Alice in Wonderland

I have quoted Lewis Carrol on this blog before, out of context and entirely without purpose. So really, it should come as no surprise that I am a huge fan of his work. And Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland has always been a particular favourite of mine. I also (finally!) watched Tim Burtron’s take on the book about a month ago, all of which made me really want to paint something from the book.

(For anyone wondering about the movie: It looks gorgeous. The costumes, the scenery..are all as wonderfully over-the-top as one would expect from a Tim Burton production, but unfortunately the movie fails at story-telling. You would think that capturing the exhilarating insanity of the book would be right down Tim Burton’s alley, but somehow the movie really falls short. In fact I think this may be the one time I will ever accuse Tim Burton of really dialing it down too much. As for the actors- there were too many characters with too little screen-time, which really left them no room for development. Mia Wasikowska (Alice) was pretty good, although not quite good enough to carry the film. Depp, I thought, gave a really disappointing performance as the Hatter. In fact, I’ve only see him do worse as Willy Wonka (God, I wish that move had never been made!). Thank God, then, for Helena Bonham Carter as the Queen of Hearts. She was absolutely spot-on fantastic. Her performance gave a nod to the fairy-tale aspect of the movie, while never degenerating into Anne Hathaway-esque excessive silliness. Her delivery was just impeccable and had me laughing out loud several times throughout the movie.

Bottomline: Underwhelming, particularly if you’re a fan of the book. Or a fan of Tim Burton.Or Johnny Depp.)

 

 

 

That’s right, I painted on a shirt, this time! As I’ve now discovered, it really isn’t a horribly difficult surface. Meaning, there may be more of these (You have been warned!).

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