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Alice in Wonderland Animation Movie Review And Story

Alice in Wonderland is a 2010 American period adventure fantasy film directed by Tim Burton from a screenplay written by Linda Woolverton and produced by Walt Disney Pictures. The film stars Mia Wasikowska in the title role, with Johnny Depp, Anne Hathaway, Helena Bonham Carter, Matt Lucas, and Crispin Glover, while featuring the voices of Alan Rickman, Stephen Fry, Michael Sheen, and Timothy Spall. A live-action adaptation and re-imagining of Lewis Carroll's works and Walt Disney's 1951 animated feature film of the same name, the film follows Alice Kingsleigh, a nineteen-year-old who accidentally falls down a rabbit hole, returns to Wonderland, and alongside the Mad Hatter helps restore the White Queen to her throne by fighting against the Red Queen and her Jabberwocky, a dragon that terrorizes Wonderland's inhabitants.

Alice in Wonderland came under development in December 2007, when Burton was asked to direct two 3D films for Disney, including the remake of Frankenweenie. Production began in September 2008 and concluded within three months, and was shot in the United Kingdom and the United States. It was followed by an extensive post-production and visual effects process where filming included live-action and motion capture sequences. The film premiered in London at the Odeon Leicester Square on February 25, 2010, and was released in the United Kingdom and the United States through the Disney Digital 3D, RealD 3D, and IMAX 3D formats as well as in conventional theaters on March 5, 2010.

The film received mixed reviews from critics and generated over $1.025 billion in ticket sales and became the fifth highest-grossing film during its theatrical run, and it is also the second-highest-grossing film of 2010. Amongst Disney's live-action adaptations, the film is the tied for third-most-expensive, alongside Mulan, and fourth-highest-grossing readaptation to date. It received three nominations at the 68th Golden Globe Awards, including Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy. At the 83rd Academy Awards, it won Best Art Direction and Best Costume Design, and was also nominated for Best Visual Effects, while the film received numerous other accolades

While not the first such film in its genre, Alice in Wonderland is credited with starting a trend of live-action fairy tale and fantasy films being green-lit, particularly from Walt Disney Studios. A sequel, titled Alice Through the Looking Glass, was released on May 27, 2016.

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Plot

In 1868, 19-year-old Alice Kingsleigh, mourning the recent loss of her father, is troubled by strange recurring dreams and the stifling expectations of the society in which she lives. After receiving an unwanted marriage proposal from Hamish Ascot at his father's garden party, Alice spots a familiar white rabbit wearing a waistcoat and carrying a pocket watch. She follows it to a rabbit hole and accidentally falls in. She shrinks after drinking from a bottle labeled 'Drink Me' (called a Pishsalver), meaning she cannot reach a key on a table, and then eats a cake labeled 'Eat Me' (called an Upelkuchen), transforming into a giantess. After drinking from the bottle again to fit through a tiny door, she enters the forest of a fantastical place called Underland. There, she is greeted by the White Rabbit, a Dormouse, a Dodo, Talking Flowers, and identical twins Tweedledum and Tweedledee, who all apparently know her.

Alice asserts that she is dreaming, but learns from Absolem the Caterpillar that she is destined to slay the Jabberwocky and end the tyranny of the Red Queen. The group is ambushed by the ravenous Bandersnatch and the Red Queen's knights, led by the Knave of Hearts. All are captured except Alice, who escapes, and the Dormouse, who takes one of the Bandersnatch's eyes. The Knave informs the Red Queen of Alice's return, and is ordered to find her immediately.

The Cheshire Cat guides Alice to the Mad Hatter, March Hare, and Dormouse's tea party. The Hatter explains that the Red Queen took over Underland, usurping her sister the White Queen. He joined the resistance after she destroyed his village and killed his family. The red knights seize the party, but the Hatter allows himself to be captured so Alice can flee. Alice is found by the Knave's Bloodhound, who is allied with the resistance. He takes Alice to the Red Queen's castle, where she accidentally outgrows her clothes after eating another Upelkuchen.

