Maybe it's because I finally learned the story or because the IMAX 3D experience blew my mind, but I loved Alice in Wonderland! I'll admit I wasn't really dying to see it mainly because Johnny Depp in costume and makeup weirds me out, but I couldn't turn down a chance to catch my first IMAX movie since an elementary school field trip. (To further prove how uncool I am, I was wondering why my 3D glasses weren't red and blue.)So I'm sitting in the 600-seat theater oohing and aahing at the sheer size of the screen and concerned that I'd be schizzing out and dodging "objects" coming straight for me. That never happened, but then it begged the question: what was the point of making the film in 3D? It added a little extra oomph to the film perhaps, but I think I would have enjoyed it just as much in old-school 2D...as long as the screen was still 75 x 97 feet.
As for the movie, I have no idea how much it deviated from Lewis Carroll's series, but in Tim Burton and Linda Woolverton's version, a feisty 19-year-old Alice returns to Wonderland (Underland, really) after delaying a marriage proposal and taking off after the White Rabbit. Turns out she first encountered the fantastical place as a child and grew up believing it was all a dream, but upon her return, old friends remind Alice of the journey destined for her: to end the Red Queen's cruel reign. As simple as the plot was, I was completely lost in it: the costumes, the creatures, the CG landscape. In fact, this was the first time A. and I hit the movies together and I could very well have sat next to a total stranger; I paid him no mind whatsoever. And bonus: the movie is only 108 minutes long, which was wonderful for my attention span.
Alice in Wonderland (on IMAX 3D): 3.5/5 Toasties
Image: disneydreaming.com