by Donald Lind

Created on: April 19, 2010

“Burton makes ‘Wonderland’ somehow even more bizarre”

At two points in Tim Burton’s reimagined pseudo-sequel to “Alice in Wonderland,” a character asks if they have gone mad.  The answer: “I’m afraid so.  You’re terribly bonkers.  But I’ll tell you a secret.  All the best people are.”  That statement basically explains Burton’s attitude about filmmaking and life in general.

Whether or not his efforts are well-received or financially successful, Burton always has a bit of a warped vision about the world; his films make the statement that what is considered normal is often “boring,” and if you don’t strive for something different, then boring is what your life will be.  In his case, he paints a bunch of his films with highly expressionistic visuals, featuring characters struggling to be their creative selves, as they are cast as misunderstood, weirdos or plain freaks.  “Alice in Wonderland” is no different.

Many of Burton’s films have a compare-and-contrast approach to the “normal” people and his “weirdo” heroes.  In this film, he shows the real world to be stuffy, conservative, boring and false.  Everyone is shoehorned into a role they’d rather not have.  When Alice (Mia Wasikowska, “Amelia,” “Defiance”) follows the rabbit down the hole into Wonderland, life seems to happen; the colors of the world are bright instead of dull; the settings are moving rather than static and restrictive; people actually have personality and purpose; things seem to have a reason to happen instead of the way people try to make things the way they want.  Most importantly, the characters in this land are the epitome of a Burton hero: they are true to their nature, no matter what opposes it.

Burton sidesteps the remake nature by admitting that the original adventures – from Lewis Carroll’s books and likely Disney’s 1951 animated film – happened, but Alice only recalls them as a recurring childhood nightmare.  But never mind that, Alice has another new nightmare, one common for any free spirit in Victoria-era England: the arranged marriage.

Alice does her best to play her part at the dull ceremony, with her would-be mother-in-law (Geraldine James) doing her part to treat the guests at the party as her personal marionettes and her fiancé-to-be,

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