Infiltrating the palace as a courtier named "Um", Alice learns that the vorpal sword, the only weapon capable of killing the Jabberwocky, is locked inside the Bandersnatch's den. The knave makes advances to Alice, which she rebuffs, but the jealous Red Queen orders her beheading. Alice obtains the sword and returns the Bandersnatch's eye. He gratefully helps her escape the castle and delivers her to the White Queen, who gives Alice a potion that returns her normal size. The Cheshire Cat uses his shapeshifting powers to free the Mad Hatter, who incites rebellion amongst the Red Queen's subjects. Meanwhile, Absolem, who is turning into a pupa, finally gets Alice to remember that she visited Underland when she was a little girl, and called it "Wonderland". Just before his chrysalis closes, he advises her to fight the Jabberwocky.

The Queens gather their armies on a chessboard-like battlefield and send Alice and the Jabberwocky to decide the battle in single combat. Alice beheads the Jabberwocky with the vorpal sword, and the red knights gratefully turn against their ruler. The White Queen banishes her sister and the Knave into exile together, then gives Alice a vial of the Jabberwocky's purple blood, which can fulfill one wish. Alice says farewell to her friends, then wishes to return home.

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Alice awakens and escapes the rabbit hole, dirty and scratched from her fall. When she returns to the gazebo at the garden party, she refuses Hamish's proposal and impresses Lord Ascot with her idea of establishing trade routes to Hong Kong, inspiring him to take her on as his apprentice. As Alice prepares to set off on a trading ship, Absolem, in his new butterfly form, lands on her shoulder.

Cast

Johnny Depp as Tarrant Hightopp, the Mad Hatter, a hammy yet bitter resident of Underland who becomes Alice's closest friend. Wasikowska said that the characters "both feel like outsiders and feel alone in their separate worlds, and have a special bond and friendship with Alice. Burton explained that Depp "tried to find a grounding to the character as opposed to just being mad. Burton also said that in a lot of versions it's a very one-note kind of character and you know Depp's goal was to try and bring out a human side to the strangeness of the character. The orange hair is an allusion to the mercury poisoning suffered by hatters who used mercury to cure felt; Depp believes that the character "was poisoned and it was coming out through his hair, through his fingernails and eyes". Depp and Burton decided that the Hatter's clothes, skin, hair, personality and accent would change throughout the film to reflect his emotions. In an interview with Depp, the character was paralleled to "a mood ring, [as] his emotions are very close to the surface". The Hatter is "made up of different people and their extreme sides", with a gentle voice much like the character's creator Lewis Carroll reflecting the lighter personality and with a Scottish Glaswegian accent (which Depp modeled after Gregor Fisher's Rab C. Nesbitt character) reflecting a darker, more dangerous personality.

Illusionary dancer David "Elsewhere" Bernal doubled for Depp during the "Futterwacken" sequence near the end of the film.

Mia Wasikowska as Alice Kingsleigh, a reserved yet headstrong young woman who struggles to conform to society's expectations. As the film progresses, she becomes more strong-willed and confident in her decisions and choosing her path. Wasikowska read Carroll's books as a child and re-read them to prepare for her role. She also watched Jan Å vankmajer's Alice. She said, "When we were kids, my mum would pop it in the VCR player. We would be disturbed, and wouldn't really understand it, but we couldn't look away because it was too intriguing. So I had kept that feeling about Alice, a kind of haunting feeling.

Mairi Ella Challen as six-year-old Alice.

Helena Bonham Carter as the Red Queen. Bonham Carter's head was digitally increased to three times its original size in the film.

Helena Bonham Carter as Iracebeth of Crims, the Red Queen, Mirana's short-tempered and murderous sister, and the self-proclaimed leader of Underland. She is an amalgamation of two Carroll characters—the Red Queen and the Queen of Hearts. Her first name is a play on the word irascible because she is easily irritated, obstreperous, impatient, and quick to anger. Bonham Carter's head was digitally increased to three times its original size on screen.[24] The character hates animals, and chooses to use them as servants and furniture. It is implied that the Red Queen beheaded her late husband, the King. The actress took inspiration from her young daughter Nell, a toddler, stating, "The Red Queen is just like a toddler, because she's got a big head and she's a tyrant." Her appearance is based on England's Queen Elizabeth I.

