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Alice In Wonderland (Blu-ray)

by Damien O'Carroll — 28 Jul 10 — Review 2

Reviewed on: Blu-ray

Also Available on: DVD

Rating: PG

A brilliant and quirky cast, a dark and foreboding look, a soaring Danny Elfman score, Johnny Depp… yep, it’s a Tim Burton Film alright.

Burton’s dark re-telling of Lewis Carroll’s Alice tales is every bit as visually stunning as you would expect it to be on Blu-ray, and while the film itself may lack some of the story-telling punch that Burton has provided in the past (it feels like he has tried to cram too much in here and as a result seems to strip a lot of the “wonder” from Wonderland…) Alice In Wonderland is more than saved by its wonderful cast, but particularly the delightful Mia Wasikowska as Alice, and of course, Depp’s split-personality take on the Mad Hatter.

The lively sound mix is dominated by the almost-compulsory-for-a-Tim-Burton-film Danny Elfman score that adds its usual “dark and unsettling, but in a playful way” feel to things. It’s Elfman-by-numbers, but as usual, it works well with Burton’s darkly colourful visuals.

The extras are disappointingly thin on this disc however, consisting of three extremely short promotional documentaries – The Mad Hatter, which charts Depp’s physical and mental transformation into his character and is pretty much standard fare and Finding Alice, which is pretty much the same thing for Mia Wasikowska’s Alice.

The third, and most interesting featurette by far, is Effecting Wonderland, which is a fascinating – but far too short – look at the visual effects that make up the vast majority of the film, including the challenges presented by having a mix of human performances, completely CGI characters and ones that are a bit of both.

Perhaps the most disappointing missed opportunity here is the complete lack of mention of the fantastic voice cast assembled for the film, including the wonderful Stephen Fry, Paul Whitehouse, Alan Rickman, Michael Sheen, Timothy Spall, Christopher Lee and Barbara Windsor.

Rating: 3/5 Looks and sounds stunning, with some brilliant performances. Just lacking slightly in wonder and hugely in extras, especially on this single disc version.