrots and apples and was a delightful master of ceremonies.  The Caterpillar smoked a soap bubble hookah.  Children and adults were dressed up in great costumes.  It was the best Mad-Tea Party we've been to.

Two Mad Hatters ready to challenge Johnny DeppEat Me cookies for Alice and friendsPartygoers could read original Lewis Carroll's letters in mirror script.

The cute Dormouse popped out of a teapot to enjoy the festivities.

Much Ado About Alice: Thoughts on the new Wonderland

Unless you’ve been living in a rabbit hole, you’re probably aware that Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland promotion poster for Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderlandopened up this weekend.  Its first day ticket sales were more successful than Avatar’s first day. But just because a lot of people go to see a film, doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a great film.

There is an inverse relationship between Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland and Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland: the more you like the Alice books, the more you are probably going to dislike Burton’s film.  Obviously, I like the Alice books.  That’s not to say films are always inferior to the books on which they’re based.  For example, Victor Fleming’s Wizard of Oz film is more effective than L. Frank Baum’s Wonderful Wizard of Oz original novel.

This is not a film version of the Alice books.  Instead, key characters from the Alice books appear in the film.  It’s a bit like Gavin Miller’s Dreamchild in that an older Alice revists Wonderland.  In Dreamchild, it’s an 80-year-old Alice reflecting on the books and her friendship with Lewis Carroll.  In the new film, Alice is a fetching, independent 19-year-old contemplating a marriage proposal to a wimpy, titled young man.   Unlike Dreamchild, Lewis Carroll is absent in this film and even his usual stand-ins, the Dodo and the White Knight, don’t appear.

I think the film is misnamed and should be called Return to Wonderland.  Burton’s Wonderland relates to Carroll’s Alice books in the same way that Walter Murch’s Return to Oz relates to Baum’s Oz series.

What is surprising about this film is how much references previous films.  It is a very much a pastiche of similar films, mostly fantasy films.  Tim Burton clearly references his previous films, including Nightmare Before Christmas, Edward Scissorhands, Sweeney Todd, Corpse Bride, and Planet of the Apes. The screenwriter, Linda Woolverton has helped with Disney films such as The Lion King and Beauty and the Beast.  So, the film dips into Disney references including the opening taken directly from the Disney animated Peter Pan.  Johnny Depp’s Mad Hatter is a combination of Peter Pan, the Scarecrow from The Wizard of Oz combined with Jack Sparrow from the Pirates of the Caribbean series and the Joker from Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Night and perhaps Charlie Chaplin.

There are plenty of references to The Wizard of Oz and the Broadway musical Wicked, The Golden Compass, and The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe.  The last two films were inspired by the success of The Lord of the Rings, so that’s in here, too.  The relationship between the Red and White Queens is borrowed from Wicked.  Others have noted reference to The Princess Bride and Shrek.  The fighting Dormouse reminded me of The Tales of Despereaux.

Woolverton seems to have acknowledged problems with the script.  In fact, a running theme throughout the film is whether this is the ‘right’ Alice.  The Wonderland characters frequently ask the White Rabbit if he has brought the wrong Alice back.  Is she an imitation Alice? Has she lost her Muchness? She’s not Alice, but Almost Alice. In short, Tim Burton has directed the wrong Alice.  I sort of think he knows this because the question of an authentic Alice is an essential aspect of the film.

Alice is warned in this film not to divert herself from the path.  Alice replies, I don’t divert myself from the path, I make the path.  If you are going to re-write Alice in Wonderland, then you better be as good a writer as Lewis Carroll. 

Burton’s film is not as bad as the dreadful The Cat in the Hat by Bo Welch, which featured Mike Meyers as the Cat.  But it is not as inventive as the interpretation of Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are by Dave Eggers and Spike Jonez.

Mia Wasikowska makes an arresting Alice.  But viewers haven’t seen so much skin in Alice since the 1976 X-rated, musical version of Alice in Wonderland.  Not only does Tim Burton feature a 20-year-old play Alice, she is constantly on the verge of having her clothes slip off.  Sometimes this film feels as if it’s a Maxim version of Alice in Wonderland.

In the beginning of the film, Alice refuses to wear a corset or stocking, which shocks her proper Victorian mother.  Once the adventure begins, Alice is running around in flimsy petticoats in a land that’s actually Underland, not Wonderland.  Alice’s clothes never quite fit; they are either too tight, too loose, too short, or slipping off completely. This is less Queen Victoria’s Alice and more of a Victoria’s Secret Alice.