Anne Hathaway as Mirana of Marmoreal, the White Queen, Iracebeth's calm and benevolent sister, and the rightful ruler of Underland. She is one of the few characters that did not require digital manipulation. According to Burton, the character's image was influenced by Nigella Lawson, while Hathaway also cited David Bowie, Debbie Harry, Greta Garbo, and the artwork of Dan Flavin as inspiration for her performance. Hathaway described the White Queen as a "punk-rock vegan pacifist She comes from the same gene pool as the Red Queen. She really likes the dark side, but she's so scared of going too far into it that she's made everything appear very light and happy. But she's living in that place out of fear that she won't be able to control herself. She also summed up her character with a caption on a magnet of Happy Bunny holding a knife, which a friend gave her, "Cute but psycho, it evens out.

Crispin Glover as Ilosovic Stayne, the Knave of Hearts, Iracebeth's arrogant and vile sidekick, whom she believes to be her lover, but this proves to be false. While he follows the Red Queen's every order, he is the only one capable of calming her dramatic mood swings. Glover said, "The Red Queen has a fair amount of short-tempered reactions to things that people do, and so the Knave has to be quite diplomatic."

Matt Lucas as Tweedledee and Tweedledum, two identical men and Tarrant's lieutenants at the resistance against the Red Queen who are the Red Queen's "fat boys" during their capture. Burton commented on the mixture of animation and Lucas, saying that "It's a weird mixture of things which gives his characters the disturbing quality that they so richly deserve. The characters are portrayed through a combination of CGI and live-action, with Lucas's face digitally composited to a full animated body. While performing the character, Lucas had to wear a teardrop-shaped motion capture suit and walk on stilts. In order to play both characters, Lucas was doubled by Ethan Cohn.

The film also features Marton Csokas as Charles Kingsleigh, Alice's deceased father who appears in the film's opening scene, and Lindsay Duncan as Helen Kingsleigh, Alice's mother. Additionally, Tim Pigott-Smith portrays Lord Ascot, Charles' uptight yet approachable business partner, while Geraldine James plays Lady Ascot. Leo Bill portrays Hamish Ascot, Alice's stuck-up and snobbish ex-fiancé. Frances de la Tour appears as Imogene, Alice's spinster aunt, who suffers from severe delusions and is constantly awaiting her fictional fiancé whom she believes to be a prince. Jemma Powell portrays Margaret Manchester, Alice's sister, while John Hopkins plays Lowell Manchester, Margaret's unfaithful husband. Eleanor Gecks and Eleanor Tomlinson portray Faith and Fiona Chattaway, chatty and gossipy sisters who show up at the garden party of Ascots.

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Voice cast

Michael Sheen as Nivens McTwisp, the White Rabbit, Mirana's grand vizier and Tarrant's chief officer of the resistance. Sheen said the character "is such an iconic character that he didn't feel like he should break the mold too much. Burton said the quality he wanted most in his clock-watching bunny was a twitchiness, also commenting that in any incarnation of the through the years, there's that sort of nervousness of a rabbit.

Stephen Fry as Cheshire: Tarrant's bodyguard and the general of the resistance. Burton stated that the character had a creepy quality in addition to tapping into his own hatred of cats. The role was intended to be played by Sheen but he changed his role to the White Rabbit due to scheduling conflicts.

Alan Rickman as Absolem, the Caterpillar, the head of the resistance. Rickman was originally going to have his face composited onto the animated Caterpillar. He was filmed recording his voice in the studio, but the idea was eventually scrapped. The animators did, however, try to give Absolem's face characteristics similar to Rickman's.

Barbara Windsor as Mallymkun, the Dormouse: Tarrant's assistant and the sergeant of the resistance. Burton said that he sought after Windsor for the role because he was a fan of her character in the TV series EastEnders. Her voice sealed the deal for her role as the character.

