It’s taken me a week to write about Alice in Wonderland because I haven’t been able to process it; I’ve been trying to sort out the actual film from my pre-existing feelings about Tim Burton. Before you start thinking I’m one of those people that has Jack or Sally tattooed on my body or can recite the Beetlejuice chant by heart I am the exact opposite – Tim Burton is a director that I respect but get aggravated by.
Let me explain, I think Tim Burton is a talented director with an incredibly unique visual style. You can’t see a Tim Burton film and not feel his hand all over it. However, that is also my problem with Tim Burton. I think he’s a very one note director that’s all about the visuals and while he gets good performances out of his actors he merely makes the same movie over and over again – dark theme, angry characters, blue/gray visuals, lots of stripes and clouds. The one notable exception to this rule is Big Fish; that movie is far different than anything I’ve ever seen him do and proof that if given the inspiration Burton can think outside his box and do it beautifully. Despite all hope to the contrary, Alice in Wonderland is not Burton thinking outside is box. Burton is fully in his box, and again not trying anything new.
I knew that it was going to end up being the same old Burton film right from the opening shot. The camera panned down a cloudy night sky onto a full moon ringed by clouds and I literally groaned and complained out loud – I have a witness – it’s such a Tim Burton shot, there’s no other way to out it. Alice in Wonderland may have more color and effects than I am used to seeing in a Burton film, but at the end of the credits it’s just the same old Burton gothic film.
The one saving grace to my feelings about Burton and Alice in Wonderland is that I don’t think the film falling flat is all his fault. Throughout the film you are given hints of a darker side of the story, a hints of a romance between Hatter & Alice and other elements that tell you perhaps Burton was trying to go another direction with his reimagined Alice and was prevented from doing so by some higher power, probably for the sake of a PG rating.
Also, there is the fact that Alice herself seems to be going through some kind of emotional change and turmoil through the film that is never actually explained…even though the film thinks it explains it. What I mean is from the moment we first see adult Alice she’s grappling with some very adult issues and is obviously lost in her own life. Through the course of the film everyone keeps talking about how Alice needs to figure out who she is, and Mia Wasikowska does a great job of showing on screen that Alice is going through something, but by the end when Alice seems to have completed her emotional transformation you realize that nothing has happened to actually make Alice go through this character arch. She’s merely been told she needs to become this person and then she does…there is no motivation, no greater plot, no connection between what is happening on screen and her emotional journey – it just happens.
That may in itself be the best way to summarize Alice in Wonderland - it just happens. You spend the first twenty minutes of the film waiting for Alice to get to Wonderland, then you are told exactly what is going to happen in the film and of course then it just happens and credits roll.
Director: Tim Burton
Writer: Linda Woolverton
Alice: Mia Wasikowska
Mad Hatter: Johnny Depp
Red Queen: Helena Bonham Carter
White Queen: Anne Hathaway
Stayne: Crispin Glover
The Tweedles: Matt Lucas
Cheshire Cat: Stephen Fry
White Rabbit: Michael Sheen
Blue Caterpillar: Alan Rickman
Mad Hatter: You were much more... muchier. You've lost your muchiness.
Showing posts with label tim burton. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tim burton. Show all posts
Friday, March 12, 2010
Monday, January 5, 2009
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is an epic sized tale about the life of Benjamin Button, a man that was born an old baby and aged backwards. That’s seriously all I can say about the plot of Benjamin Button, not because I didn’t like it or because I’ll spoil something but because there is really not a lot else to say about the film. Benjamin Button lives his life just like everyone else, except that he ages in reverse; he doesn’t do anything different than any film character you’ve seen before do except age in reverse of the natural order.
I am not trying to be harsh on the film, but I went in expecting something new and brilliant and got Big Fish only an hour longer and without the fantastical aspects. I am disappointed because where I enjoyed seeing Tim Burton break out of his box, there was nothing stale with David Fincher’s style that made him breaking out of his box refreshing. I also feel that the trailers and the actual movie make you feel like there is some large purpose or point behind The Curious Case of Benjamin Button but in the end there was a lot of build up but no pay off, no greater lesson the character learned and wanted to impart on you. I feel like this was the dramatic equivalent of a summer movie – while all the story was nice, and the performances wonderful people really just wanted to see the special effects. I do suppose that’s a valid reason to see it simply because the effects and visuals of the film are stunning, Fincher really does know how to compose a dynamic shot and make a gorgeous movie.
