Which Dreamed It?

Hello there Alice. After a year or so of eager anticipation Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland arrived with the expected fanfare and everyone has been of course talking about it. Critics have complained about it being an okay film if not mind-blowing. I myself am honestly a little tired of Depp playing so many weird characters. That man needs to do something else that doesn't involve period dressing or eccentric dressing, period. But then I'm a Depp fan and I don't want to have to eat my words and complain about the dearth of Depp-in-kooky-films later either.

When my sister asked me which my favourite character was, I sighed and said the Mad Hatter won by default (see paragraph above) but on more consideration, I definitely liked the Cheshire Cat, which incidentally shared my liking for the Hatter's hat and Ann Hathaway's White Queen. That woman is amazingly funny and I only wished there had been more scenes involving her.

Having gotten the fangirl rant bit out of the way, I want to go on to defend this film (in all its scripterly mediocrity). First of all, it's the first really successful Alice screen adaptation. Of course, that could just have been the audience moving on since the first botched attempt by Disney and other lesser entities and you'll have to admit that there has been a significant increase in dragons, trolls, elves, knights, wizards (and certain vampires) etc lately. Still, this doesn't detract from the film getting a number of things right and that's what counts. You can make a perfect flash in the pan like Twilight and then you can make something like Alice.

The plot suffers of course and I find the good-triumphs-evil dichotomy problematic, especially since both Queens are treated sympathetically and one ends up feeling sorry for the Red Queen (not that she wants your pity - Off with your head!). On the other hand, it does capture the spirit of the original books pretty well. The film keeps a sense of wonder going strong, though haunting may be the better word for it, as Wonderland seems to have experienced rather a bit of wear and tear since Alice first fell down the rabbithole. The castles (both white and red) were fantastic to look at, and Burton obviously had a very good look at the sources of Alice images because certain of the scenes looked almost true to how Tenniel imagined them - that is, before Burton adds his whimisical and sometimes cheeky interpretation to them. I am thinking of the 'Drink Me' scene with all the extra doors. I don't think they were there in the original book... And my personal favourite - the cherry tinted sunnies on the Red Queen's nose as she plays croquet is a clever addition to the scene.

Still, a word of warning: don't go looking for Carroll's Alice in Burton's updated adaptation. You'll be sorely disappointed and while I find myself enjoying the movie, it's hardly a substitute for the novels. (Beware lazy lit student who thinks watching the film is as good as reading the book) This is good. It's about time somebody considered re-inventing Alice rather than try to slavishly copy it or worse still, water it down till the punch it ought to have made has absolutely no impact...

Rating: 4/5

Poster Talk: The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian

Everyone knows what this poster is. No need for introductions I think. In any case, skipping the poster harping that has accompanied my movie posts in recent months, I just want to forget the unpleasant staff and slow-crawling queues at Cathay Causeway and just focus on the sole fragment of light and hope for mankind in the whole of a pretty bad day. We entered the cinema in medias res no thanks bloody slow staff, and by the time I'd settled down, I expect I had missed some ten minutes of the film.

I liked the movie, because Andrew Adamson, the director, has made the film his own. It's pretty much nothing like C.S. Lewis at all. Which does remind me... I recall not really liking (loathe is too strong a word) Lucy of the four Pevensie children, but really, the choice of casting is pretty darn good, and the on screen chemistry of the siblings seems to have taken off quite nicely in this sequel, which, if I may add, is really really nothing like the dull, stuffy book version. I do recall, in spite of the years seperating us, that Prince Caspian (the book) was not one of the better Chronicle of Narnia as I was reading the series in secondary school... My favourites are the ever famous The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe; The Silver Chair and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, which is the subject of the next film in the Narnia franchise. (Yay). It's a pity that Adamson is not directing, as I think he made the films a lot more palatable to a general audience in some ways, for example, by being less morally didactic and emphasizing the value of imagination. Very very important, the latter.

Warning: Spoilers ahead. You can still read though.

The concern of course is that without Adamson helming the third Narnia film, it remains to be seen if the franchise can play catch-up. Already, certain all too familiar images are appearing on the screen, such as walking trees and mild-mannered little New Zealand streams suddenly materializing violent and rapid flooding that kill off a good lot of the enemy. There are of course a few little other details that may also suggest the same production company had some dealing with another famed trilogy, but that is speculation for another day. In any case, I suppose imdb has all the gossip and data to make the comparisons. Alternatively, one may argue that seeing as Tolkien and Lewis were such pals anyway, it is unsurprising if this is Adamson's way of paying homage to that friendship. Or maybe the trees and the river already were in the book.
I honestly can't remember. In any case, I hope it wouldn't turn out to be another X-Men-Ratner debacle. What a way to end the series.

The Incoherent Raving Review of Ratatouille

Oh my god it was soooooo cute my goodness the animation is absolutely brilliant did u see that did u see that? it's amazing what did they to the fur it looks like real fur for crying out loud i mean seriously it waves, the action is so smooth and the way the mouse i mean rats move! they are sooooo fat and tubby and just sooooo cute! aieeeeeee!!
It's a very simple story.
Of course it is! the best stories keep things simple sniffle i love it how touching...
alfredo linguini did u know you can order alfredo linguni for lunch? alfredo is a triple cheese spaghetti and if you prefer linguini you can actually order an alfredo linguini hahahahaha how weird is that?

Well.

If you made it through all that.. not bad. Pity. Because here is the coherent version, which you can actually read.
An excellent little film and all that. Pixar-Disney have done it again. Personally, I thought, with the Incredibles (I hated Incredibles. Who hates Incredibles too?) and Cars, they were on a downhill... but yippee! It seems they have found the right ingredients for the perfect Disney flick again! Whee and whoop and all that. Apart from all that raving, let's see if I can get a proper review done up...

Ratatouille is a cute little film indeed. The animation is absolutely world-class, if it can even be classed as such. Perhaps a more helpful description would be to say it was first rate animation that did justice to one of the mightiest animation houses. The fur looked real. The hair looked real (you can actually see the maroon highlights on one of the characters) and the food. I felt like chewing the screen. Apart from the tech involved, story-wise, it isn't quite anything new, but then who needs new? Chock-full of silly witty puns that actually work and lovable characters, the film would win over the sourest critic. Which goes to show, really, how important being earnest is, and a timely reminder that brilliant animation is nothing without content. (Think Incredibles... or any really lousy animation you had just watched)