Paul Whitehouse as Thackery Earwicket, the March Hare: Tarrant's partner and the admiral of the resistance. Burton stated that because Whitehouse is a great comedic actor, a lot of his lines came from improvisation.

Timothy Spall as Bayard Hamar: Stayne's former pet dog and messenger of the resistance. Although Bayard does not appear in the book, a similar character named The Puppy is likely the inspiration for the character.

Michael Gough as Uilleam, the Dodo: The navigator of the resistance. Burton said that Gough was the first person he thought of for the role of Uilleam because he has "a full life quality to his voice". The character only speaks three lines, that Gough recorded in a day. This would be Gough's final acting role; he died a year after its release, aged 94. Gough had previously portrayed the March Hare in the 1966 TV play of the book.

Imelda Staunton as The Talking Flowers: Though there are many flowers that appear around Underland, only one of them speaks and one of them is clearly a caricature of Staunton. Staunton only speaks three lines that are heard very briefly at the beginning of the film.

Christopher Lee as The Jabberwocky (sic): Iracebeth's pet dragon and assassin. While it only had two lines, Burton said that he felt Lee to be a good match for the iconic character because he is "an iconic guy". For the character, Lee had originally tried to make his voice "burble" (as described in the poem "Jabberwocky"). However, Burton persuaded him to use his actual voice, as he found it more intimidating and aggressive.

Jim Carter as The Executioner: The Executioner only speaks one line and appears extremely briefly, though Carter also voiced several other servants to the Red Queen.

Frank Welker provided additional voices and vocal effects; including roars of the Jabberwocky and Bandersnatch, squawks for the Jubjub bird, and Bayard's barking. Rickman, Windsor, Fry, Gough, Lee, Staunton and Carter each took only a day to record their dialogue.

Production

Development and writing

I wrote this at a very dark time in my life. A lot of bad things had happened—death, divorce, moving across the country—so I was kind of down the rabbit hole myself at the time. I got an image of her standing at a very crucial moment in her life, looking over and seeing this rabbit leaning against the tree, looking at her, knowing she had to put a pin in this crucial decision and follow this rabbit, because that was her destiny.

Linda Woolverton on writing Alice in Wonderland

Development on Alice in Wonderland began in 2006, when Jennifer and Suzanne Todd along with Joe Roth approached Linda Woolverton for ideas for a large fantasy movie. Woolverton proposed them a concept of grown-up Alice, from Lewis Carroll's novels Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass, returning to Wonderland, which she had in her head for a while. Roth then pitched the idea to Walt Disney Pictures, who greenlit the project, with Woolverton commissioned to write the script. The first draft, titled Alice, was finished in February 2007, after which it was submitted to Tim Burton, who agreed to helm the project. According to Oren Aviv, a president of production at the Walt Disney Studios at the time, Burton was the first and only choice as the film's director because of his "unique vision and voice that would really give the project that special look and memorable characters. In April of the same year, the film was announced to be a blend of live-action and motion capture, and by November 2007, Burton was officially on board to direct both Alice in Wonderland and a feature-length remake of his short film Frankenweenie (1984).

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Burton developed the story despite experiencing a "weird" connection to the original book. He explained "the goal is to try to make it an engaging movie where you get some of the psychology and kind of bring a freshness but also keep the classic nature of Alice." On prior versions, Burton said "It was always a girl wandering around from one crazy character to another, and I never really felt any real emotional connection." His goal with the new film is to give the story "some framework of emotional grounding" and "to try and make Alice feel more like a story as opposed to a series of events. Burton focused on the poem "Jabberwocky" as part of his structure, and refers to the described creature by the name of the poem rather than by the name "Jabberwock" used in the poem. Burton also stated that he does not see his version as either a sequel to any existing Alice film nor as a "re-imagining".

Casting

Top row: Johnny Depp, Mia Wasikowska, Helena Bonham Carter, Anne Hathaway, and Crispin Glover portray the Mad Hatter, Alice, the Red Queen, the White Queen, and the Knave of Hearts.

