Alice in Wonderland

I saw Alice in Wonderland at Pixar on Friday. I did not have high hopes, which is why I was happy to see it for free. Remarkably, it made somewhere over $115million over the weekend. Wow. This movie is not good. Don't rush out to see it, or, if you must, go in with low expecations. Also, don't see it in 3D (especially not if it costs you more). Unlike Avatar, this movie did not do a good job with the 3D technology.

I've always liked Tim Burton's style, but there are times when style trumps substance in his films. This was one of those times. The story was weak for me- scattered at times and utterly predictable at other times. The design was fun, but possibly a little bit on the dark side for the property. Usually I appreciate Burton's dark twist, but in this case it didn't feel quite right to me.

Furthermore (and perhaps most damning), I didn't care about any of the characters and didn't really ever feel any sense of danger. That's one of the problems with prophecy playing a major role in the storytelling- you already know what's going to happen. On top of that, the CG (Computer Graphics, for those of you who aren't in the "industry") was often jarring and took me out of the movie.

And the dance. Don't get me started on the dance. Ugh.