Go ask Alice...
Mar. 6th, 2010 01:15 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
matthias_wave Have just been to see the new Alice in Wonderland movie with someone from the Changeling game I'm in. And it is awesome.
Since it's a Tim Burton movie, it's pretty much a given that Johnny Depp has a major role - nor is it a surprise, since we already knew he was playing the Mad Hatter. And oh does it show. The Hatter ends up resembling a certain pirate an awful lot, personality-wise - again, not a surprise, this is Johnny Depp doing "crazy" - but it works quite well. Especially his occasional habit of lapsing into glossolalia; generally he gets as far as "fez" before someone snaps him out of it, but at one point he gives an abridged rendition of "Jabberwocky" that at first just sounds like another one of his rants. Also, the Hatter and the March Hare are both vaguely Scots, which works surprisingly well, especially with the Hare and the Dormouse's habits of flinging things at each other or anyone else who happens to be around. Speaking of which, the Dormouse isn't narcoleptic - in fact he's surprisingly belligerent with what is either a pin (probably borrowed from the Hatter) or a veeery small sword, and his "madness" only seems to show up at the tea party, which makes me think either it's feigned or there's something in that tea.
At least, I think the Dormouse is a he. It's hard to tell, since he (or she) is voiced by Barbara Windsor, which could be because sie's female or just because sie's, you know, tiny.
Stephen Fry as the Cheshire Cat is surprisingly endearing for something that has that many pointy teeth. The mad types don't seem to like him much, but he's surprisingly chummy with the Hatter. "You know, I've always admired that hat..." Alan Rickman is the Caterpiller - also works quite well. Just the right mix of enigmatic and smug. And Christopher Lee is the Jabberwock and he so totally makes it work... for all of the three lines he gets :(
Crispin Glover is suitably slimy as Stayne, the Knave of Hearts and The Dragon to the Red Queen - not to be confused with the Jabberwocky, her actual dragon. He's really tall, really evil, and he's the diplomatic one of the pair. The Red Queen, played by Helena Bonham Carter, is extremely childish, extremely Chaotic Evil, and has a case of Ewmew Fudd Syndwome, though not so badly as to distract from anything. The White Queen, her little sister, is Anne Hathaway, and unlike a lot of the characters her strange appearance was exclusively makeup. She's very nice, but also a little... off, and actually rather creepier than most of the other characters, including a lot of the bad guys.
At this point it may be worth noting that the Red Queen is very much the Queen of Hearts - apart from her personality, her soldiers have a card motif and are all in identical, mostly rectangular armor except for the number of pips. The White Queen's soldiers are also identical, except for their helmets - which, predictably, are chess pieces. Even the castles echo it - the Red Queen's has two buildings that form a big heart from the right angle, and the White Queen's is surrounded with gigantic white stone chess pieces.
Oh, and the previews drove the person I went to see it with nuts. There was much squeeing to be had over Tron Legacy (which is apparently about Flynn's son looking for him), and she has decided she definitely has to see How to Train Your Dragon and also Legend of the Guardians. The latter is based on the Guardians of Ga'Hoole books (think Redwall, Warriors, or Silverwing, except exclusively owls) and the previews took serious advantage of the fact that they were playing before a 3-D movie.
Anyway. Uh. I never know how to wrap up posts. So yes. Movie was very very very good. However, we have both decided that we absolutely cannot let the ST see this move - it is definitely a Changeling sort of movie, which means it might give him ideas, and the last thing we need is for our characters to have to fight a Jabberwocky, because I don't know where we're going to get a vorpal sword.
Since it's a Tim Burton movie, it's pretty much a given that Johnny Depp has a major role - nor is it a surprise, since we already knew he was playing the Mad Hatter. And oh does it show. The Hatter ends up resembling a certain pirate an awful lot, personality-wise - again, not a surprise, this is Johnny Depp doing "crazy" - but it works quite well. Especially his occasional habit of lapsing into glossolalia; generally he gets as far as "fez" before someone snaps him out of it, but at one point he gives an abridged rendition of "Jabberwocky" that at first just sounds like another one of his rants. Also, the Hatter and the March Hare are both vaguely Scots, which works surprisingly well, especially with the Hare and the Dormouse's habits of flinging things at each other or anyone else who happens to be around. Speaking of which, the Dormouse isn't narcoleptic - in fact he's surprisingly belligerent with what is either a pin (probably borrowed from the Hatter) or a veeery small sword, and his "madness" only seems to show up at the tea party, which makes me think either it's feigned or there's something in that tea.
At least, I think the Dormouse is a he. It's hard to tell, since he (or she) is voiced by Barbara Windsor, which could be because sie's female or just because sie's, you know, tiny.
Stephen Fry as the Cheshire Cat is surprisingly endearing for something that has that many pointy teeth. The mad types don't seem to like him much, but he's surprisingly chummy with the Hatter. "You know, I've always admired that hat..." Alan Rickman is the Caterpiller - also works quite well. Just the right mix of enigmatic and smug. And Christopher Lee is the Jabberwock and he so totally makes it work... for all of the three lines he gets :(
Crispin Glover is suitably slimy as Stayne, the Knave of Hearts and The Dragon to the Red Queen - not to be confused with the Jabberwocky, her actual dragon. He's really tall, really evil, and he's the diplomatic one of the pair. The Red Queen, played by Helena Bonham Carter, is extremely childish, extremely Chaotic Evil, and has a case of Ewmew Fudd Syndwome, though not so badly as to distract from anything. The White Queen, her little sister, is Anne Hathaway, and unlike a lot of the characters her strange appearance was exclusively makeup. She's very nice, but also a little... off, and actually rather creepier than most of the other characters, including a lot of the bad guys.
At this point it may be worth noting that the Red Queen is very much the Queen of Hearts - apart from her personality, her soldiers have a card motif and are all in identical, mostly rectangular armor except for the number of pips. The White Queen's soldiers are also identical, except for their helmets - which, predictably, are chess pieces. Even the castles echo it - the Red Queen's has two buildings that form a big heart from the right angle, and the White Queen's is surrounded with gigantic white stone chess pieces.
Oh, and the previews drove the person I went to see it with nuts. There was much squeeing to be had over Tron Legacy (which is apparently about Flynn's son looking for him), and she has decided she definitely has to see How to Train Your Dragon and also Legend of the Guardians. The latter is based on the Guardians of Ga'Hoole books (think Redwall, Warriors, or Silverwing, except exclusively owls) and the previews took serious advantage of the fact that they were playing before a 3-D movie.
Anyway. Uh. I never know how to wrap up posts. So yes. Movie was very very very good. However, we have both decided that we absolutely cannot let the ST see this move - it is definitely a Changeling sort of movie, which means it might give him ideas, and the last thing we need is for our characters to have to fight a Jabberwocky, because I don't know where we're going to get a vorpal sword.
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Date: 2010-03-06 12:53 pm (UTC)