“Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!”

I come to this movie with expectations, which generally is bad. I have found that if you expect a movie to be awesome, it will sorely disappoint. Take Wolfman; I really thought it could’ve been epic, but sadly it was not.

Now Alice has a great director, a stellar cast (both live action and voice), and is based around one of my all-time favorite books (okay, 2 books, but really who else knows that it’s 2 books). It’s full of Britishy type people doing Britishy type things, and I am an Anglophile. It’s set in Victorian England and has that whole vibe. It basically dares you NOT to like this film.

This is almost impossible to do.

I liked Alice. I really liked it; mainly because it talked a lot about the Jabberwock. Jabberwocky is my favorite poem. There is just something about it that is so… special. In the original Disney cartoon, they really didn’t mention the Jabberwock, with the exception of the Cheshire Cat singing the first stanza, so finding that it played a big role… well, I was excited.

Another thing I really like is the fact that a lot of the scenes came straight from the original illustrations. If you have a copy of Through the Looking-Glass, take a look of the picture that accompanies Jabberwocky. The picture is in the film, and moreso it is displayed in real-life by real actors. Well, an actor and some CGI. The tunic the rabbit wears when he is a page is straight from the book. The movie is mostly very faithful to the book. And that's rare these days.

Now, I watched the 2D version. I’m not saying that there is anything wrong with 3D, though I could only really tell it was made for 3D during the final battle, but I will always choose 2D over 3D. This is for a couple reasons. One, 3D gives me headaches, and I can’t enjoy a movie if I can’t watch the movie because it pains me to watch. There is something with the polarization and my nearsighted astigmatism that doesn’t blend. Two, at my theater 2D is still on reels, and therefore I needed to check for misframes and sound hiccups. Just a side note, if you are watching the 2D version at the Marcus Cinema in La Crosse, there is a bend in the film in the very beginning. It’s not over anything important and it only lasts a snap, but it is very noticeable. So I watched the 2D and enjoyed it very much.

It is a gorgeous movie. Maybe not Avatar gorgeous, but beautiful nonetheless. The costumes are magnificent and the casting is great. Some of the special effects bothered me, mainly the Red Queen’s head and the Knave’s legs. I know it was supposed to seem off, but it just looked wrong some of the times. I can’t really explain it more than it looked wrong.

That was another thing. In the books, the Knave is the Queen’s son. Knave = Prince and whatnot. But in the movie the Knave is kinda the Queen’s boy toy. It was kinda weird.

And while I’m on a tangent, the icky guy in the beginning that wants to marry Alice reminded me of my friend’s ex-boyfriend/current roommate. I mean he looked exactly like him, except for the red hair. That is all I wanted to say about that.

Okay, I’m running out of things to say.

To recap, the story is good. The cast and crew are good. The film is beautiful. The SFX are off-putting. And the Jabberwock is featured. Overall, I really enjoyed this movie. I know that it will do well, and deservingly so.

I don’t have a star/rating system, so be your own judge.

Ta!

Fiser, OUT!
[drops mic]