Not only does Burton up the sexualization of Alice, but he increases the violence in Wonderland as well.  This film transforms a minor episode of Through the Looking-Glass involving the Jabberwocky into the climax of the film.  This has become a violent film, as so many children’s fantasy films are these days.  They all have to end with a big battle.  The original Alice books are much less violent.  When the Red Queen says “Off with her head,” the King quietly pardons them.  In this film, the King’s head is floating in the moat with the other heads that have been cut off by order of the Red Queen. This is mock execution the way children play.  It wasn’t intended to be staged execution viewed with violent lust by the Red Queen, as it is in this film.

There are a several clever additions to the Alice film.  Much is done with the Hatter’s meditation on words beginning with the letter M.  But a couple of words not mentioned in the film are a fair description of it: messy, major mashup of previous children’s movies, and mayhem.  Tweedledum and Tweedledee characters are great.  The landscapes are highly imaginative.

I felt the 3-D version seemed somewhat of a distraction to me and unnecessary.  Younger audience members seemed to like it.  Ironically, Carroll would have been fascinated with 3-D films. 

While this is certainly not my favorite Alice film, it is an interesting variation on Carroll’s characters.  But as long as it directs some folks back to Lewis Carroll’s original Alice books, it’s fine with me.

Overview of Alice in Wonderland films in the Pantagraph

Thanks to Dan Craft at the Pantagraph for interviewing me about some of the many Alice in Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderlandversions of Alice in Wonderland in film. His article "New 'Alice' is the latest trip through the looking glass." appeared in The Pantagraph today (March 4).  He did a great job of taking some raw material and turning into an entertaining article. 

The sidebar piece about how my parents gave me my first copy of Alice Adventures in Wonderland when I was growing was sweet especially as today is my mother's birthday.  So she made it into the news on her birthday!

As I noted in the article, Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland is a darker vision than the original.  It's been marketed to older tweens and teens, particularly girls, which makes sense considering that Alice is 19 in the film.  I don't think the film  is for young children.  The marketing is consistent with that older audience. We haven't seen many ads on Nickeloden or too much on the Disney channel, either.  The reviews are somewhat mixed, although those who like it are very enthusiastic.

U.K. reviewers of Alice in Wonderland film enjoy 3D, great visuals

The new Alice in Wonderland film, directed by Tim Burton and featuring Johnny Depp, was released in the Opening night in London of Alice in WonderlandUnited Kingdom last week with a opening that featured royalty.  That is an interesting twist as the film, like the book, finds Alice figuring out how to deal with queens and kings in Wonderland or Underland, in the film.

Another similarity between the two Alice books and film is that many familiar characters from the first show up in the second. That is what has been heavily promoted in photos and video previews.  Those images look lush and appealing and are probably what will draw people to see the film. But the storyline is quite different, and that may be what causes many to be confused and leave somewhat frustrated.

The London Times is relatively positive. While "the characters may be familiar but the plot deviates insanely from the original," these changes don't stop the critic from enjoying The Caterpillar in Alice in Wonderlandthe new story and how it looks.

Meanwhile, a Guardian film critic bemoans that  Tim Burton's imaginative gothic style has lots its mojo. AS Byatt has a good essay in The Guardian about revisiting the book and why it's still a classic

The Mirror has a glowing review calling it a "terrifically twisted take on the Alice in Wonderland story in a gloriously lush 3D romp"

From OK! Magazine:  the visuals are great, but the storyline is confusing

From The Void blog "a subtle sequel mixing loving homage with out-and-out weird"

IGN likes Alice as "a rebellious, free-thinker" but doesn't like "the headache inducing visuals"

Alice is still bratty, even in an older version, according to The Daily Beast.  Even in the book Alice is "a cranky know-it-all with a low threshold for the nonsensical."

And, in other Alice news that flooding the media, it's curious to find a "thrice-removed" cousin of Alice Liddell managing a children's boutique in Abingdon where she stocks white rabbit merchandise.  RAR4YCRJAAA7

Sunday morning breakfast reading in the Times

While the New York Times' essay about Alice in Wonderland appeared online Friday, the article, by Larry Rohter is in the Sunday print version (today).  How fun to drink coffee, eat English muffins and read about Alice in Wonderland.  The article by Dave Kehr about the re-releases of Alice-related What to wear to the Alice film, as suggested by Buzznetfilms on DVDs also is good. 

Tim Burton's Alice seems to be fighting violence, just as contemporary culture is struggling with fighting violence and figuring out justice.  I don't think that's quite what Lewis Carroll was working out with the original Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, but it's always up for re-interpretation and re-imagination. When we went to Hot Topics on Friday night for the pre-release of Almost Alice, it's clear that the merchandise for Burton's Alice is darker, geared specifically to teens (mainly girls, and a few who are tweens), and follows in the vein of steampunk.