Next Train to Wonderland

[jamesq]

I've always been a big fan of Alice in Wonderland, and the works of Lewis Carrol in general (I have a soft-spot for nonsense fiction). The surreal imagery, the word-play, the skewed logical constructions - it gives my brain a simultaneous hit of things I crave. Give it a gothic/nerdy adult Alice and I'd never want to leave.

I just wish someone would make a decent Alice movie. Oh, plenty of movies exist - most recently, Tim Burton's version - but they all fall short somehow. Tim Burton's fell especially short. As a film director he's a great set-piece designer - which is to say that his version of Alice was visually stunning but lacking in almost every other area. It sucks that it stole the plot of the first Narnia movie.

What was wrong with this version of Alice? Wanking mostly. Johnny Depp played the same character he routinely plays. Alice herself is largely undeveloped and he personal dilemmas just didn't move me. I didn't care about her "real world" problems and I never felt she was in peril in the "Wonderland" sequences. I just didn't care about any of the characters.

It did have some good points. Helena Bonham-Carter seemed to be having fun. Crispin Glover and Tim Spall seemed creepy and noble, respectively. Kudos to conveying that to the audience with so little to work with (both are relatively minor supporting characters).

I lay about 50% of the blame on Tim Burton, who's been doing the same movie over and over again for years now. Would Tim Burton's Dorothy or Wendy be noticeably different? I don't think so. I'd really like to see him do something against type. Maybe Sex and the City 3.

The other 50% is the original source material itself. The two Alice books (Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass) don't by themselves make a compelling film. Consider:

• The main protagonist is a child.
  
• None of the characters show any development.
  
• The "plot" consists of Alice moving from set-piece to set-piece.
  
• There's little dramatic tension in the books - You never feel that Alice is in genuine danger at any point.
  
• Both books end by having Alice wake up, revealing that it was all just a dream.
  
• A lot of the (adult) appeal of the book is in the logical puzzles and word-play - neither of which is easily conveyed on film.

This is not to say that you can't make a straight adaptation of Alice and be successful. It has been done many times, but I find them all to be unsatisfying. Like having a great appetizer at a high-end restaurant and then leaving before the main course. What you had you liked, but you're hungry for more.

How would I improve on Alice? The same way numerous other have - make Alice an adult protagonist, give her an actual goal to strive for involving Wonderland. Wonderland itself needs to have some sort of existence beyond "just a dream" - either a more concrete psychic dreamscape, or some kind of alternate dimension.

I recently watched Alice the SyFy miniseries re-imagining that was made last year. It got a lot right, but fumbled towards the end. The climax succeeds because the bad guys suddenly become a lot dumber then their reputations indicate. Sloppy, but then the whole final third of the story seemed rushed. othelianna posits that they intended to make a longer mini-series but had to cut it short for some reason.

One of the best versions I've encountered was American McGee's Alice video game. The young-adult Alice in this version is experiencing Wonderland in her own mind and is battling to free herself from catatonia and crippling guilt. The character develops over the course of the game, snippets of the nature of Wonderland are slowly revealed, Alice's actions have real consequences to her waking self.

While adapting video games to film presents it's own problems, I think the core of a very good movie is in there. There were attempts to make a movie some years ago, but they ultimately stalled.

Of course, Tim Burton has poisoned the well - no one is going to green light an Alice feature for several years now because it will (for now) be compared to his movie. Not really Tim Burton's fault - a Spielberg (or Lucas, or Shyamalan, or...) Alice would have done the same thing. I'm sure we'll return to this around 2020 - Alice is a timeless story after all.

Comments

[danceintheabyss.livejournal.com]

I absolutely loved American Mcgee's Alice. It was all dark and dangerous and gothic and suck. I just wish I had had the chance to complete the game before my computer went pthhhhppptt and I lost all data. I enjoyed Tim Burtons Alice, mostly for the imagery as well, although I think in fell short on story because they were too busy going "this is gonna be 3D how can we make every scene POP!" So while they were gleefully tweaking away with that the character development got sidelined. I've noticed that in a few of the 3D movies. Like Coraline, I really enjoyed it but it fell just short of the mark character wise as they were too busy trying to make it visually stunning. (By they by this is sort of an Alice movie of its own)

[jamesq]

You should try it again - you can probably find it for $10 easily.

Hmm. I may have to do that myself. I wonder if there's a PS3 version. If not, it'll go on the PC I keep for just these occasions.

[danceintheabyss.livejournal.com]

I actually still have the cd, jsut don't know if it'll work on windows xp?????? hmmm

[jamesq]

http://www.americanmcgee.com/wordpress/2009/02/20/alice-sequel/

[milady-j.livejournal.com]

A Company of Wolves had a great take on the Red Riding Hood theme. The dark and sort of gritty gothic settings were perfect.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDqNOkd8vIY

Not quite Alice, but if the Alice in Wonderland story were to be done with this movie in mind(only with present day graphics)it might exceed the Tim Burton "standard"?

[ya-inga.livejournal.com]

"I'd really like to see him do something against type. Maybe Sex and the City 3."

This? Almost killed me it was so funny and brain crushing all at once!

: )

[jamesq]

I was only half-joking when I said that.

One of the few good things to come out of the old studio contract system was that directors took the jobs that were assigned to them and they ended up learning different genres because of it. I'd like to see something like that re-instituted in a limited (and less exploitative) way. Maybe rotate a bunch of "apprentice" directors through a variety of TV shows to give them some variety. It'll never happen though, because no producer wants a green director.

Roger Corman described himself as being a sort of farm league for Hollywood directors. Tarantino has been doing this to his own career - he's been deliberately trying different genres.

I like that they got M. Night Shyamalan to do The Last Airbender (though I'm peripherally aware of the complaints against it) so that he can break out of the "with a twist at the end" style of shaggy-dog stories he's been doing.

Let's see Michael Bay do a Western, or Scorsese do a romantic comedy.

Mostly I'd like to see me get pegged to do anything - I've been typecast as "not a director" and I feel this is selling me short.

[ya-inga.livejournal.com]

You make an excellent point!

I really do wish we got to see some of these talented people REALLY challenge themselves.

I am really looking forward to the Last Airbender

And I think that you really *have* been unfairly typecast ; )

[ya-inga.livejournal.com]

PS I haven't see Alice yet cause - as you pointed out - this appears to the same movie TB has made over and over and over.

boring

[jamesq]

But you get to see Captain Jack Sparrow with a Scottish accent!

[ya-inga.livejournal.com]

*whee*

*rolls eyes*

sigh