Burton Unleashes Bizarre 'Wonderland' Images
Mon, June 22, 2009 
Pictures from Tim Burton's forthcoming "Alice in Wonderland" popped up over the Internet this weekend and, of course, they are incredibly strange.
However, what really surprised me has been the response from people who have seen them. Over and over, I have read that people wish Burton would make "more normal" movies and stop trying to be so "bizarre."
Now, I'm not really a Burton fan. I see some of his movies and miss others. Why? Well, because his "bizarre" style isn't my cup of tea. However, I really don't want to see him stop making those kinds of films, because it is never better for the movies to see unique visions watered down for the masses.
Do I think the movie looks weird and nightmarish? Undeniably, yes. Will I go see it? Probably not. Am I glad he is making it and his vision remains uncompromised? Yes, absolutely.
Sean Gerski
CC2K.US has a review of the script available at: http://tinyurl.com/AliceScriptReview.
The following is an excerpt from the site's review of the script:
Written by Linda Woolverton, who also co-wrote The Lion King, and had a part in Beauty and the Beast, Mulan, and the Teen Wolf cartoon, the script isn’t exactly an adaptation of the original story by Lewis Carroll, as it is an extension of it. Alice went to Wonderland as a child, and she’s now almost grown. She’s 17, and she’s back for more, but doesn’t remember her times there earlier. She’s about to be engaged, maybe. A rich suitor wants to marry her, and the opening scenes of the movie are of her engagement party. But she, of course, gets distracted by a white rabbit.
The White Rabbit (who will be played by Michael Sheen), goes after Alice (played by In Treatment’s Mia Wasikowska) because of an omen that she is the one to slay the Jabberwock, who guards the Red Queen’s empire. But when she arrives, she has no knowledge of this, or of Wonderland at all. She meets Tweedledee and Tweedledum and the Dormouse, the Cheshire Cat (Stephen Fry), the Catepillar (Alan Rickman), and of course the March Hare (Noah Taylor) and the Mad Hatter (Johnny Depp).
See, the good White Queen (Anne Hathaway), of who these were all loyal subjects, has been banished by the bad Red Queen (Helena Bonham Carter). She is much larger than everyone else and surrounds herself in a court full of people with enormous lips, or noses, or ears, as well as the Knave of Hearts (Crispin Glover), her most trusted aide.
Reader Comments (2)
I completely agree with this article. Burton's 'Alice...' looks like it could tramatically scar young children. Tim Burton is talented as Hell, but to me his style has been his handicap. It really makes me skeptical if the man knows how make a 'normal' film.
Although, I wouldn't mind him directing the two proposed Pee-Wee Herman films that Paul Reubens has been writing.
Looks like a fancy art book. I think it would be hard to follow the story with so much to look at on the screen.