Bottom row: Matt Lucas plays Tweedledee and Tweedledum; Michael Sheen, Stephen Fry, Alan Rickman, and Barbara Windsor voice the White Rabbit, the Cheshire Cat, the Blue Caterpillar, and the Dormouse.

For the role of Alice, Burton wanted to cast an unknown actress, which was supported by the studio. According to Burton, he was searching for someone who would have "emotional toughness… standing her ground in a way which makes her kind of an older person but with a younger person's mentality. He originally planned to offer the role to Frances Bean Cobain, but she turned it down because she wanted to focus on her college studies. In February 2008, Lindsay Lohan expressed interest in playing Alice. Actresses such as Jennifer Lawrence, Cara Delevingne, and Jessica Brown Findlay would later reveal that they also auditioned for the title role, with Brown Findlay being down to the last three. Dakota Blue Richards planned to audition as well, but she was much younger than required for the role. Mia Wasikowska was eventually cast as Alice in July 2008. She sent an audition tape in February of the same year and ended up coming over to the United Kingdom and doing four more auditions with Burton before she was chosen. Burton said that he picked Wasikowska because of "a simple kind of power to her that he really liked. Not flamboyant, not very showy, but just somebody that's got a lot of internal life to her.

A few days after the announcement of Wasikowska's casting, Johnny Depp was reported to be signing up for the role of the Mad Hatter. His casting was officially confirmed in September 2008, marking Alice in Wonderland as Depp's seventh collaboration with Burton since Edward Scissorhands (1990). Later that month, during his appearance on BBC's Friday Night with Jonathan Ross, Matt Lucas announced that he had joined the film as Tweedledee and Tweedledum, and a few days later, Variety reported that Michael Sheen had been cast in an undisclosed role, which was later revealed to be the White Rabbit. Tim Pigott-Smith, Geraldine James, and Frances de la Tour were also confirmed to appear in the film in then-unnamed roles.

By October 2008, Helena Bonham Carter and Anne Hathaway were cast as the Red and White Queens, respectively. Like Depp, Bonham Carter had been Burton's frequent collaborator and had previously worked on five of his films. She was also Burton's first choice for the Red Queen, with his early sketches of the character made specifically with Bonham Carter in mind. Bonham Carter, who was then Burton's domestic partner, recalled that after he formally asked her to come to a meeting at his office, she thought Burton was going to propose marriage to her until he showed one of his character sketches and offered her the role. Before Burton was attached to the project, Hathaway, who had previously starred in The Princess Diaries (2001), was approached by Disney to portray Alice, but she refused as she was more interested in playing the White Queen. After Burton came on board, he considered another actress for the role, but she was unavailable due to scheduling conflicts, and the studio suggested Hathaway instead. Later that month, Crispin Glover was set to portray the Knave of Hearts, with Alan Rickman and Eleanor Tomlinson announced to play the Blue Caterpillar and Fiona Chattaway, respectively, while Christopher Lee was cast in undisclosed role, which was later revealed to be the Jabberwocky.

Filming

Antony House in south Cornwall, England, which served as Lord Ascot's estate in the film.

This film was originally set to be released on March 19, 2010 but was moved up to March 5, 2010. Principal photography was scheduled for May 2008, but did not begin until September and concluded in three months. Scenes set in the Victorian era were shot at Torpoint and Plymouth from September 1 to October 14. Two hundred and fifty local extras were chosen in early August. Locations included Antony House in Torpoint, Charlestown, Cornwall and the Barbican, however, no footage from the Barbican was used. Motion capture filming began in early October at Sony Pictures Studios in Culver City, California, though the footage was later discarded. Filming also took place at Culver Studios. Burton said that he used a combination of live action and animation, without motion capture. He also noted that this was the first time he had filmed on a green screen. Filming of the green screen portions, comprising 90% of the film, was completed after only 40 days. Many of the cast and crew felt nauseated as a result of the long hours surrounded by green, and Burton had lavender lenses fitted into his glasses to counteract the effect. Due to the constant need for digital effects to distort the actors' physical appearances, such as the size of the Red Queen's head or Alice's height, visual effects supervisor Ken Ralston cited the film as being exhausting, saying it was "The biggest show I've ever done, and the most creatively involved I've ever been.

