Disney destroyed Alice in Wonderland back in the 1930's, Burton's version couldn't possibly be worse.
I have no idea how you could even phatom saying such a thing. Walt Disney was always a huge fan of
Alice dating back to the
The Alice Comedies, which played a huge role in starting his success in Hollywood. Was any of his versions as good as the book? No of course not but isn't that always the case, the book is always better then the movie. With
Alice there are too many interesting characters in both
Wonderland and
Looking Glass that if you include all of them in the same animated movie, it will drag on for ever. Since his target audience was kids, Disney couldn't afford to that cuz what kid would watch the whole thing. Disney destroyed Alice? Not even close. In fact its the complete opposite. Disney's animated movie is to a alot of people their first expereince with
Alice. How many people do you know that read the book first before seeing the animated movie? I can't name one. It just doesn't happen like that. Plus remember too that a vast majority of Disney's movies such as,
Snow White,
Cinderella and
Aladin to name a few were also based on books or fairy tales. Hell
Aladin doesn't even come close to matching the book the story came,
1001 Nights. But once again, the idea was to make an animated movie for children to enjoy. Were all these stories destroyed as well? Based on your comment they must of been cuz what could possibly be the difference? In actualality, Disney's movies are the ultimate marketing tools for these books since often times when children grow up and realize the movies were based on books, they go and read them.
Now as far as Tim Burton's
Alice in Wonderland is concerned:
When one is watching this movie and starts to compare it to either the books or the animated movie, they are making a huge mistake. This movie is no way shape or form a remake, unlike
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. This movie is more like
Hook, a continuation of the story. With that said, here a few things that make this version a perfect compliment to the stories we fell in love with.
Emotional Connection with the Characters in Wonderland The Mad Hatter is the perfect example of this. In the books, the Hatter is the one character that Carrol really wanted people to relate to. In both
Wonderland and
Looking Glass Hatter is a victim of the justice system. He is charged with murdering time, hence why its always 6 o'clock, tea time in
Wonderland and found guilty of a crime without even being charged in
Looking Glass He is the one who has all the right to be pissed off at the Red Queen's reign over Wonderland (talking about Burton's version) and Depp plays that role perfectly. Sure it is easy to look at this role and compare to many others Depp as played but in need to fully understand the character of the Hatter in order to appreciate Depp's performance.
The use of the "Jabberwocky" poem and "The Looking Glass" Theme I loved the fact that Burton used "Jabberwocky" as the main theme of his version. The poem is perhaps the most famous of all that Carrol put into the stories for its nonsense but at the same time played a very liitle role in
Looking Glass Add to it that Burton also used the chess theme from
Looking Glass and its the perfect combo. I heard someone complain about how they didn't like the movie was based on a battle. That is just stupid to say cuz why else would Alice go back to Wonderland. How do you top the first time around? Just like Peter Pan in
Hook she needed a reason to go back.
The "real" Alice debate I like how Burton has the characters of Wonderland question if she is indeed the original Alice cuz to me that his way of paying tribute to the fact that it took two Alices to help Carrol create
Looking Glass Liddel, and another one whom he met while in London.
References to Wonderland Painting the roses red. "Why is a raven like a writing desk?" are just a few of the examples of how Burton references
Wonderland in the story, not to mention the Red Queen who is also a mixtue of the Queen of Hearts.
Expansion of the mystery of Lewis Carrol Carrol's relationship with Alice Liddel has always been questioned. Was he a pedaphile? We don't know for sure but if you use that theory, Burton's version is even more entertaining. Alice turns down a marriage proposal. This is in reference to a supposed proposal to Liddel by Carrol. Also look at the fight sequence with the Jabberwocky, when Alice screams, "Off with your head." One could look at that as Alice finally fighting off her molester with the Jabberwocky really being Carrol especially since at the end of the movie there is a
Wizard of Oz theme with people in Alice's real life being represented by characters in Wonderland. The Jabberwocky was suppose to mean death for Alice, much like how marriage would be. So Carrol is both the man who proposes and the Jabberwocky, the two characters that Alice distaste the most. But then again Carrols and Alice's relationship will forever be fully unknown, hence we will never know if this theory is correct. You know what? That's just fine by me because that has always been apart of lore of
Wonderland and
Looking Glass, trying to find hidden meanings. Burton's version does a terrific job in continuing that tradition!!!!!
