I’m reluctant to post this due to all the buzz it’s been getting on the rest of the web, but I’m curious about any comments readers may have. Tim Burton recently released a series of stills from his upcoming incarnation of Alice in Wonderland, set for release in March of next year.
Like many directors, Burton has established a series of “regulars” who now appear in most of his productions. Chief among them: Johnny Depp (who will play the Madd Hatter):
Helena Bonham Carter as the Red Queen:
Anne Hathaway as the White Queen:
And a couple of stills:
Tim Burton’s aesthetic sense has always been outrageously appealing to me, though I admit to being disappointed by other elements of his recent work. What do you guys think? Are you waiting with bated breath for this movie? Feel free to make completely biased and premature judgment calls.
SheWalksSoftly 
17 responses to “Tim Burton’s Alice”
I have to say that if Tim screws this up the way he did Willy Wonka I am going to be over him entirely.
Although it looks like eye candy if the storyline is too far fetched or steers too far away from the original story its gonna flop.
Oh Tim dont f*ck it up!
I love how people say Burton fucked up Willy Wonka…. when he followed the book more closely than the original.
The first movie was one of my all-time favs, so when I heard they were doing a remake my first reaction was that it couldn’t possibly be better or as good. The only reason I even gave it a chance was because Depp was starring in it. And I loved it! I like that it wasn’t a remake of the first movie, but rather just a different interpretation of the book(s). I can watch both films back to back, and enjoy them both, for different reasons.
Yeah, I cause I clearly remember the part about Willy Wonka’s estranged father in the book.
It’s not about who follows the source material more faithfully. In fact, that can ruin an adaptation. It’s about who captures the feeling of the original and that, my friends, was Gene Wilder and only Gene Wilder.
Oddly enoug I just wrote about Alice in a different sense on my blog…
As for Burton’s imagining, I have several reasons to feel justified in saying I will most likely NOT go see it. Why? Without going on to much…
One: With the exception of Big Fish (which had it’s problems) all of Burton’s films since Mars Attack have been unwatchable. Yes, his aesthetic sense can be wonderful but once all the piece come together they can actually become grating due to the rest of the pictures’ failings.
Two: There are certain stories that just can’t cross the barriers from one medium to the other (Watchmen is another example of this) and although I’ve enjoyed several filmmatic retelling of Carroll’s story, I feel that it is one of those tales that works in print because, really, that’s what the story is all about: puns, poetry and words.
No movie done by anyone will ever top the book, it was a work of perfection in that medium only. And I was really gunning for and crossing my fingers for a remake of American McGee’s Alice (the PC Game)…if you want to know the down and dirty truth. 😉
But will I be going to this? Absolutely. And I think you should be my date Dana. 🙂
~S
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Let’s see: One of my all-time favorites stories + Johnny Depp = FTW!
I agree with the majority opinion on this one. Tim Burton and Johnny Depp are both bugging the crap out of me recently. Burton lets Depp just mug the camera the whole time, as though the huger his face is in the shot, the more hilarious the scene. This prevented me from enjoying even Sleepy Hollow, which it seems to me was not supposed to be funny, but Depp played it as though it was, and Burton didn’t stop him.
I’m terrified by the idea of this movie. Enjoy, rest of the world!
Yes, yes, yes. I agree with this comment. I am mildly nervous of his treatment of the story. However, there might be some awesome hidden in there (Alan Rickman as the Caterpillar! Stephen Fry as the Cheshire Cat!) I tire of Mr. Burton putting Johnny Depp in all these spooky, Victorian roles. Is there no one else to cast for these?
I’m still waiting for someone to make Automated Alice into a movie, but alas. I fear Mr. Noon is never to be destined for the big screen.
Yes, yes… I believe ‘terrified’ is the correct word.
Just days ago I was thinking of American McGee’s Alice, perhaps in context of a movie, which was described when it came out as “If Tim Burton ever did a movie of Alice”, that that’s the one I’d rather see as a movie.
Still, looking at the cast on IMDB, there’s a number of people I’m eager to see because they’re good (Stephen Fry), cool as hell (M. Tsokas), or they’re Anne Hathaway.
I’m a big Burton fan, and personally I find his only truly bad film was the Planet of the Apes remake, and even the ending got everyone talking.
Also, his version of Charlie And The Chocolate Factory was closer to the book, and I love Depp as Wonka “The best kind of prize is a SURprize!”
As for Alice, this definitely seems like gold for the Burton style.
I couldn’t vocalize why I kept feeling an impending sense of doom every time I saw these photos posted, but I think several others share my sentiment.
I was also very unhappy with Willy Wonka. I felt like it was an unnecessary remake. Kind of the same way I feel about MTV talking about a Rocky Horror remake. It makes me feel kind of sick. The originals were perfect. There’s no way you could improve.
That being said, maybe Burton will surprise us with a movie that is the most unique and fantastic of all films. We will see!
Hmmm, I read somewhere that Tim isn’t remaking any of the books directly, but rather picking up the story when Alice is older (haven’t read the books at all, so cannot say with much authority). But even so, I love the visual effects and eye candy of gorgeous sets – so much so that I can get lost in them and not even hear the dialogue, lol. Don’t really mind either way, but I am drooling in anticipation at the visuals (not actors as such) but more about the possibilities for sparking off new creativity in my own art.
The sets look good, Depp looks ridiculous, not to mention miscast. Burton is a spent force.
This is not the version of “Alice” I was looking forward to. Tim Burton, Disney, and a young Alice sounds like the original American McGee’s style/story is out the window. It was supposed to be Sarah Michelle Gellar, Marilyn Manson, and Guillermo Del Toro’s “El Laberinto Del Fauno” + Roman Polanski’s “Closer” for NIN. OH WELL..I could care less about it now.