Under the rabbit hole The famous fairy tale of Lewis Carroll “Alice in Wonderland” is quite often subjected to screen adaptations, free interpretations and certain references to it from various films. At the same time, it remains relevant, interesting and in demand, and the most outstanding film adaptations are able to touch the viewer with one or another aspect, ranging from a set of stars to characteristic features, whether it is a psychedelic style with dolls from Neco z Alenky, a Disney cartoon of the same name or a colorful TV production with Whoopi Golberg as the Cheshire cat. This time, his vision of “Alice” is presented by the famous director Tim Barton, a famous maestro-fairytale artist who knows a lot about visual presentation.
Filled with stars, the film is a sequel to the original fairy tale. Thirteen years later, Alice Kingsley returns down the rabbit hole, and on the one hand there, in a fairy-tale land, at first glance, everything is as before: the same “drink me” and “eat me”, a smoking caterpillar, a mad Hatter, a smiling Cheshire cat, flamingo croquet on hedgehogs ... and at the same time, the magical lands have been seriously transformed, turning into a totalitarian country under the yoke of the terrible Red Queen, who forcibly took power from her charming youngest. At the same time, Alice herself practically does not remember her first trip, taking it for a terrible dream and not real visions, which greatly complicates repeated adaptation to the world and orientation on the ground.
An interesting and original plot turns out to be a story about the transformation of the inner world, where all the events of Wonderland can be interpreted metaphorically on the canvas of human emotions, and the main idea is taken as a classic story of growing up, gaining strength and taking responsibility for what is happening. Not so much an action that focuses on finding oneself, which leads through the streams of consciousness from emotion to emotion, here is the Hatter with the March Hare, symbolizing madness and impulsivity, here is the Red Queen representing anger, here is the White Rabbit, which deals with cowardice and submission, and here is the White Queen, bringing peace and goodness. You can continue, because the brave mouse Sonya here depicts almost a brave Cat in boots, and the Cheshire cat deftly knows how to trick everyone around the finger, remaining incredibly cute and charismatic.
In general, in terms of something cute and charming, you can talk about it for a very long time. Visually, the film is performed flawlessly, and such a huge set of beautiful special effects is simply amazed, and even where the graphics are felt by fiction, the general magical environment lubricates all doubts into one continuous admiration for what is happening. In addition, the film is literally full of pleasant for the modern viewer elements: diverse playing with the hall 3D, a bunch of fluffy animals for every taste, cute kids, beautiful inspired landscapes, and rapid dynamics of action.
In such a movie, you do not get tired, because the action is exciting and rapidly developing, and a simple narrative is brightened with incredible beauty with special effects that take your breath away. Flights, battles, fights with dragons and other fabulous bestiary, humorous notes that do not let you get bored, and even the prologue of the film, before Alice gets into a fairy-tale country, sweeps instantly briefly that you do not have time to blink, as the plot action twisted in a range of bright colors.
To look at such magnificence and visually spectacular fairy tale is necessary in cinemas and necessarily in 3D, to fully feel the saturation of the video series and visual beauty. Another reason for viewing, of course, is the brightest cast, and at the same time a set of voice actors, not only Western, but also ours. If on the screen the airy Anne Hathaway, the divine Johnny Depp in the next image of a freak, the bright Helena Bonham Carter and the tenderly sweet Mia Wasikowska in the role of Alice, please with their appearance visually, then from our voiceover, for example, the Cheshire cat came out flawlessly duplicated by Alexander Shirvindt, which simply cannot be noted! Of course, such a film is drawn to listen to voices in the original, but this is a rare case when the Russian dubbing can be considered extremely successful and almost impeccable, pleasant to hear and extremely suitable for everything, from the movement of the lips, ending with entering the image and playing on the emotions of the said phrases.
Barton’s masterpiece should take its place among the most successful adaptations of the fairy tale, or even become the best of its kind. By the way, to the attention of fans of classical history, to the original fairy tale there are a lot of references, as well as repeated plot moves, and closer to the final there is a wonderful cutting of flashbacks of the first trip of little Alice. So such a movie must impress and satisfy a variety of tastes and expectations from the picture. The story of growing up, about becoming a person and taking responsibility, about transformation in this period and preparing for further life, helping to understand yourself, in your thoughts and feelings, to catch the vector of the best course of fate and swim with the flow, already up the rabbit hole.
10 out of 10
Original