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Item published by Boydesy on 5th January. 2 Comments.

In 1951, Disney created Alice in Wonderland, an animated classic based on Lewis Carroll's lasting works. Now in 2010, they're offering a new look on Wonderland in Tim Burton's upcoming, similarly titled film. The new Alice in Wonderland, opening on March, 5th, promises to offer a visual extravaganza brought about by a combination of live action, motion capture and CGI.

Tim Burton would be the natural choice to helm a Wonderland film considering his unique, and seemingly appropriate aesthetic that he brings to his work. In many interpretations of Wonderland the world has a surrealistic feel with disproportionate and skewed angles dominating the landscape. Burton has shown to be quite proficient at creating such artistic effects, most notably in films like Beetlejuice (1988) and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005). If the stills from his newest venture are any indication, he has succeeded in bringing this quality to Alice in Wonderland.

The plot put forward in this latest interpretation of Carroll is not a straightforward adaptation of the novels nor a remake of the original film, but a sequel of sorts. Written by Linda Woolverton, who has penned several Disney screenplays, this new story follows the exploits of a 19 year-old Alice who, at the prospect of recieving a high pressure marriage proposal, runs away and not surprisingly finds her way back to Wonderland. While she doesn't remember the place of her childhood dreams at all, the denizens of Wonderland remember her all too well. There she finds that the Queen of Hearts now has despotic rule over Wonderland, and that she may be the key to toppling the Queen's reign. As with many adaptions of Carroll's stories onto screen, this one too contains components of both of the Alice novels; Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There. Characters such as the Mad Hatter, Caterpillar and Cheshire Cat appear in "Wonderland", where as the White Queen, Tweedledee and Tweedledum, and the Jabberwock exist solely in "Through the Looking Glass". This blend seemed to hold up well in the original animated feature, and hopefully will hold up now.

Taking the title role of Alice is relative newcomer Mia Wasikowska, an Australian actress who beat out several potentials to play the titular character including the likes of Amanda Seyfield and Lindsay Lohan, who both showed interest in the role. According to Tim Burton on the choice to cast Wasikowska:

"Mia was just…we wanted somebody with a gravity to her. Most Alices are just a precocious girl wandering through things. We wanted somebody who had…it’s hard to put into words, but just had a gravity to her, an internal life, something that you could see the wheels turning. It’s just a simple kind of power to her that we really liked. Not flamboyant, not very showy, but just somebody that’s got a lot of internal life to her. That’s why I picked her." 

Co-Starring with Wasikowska is Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter; a role seemingly tailor made for him as the Hatter in this version is decidedly even crazier than usual. In the supporting roles is an all-star cast including Helena Bonham Carter, Crispin Glover, Anne Hathaway, Chistopher Lee and Alan Rickman.

The characters were film either as live action, such as the White Queen (Hathaway) and Alice herself, who required no digital manipulation. Other characters were done motion capture as the Queen of Hearts (Bonham Carter) and the Mad Hatter, who are filmed in live action and digitally manipulated later, while creatures such as the Caterpillar and the Cheshire Cat, are completely CGI creations.

With little standing in it's way at the box office in January and February, Alice in Wonderland may well be poised to be the first major film of the new year.

IMDb

Official Site

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