Not Nearly Curiouser Enough

Lewis Carroll's literal-minded little Alice was something of a logician; Burton's is comfortable with adult irrationality, although she's hardly a hippie chick; neither is his Alice, sad to report, in the least bit lysergic. (Perhaps as a cost-cutting measure, Alice was shot normally and stereofied in post production. The resulting...

By J. Hoberman

February 25, 2010

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Lewis Carroll's literal-minded little Alice was something of a logician; Burton's is comfortable with adult irrationality, although she's hardly a hippie chick; neither is his Alice, sad to report, in the least bit lysergic. (Perhaps as a cost-cutting measure, Alice was shot normally and stereofied in post production. The resulting 3-D is shallow and largely superfluous — and far less spectacular than that in either Avatar or Robert Zemeckis's punishing Christmas Carol.) The movie is positively sober in its positive image projection and concern with itself as a business model. Like more than one recent movie, Alice seems a trailer for a Wonderland computer game — and it is. The final battle is clearly designed for gaming. So, it would seem, is the character of actualized as well as action Alice. It turns out that, back in the U.K., Alice even has a plan that involves expanding her jilted father-in-law's enterprise to China. Walt's corporate heirs must be proud.
Fri., March 5, 7:25 p.m., 2010

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