This movie is as delightful as I expected of Lewis Carroll, Tim Burton, Johnny Depp, Sacha Baron Cohen and Helena Bonham Carter. It’s a combination of beautiful animation and fantastical human characters with wild hair, remarkable makeup and stunning costumes. The visual spectacle alone is worth the price of admission, and you also get Lewis Carroll’s lines cleverly delivered, to boot. Baron Cohen has adopted an Austrian accent for his role as ‘Time,’ so at one hilarious point, he utters, “It appears that my inwincible clock is, in fact, wincible!” Mia Wasikowska reprises her role as Alice, ruffling the sensibilities of straight-laced Victorian England. Dressed in a wild, Asian-inspired get-up that shocks ‘polite society,’ she exclaims, “If it’s good enough for the dowager Empress of China, it’s good enough for the Ascots!” (the movie’s antagonists). The plot is thin, but I found that irrelevant compared to the clever badinage and visual delight. Great for children of any age, especially with messages like: The only way to achieve the impossible is to believe it is possible!
Should you see it? Yes! —D.W.
Viewed at Galleria 6 Cinemas