(This review may contain spoilers).
In the first Tim Burton movie, Alice didn’t really stick strongly in my mind as a character, but it was nice to see a return to Wonderland and the other characters from the first movie… even though this film bore very little resemblance to what I remembered of the book.
I particularly liked being able to see more of the pasts of the different characters. There were some quite obvious problems in Wonderland, but I found it really easy to empathise with Alice and her trying to be independent at a time when women weren’t able to take on the same jobs as men… even though I didn’t realise, at first, that the opening scene wasn’t a fantasy.
I really didn’t like Hamish. His attitude really set me on edge and I thought Alice showed a great deal of resentment dealing with him.
There were a couple of instances of vertigo that I felt were quite effective and I was on the edge of my seat a bit during some of the movie.
I really liked the Dormouse, who was probably my favourite. But I really did like the scene when the Mad Hatter and the others at the tea party were making all of the puns about Time.
I did find Time to be a really intriguing character and it was interesting to see what his home was like. I found him a lot more sympathetic than I was expecting… and Alice a lot more headstrong, even though there wouldn’t have been much of a movie if she hadn’t been.
I didn’t really feel there was a lot in the way of fantastical nonsense, but the serious parts of the movie did work particularly well… and there were times I really felt sorry for the Mad Hatter. And I did feel some sympathy for the Queen of Hearts, even though I really didn’t want to.
I don’t think I’d watch this movie again in the near future, but I did enjoy seeing it today. And it was cool to see Richard Armitage have a couple of cameos.
Ink of Blood 