Sony Pictures Imageworks designed the visual effects sequences. Burton felt 3D was appropriate to the story's environment. Burton and Zanuck chose to film with conventional cameras, and convert the footage into 3D during post-production; Zanuck explained 3D cameras were too expensive and "clumsy" to use, and they felt that there was no difference between converted footage and those shot in the format. James Cameron, who released his 3D film Avatar in December 2009, criticized the choice, stating, "It doesn't make any sense to shoot in 2D and convert to 3D".

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Music

Main articles: Alice in Wonderland (film score) and Almost Alice

Danny Elfman composed the musical score for Alice in Wonderland, after regularly scoring for Burton's films. Elfman did not want to use period music and instead blended orchestral, classical and pop music, to highlight the internal score, and had used symphony orchestration for the visual style of Burton, incorporating the same methods by Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Max Steiner, Franz Waxman and Bernard Hermann. The score album was released by Walt Disney Records on March 2, 2010, and debuted at number 89 on the Billboard Top 200 albums chart.

A concept album titled Almost Alice is a collection of various artists' music inspired by the film. It was released by Walt Disney under the Buena Vista Records imprint, the same day as the score album's release. The lead single, "Alice" by Avril Lavigne, premiered on January 27, 2010, on Ryan Seacrest's radio program. Other singles include "Follow Me Down" by 3OH!3, "Her Name Is Alice" by Shinedown, and "Tea Party" by Kerli.

Theatrical

Alice in Wonderland was theatrically released in United Kingdom and United States, in Disney Digital 3D, RealD 3D and IMAX 3D, as well as regular theaters on March 5, 2010. Prior to the release, the film was premiered at the Odeon Leicester Square in London on February 25, 2010, for the fundraiser The Prince's Foundation for Children and The Arts where the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall attended.

On February 12, 2010, major UK theater chains, Odeon, Vue, and Cineworld, had planned to boycott the film because of a reduction of the interval between cinema and DVD release from the usual seventeen-week period to twelve. Disney's pretext for cutting short Alice's theatrical run, is possibly to avoid the release of the DVD clashing with the 2010 FIFA World Cup. However, exhibitors protested that Alice would be less threatened by the World Cup than other titles. A week after the announcement, Cineworld, who has a 24% share of UK box office, chose to play the film on more than 150 screens. Cineworld's chief executive Steve Wiener stated, "As leaders in 3D, we did not want the public to miss out on such a visual spectacle. As the success of Avatar has shown, there is currently a huge appetite for the 3D experience". Shortly after, the Vue cinema chain also reached an agreement with Disney, but Odeon had still chosen to boycott in Britain, Ireland, and Italy. On February 25, 2010, Odeon had reached an agreement and decided to show the film on March 5. It also did not affect their plans to show the film in Spain, Germany, Portugal, and Austria.

Home media

Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment released a three-disc Blu-ray combo pack (which includes the Blu-ray, DVD and a digital copy), single-disc Blu-ray and single-disc DVD on June 1, 2010, in North America and July 1, 2010, in Australia. The DVD release includes three short features about the making of the film, focusing on Burton's vision for Wonderland and the characters of Alice and the Mad Hatter. The Blu-ray version has nine additional featurettes centered on additional characters, special effects and other aspects of the film's production. In some confusion, a small number of copies were put on shelves a week before schedule in smaller stores, but were quickly removed, although a handful of copies were confirmed purchased ahead of schedule.

In its first week of release (June 1–6, 2010), it sold 2,095,878 DVD units (equivalent to $35,441,297) and topped the DVD sales chart for two continuous weeks. By May 22, 2011, it had sold 4,313,680 units ($76,413,043). It failed to crack the 2010 top ten DVDs list in terms of units sold, but reached 10th place on that chart in terms of sales revenue.