Apparently the marketing machine is in full swing, as in the last 48 hours we’ve seen countless images and now a script review for the Tim Burton directed Alice in Wonderland, starring Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Anne Hathaway, Alan Rickman, Stephen Fry, Michael Sheen and Mia Wasikowska.
Lets start with the script review, I’m not going to post the whole thing here, but for the benefit of the article I’ll summarise:
The script isn’t exactly an adaptation of the original story by Lewis Carroll, as it is an extension of it. Alice went to Wonderland as a child, and she’s now almost grown. She’s 17, and she’s back for more, but doesn’t remember her times there earlier. She’s about to be engaged, maybe. A rich suitor wants to marry her, and the opening scenes of the movie are of her engagement party. But she, of course, gets distracted by a white rabbit.
The White Rabbit (who will be played by Michael Sheen), goes after Alice (played by In Treatment’s Mia Wasikowska) because of an omen that she is the one to slay the Jabberwock, who guards the Red Queen’s empire. But when she arrives, she has no knowledge of this, or of Wonderland at all. She meets Tweedledee and Tweedledum and the Dormouse, the Cheshire Cat (Stephen Fry), the Catepillar (Alan Rickman), and of course the March Hare (Noah Taylor) and the Mad Hatter (Johnny Depp).
The good White Queen (Anne Hathaway), of who these were all loyal subjects, has been banished by the bad Red Queen (Helena Bonham Carter). She is much larger than everyone else and surrounds herself in a court full of people with enormous lips, or noses, or ears, as well as the Knave of Hearts (Crispin Glover), her most trusted aide.
There’s also an odd love story that develops between Alice and the Hatter. I don’t know why this is necessary, maybe to juxtapose the love she doesn’t have in the real world, but it seems misplaced. Despite “Sexiest Man Alive” claims, Depp has never gone the romantic lead route. Especially lately, he plays dark, creepy, complicated men that aren’t interested in getting the girl at the end, so it’s an interesting way for the movie to go.
Sounds pretty good to me, I can’t pretend I’m not a little disappointed that they won’t be telling the classic story but at the same time I can understand why. The original story by Lewis Carrol has been done so many times, that there’s no way the story would ever be “fresh”, a sequel on the other hand, done correctly could be timeless.