One of the things I didn’t like about the digital effects was the aging of Cate Blanchett, and oddly enough I am not complaining about the effects to make her look older but the ones to make her look younger. When they make her look in her 20’s to me she looks so digitally touched she is practically glowing. This may have been what Fincher was going for but personally I found it distracting.
I was going to mention how much I enjoyed Brad Pitt playing Benjamin at so many ages, but I just checked IMDB and about 5 people played Benjamin before Brad Pitt comes into the film so I must applaud the special effects there (because I couldn’t tell) and yet now I feel I can’t give Brad Pitt the kudos I thought he deserved.
I also think that some of my problems with the film might have been eliminated if they took one more pass in the editing room – I honestly think everything in the present time line could have been dropped and done with voiceovers and made the film’s story pack more of a punch, but I do understand Fincher’s desire to keep what he shot. However, every time the film cut back to the present I did feel that the flashbacks lost a little of their dramatic punch and this could have led to me thinking that the film built up a lot of expectations that it didn’t fulfill.
I don’t mean to come down too harshly on The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. I did like the movie, think it was well made, and find the story adorable. I merely think that there is an air of pretension behind the film that it would be better without.
Director: David Fincher
Writer: Eric Roth
Daisy: Cate Blanchett
Benjamin Button: Brad Pitt
Thomas Button: Jason Flemyng
Queenie: Taraji P. Henson
Captain Mike: Jared Harris
Elizabeth Abbott: Tilda Swinton
Benjamin Button: I was thinking how nothing last, and what a shame that is.
Daisy: Some things last.
I am not trying to be harsh on the film, but I went in expecting something new and brilliant and got Big Fish only an hour longer and without the fantastical aspects. I am disappointed because where I enjoyed seeing Tim Burton break out of his box, there was nothing stale with David Fincher’s style that made him breaking out of his box refreshing. I also feel that the trailers and the actual movie make you feel like there is some large purpose or point behind The Curious Case of Benjamin Button but in the end there was a lot of build up but no pay off, no greater lesson the character learned and wanted to impart on you. I feel like this was the dramatic equivalent of a summer movie – while all the story was nice, and the performances wonderful people really just wanted to see the special effects. I do suppose that’s a valid reason to see it simply because the effects and visuals of the film are stunning, Fincher really does know how to compose a dynamic shot and make a gorgeous movie.
One of the things I didn’t like about the digital effects was the aging of Cate Blanchett, and oddly enough I am not complaining about the effects to make her look older but the ones to make her look younger. When they make her look in her 20’s to me she looks so digitally touched she is practically glowing. This may have been what Fincher was going for but personally I found it distracting.
I was going to mention how much I enjoyed Brad Pitt playing Benjamin at so many ages, but I just checked IMDB and about 5 people played Benjamin before Brad Pitt comes into the film so I must applaud the special effects there (because I couldn’t tell) and yet now I feel I can’t give Brad Pitt the kudos I thought he deserved.
I also think that some of my problems with the film might have been eliminated if they took one more pass in the editing room – I honestly think everything in the present time line could have been dropped and done with voiceovers and made the film’s story pack more of a punch, but I do understand Fincher’s desire to keep what he shot. However, every time the film cut back to the present I did feel that the flashbacks lost a little of their dramatic punch and this could have led to me thinking that the film built up a lot of expectations that it didn’t fulfill.
I don’t mean to come down too harshly on The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. I did like the movie, think it was well made, and find the story adorable. I merely think that there is an air of pretension behind the film that it would be better without.
Director: David Fincher
Writer: Eric Roth
Daisy: Cate Blanchett
Benjamin Button: Brad Pitt
Thomas Button: Jason Flemyng
Queenie: Taraji P. Henson
Captain Mike: Jared Harris
Elizabeth Abbott: Tilda Swinton
Benjamin Button: I was thinking how nothing last, and what a shame that is.
Daisy: Some things last.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)