Film Review: Alice in Wonderland (2010) - Adaptation

Alice in Wonderland is a 2010 fantasy adventure film directed by Tim Burton. The story of the film is an adaptation of the book Alice's "Adventures in Wonderland" and "Through the Looking Glass" by C.S. Lewis, as well as inspired by the Walt Disney animated film 'Alice in Wonderland'. It tells the story of Alice, a young adult girl living in England, on the day she is about to be proposed to by someone she dislikes, runs after a mysterious white rabbit and falls down a rabbit hole and lands in the world of Underland. Alice wanders through the strange land and discovers her destiny into saving her friends and the citizens of Underland from the bloody Red Queen of Hearts and defeat the dragon beats called the Jabberwocky.

Many aspects of the original sources have been used in the 2010 film, as the original Disney animation omitted the beast character, The Jabberwocky, the Jub Jub bird and the two characters of Tweedledee and Tweedledum. The latest film contained a very satisfactory amount of keeping many of the main characters from the source materials into the film. From the prior Alice Disney film the characters of the Cheshire Cat, White Rabbit, the Caterpillar, the Mad Hatter, Doormouse, March Hare, Card soldiers, and the Red Queen of Hearts. Many of these characters which had famous designs from the Disney animated classic had been reinvented and redesigned in Tim Burton's recognisable style, which gives the overall look of the film a much more darker but interesting atmosphere. This redesigning of old characters and the introduction of perhaps lesser famous characters contributed to this adaptation's success, as it adds a much darker and slightly more adult theme to the old classic.

The visuals of the film are quite grand, the use of live action and 3D animated characters and scenery creates a visually stunning. Many of the characters are a delight to watch, such as the evaporating Cheshire Cat, floating around lazily and dissipating in the air. The great scale and power that is shown in the final creature in the film of the Jabberwocky, and the stunning effects of the electric purple lighting that is expelled from the beast's throat. Visually this adaptation presents the magical wonder that was captured within C. S. Lewis's novels, and each time you watch the film you notice something new, similar to how you would notice a new trait after rereading the books.

One reason for the large success, including a box office number of $1.025 Billion the starting point for a new sequel, of the film could be derived from the grand visuals and the dark spin of Tim Burton's signature style. Many children who had read the books when they were younger or who had watched the animated film would at the time be much older, and appreciate the new twist on the original source material that still captures the magic and wonderment throughout the world of Wonderland but has a much more adult and darker twist in the designs and story.