(W)Underwhelmed

This past weekend, I went to see Tim Burton's latest film, Alice in Wonderland. To paraphrase a line from the film, the director seemed to have "lost his muchness" on this one. I found the film to be a disappointment.

Known to me (but not to some) before watching the movie, the plot was not an actual telling of Alice in Wonderland, but rather a sequel invented to take place several years later as the title character has reached age 20. You might assume this unique new approach would be the jumping-off point for an interesting new story. Instead, the story isn't much of one, an incoherent jumble of vignettes that doesn't hold together very well.

Ah, you might say, but that's precisely what Alice in Wonderland is -- an incoherent jumble of vignettes, designed to be weird fever dreams. Yes, but that was an original incoherent jumble of vignettes. This film doesn't bring much new to the table, simply revisiting the characters and situations of the original story with an almost "Chris Farley Show"-esque spirit of "you remember that? That was awesome."

There are moments where it does get clever. Johnny Depp's Mad Hatter is entertaining, even though it seems a little schtickier and less novel than his characters from other Burton films. Anne Hathaway is marvelous as The White Queen, capturing a flighty, spritely character whose hands are in constant comical motion.

But it never really looks quite right. This film made me actually grow a deeper appreciation for Avatar, of all things. When I saw Avatar, within minutes, I'd "bought in" completely, and never once questioned the realism of what was projected on the screen. This movie made me renegotiate my "suspension of disbelief" every scene. Fully CG creations rarely seemed to have the right sense of weight to them; people of different sizes in the same scene didn't always seem to have consistent light cast on them. The awareness of all the green screen fakery was as high as in any film I've seen since George Lucas last directed.

There were some fun moments, but mostly the whole experience was jarring... when it wasn't just plain boring. I'd rate it a C+ at best.