Day 33: Alice in Wonderland

This is off topic, it's not about baking, it's about a movie.

*Spoiler Alert*  I will be talking about things that happen in the movie, without reserve, so consider yourself warned.

Last weekend, I went to see the new Alice in Wonderland movie.  As I take the name of this blog from the book, I feel as if I have to make a comment about it.  I was really disappointing in it.  I thought it was terrible.  It took a story that focused so much on nonsense and the creativity of life and forced it into a formulaic box of blockbuster:
Girl is unsure
Girl finds herself on a quest to find herself
Girl finds unlikely but devoted friends to help her on her quest
Girl meets and must overcome an enemy (symbolically overcoming her fears)
Girl finds her courage
Girl overcomes her enemy and finds herself

I was fine with this formula until the last few scenes of the movie.  At that point, it went from entertainingly predictable, to corny, brain-numbingly predictable.  I mean really, to kill the Jabberwocky, Alice gets launched 50 feet in the air and calmly says "Off with your head!" before cleanly slicing off the dragon's head with one swipe, neatly winning the day.  I almost groaned aloud in the theater when I saw that.

It was a very pretty movie with interesting visuals, as Burton is famous for.  The acting was pretty good as well.  Helena Bonham Carter was so good as the Red Queen.  Johnny Depp usually holds his own and doesn't disappoint here.   I'm not saying it was a complete waste of time, it entertaining.  I was just so disappointed in the way that the story got manipulated.  I'm going to give it another try, probably on DVD.  Maybe it will be better after I let it settle in for a while.