The Whimsical World of Alice in Wonderland

Words Ria Rivera

One can only wonder what goes on inside director Tim Burton's head. If his movies are any indication of his creative genius, then we're guessing that when Burton lets his imagination run wild, it zaps out and around the galaxy before it lands back to Earth with a bang. While his artistic sense is anything but mainstream, Burton has easily developed a following over the years. And his latest work of art has led countless fans itching to follow him-and the rest of the Alice in Wonderland cast-down the rabbit hole.

CURIOUSER AND CURIOUSER

In July 2009, Comic-Con attendees were treated to a sneak preview of one of Disney's latest projects, Burton's take on the classic tale of Alice in Wonderland. Knowing the filmmaker's distinctly dark and oftentimes out-of-this-world imageries however, one can safely assume that this version is hardly a repeat of all the various takes on the timeless story. And if the reaction generated by the short preview is any indication, then moviegoers are definitely in for a sensory experience like no other. Like online wildfire, the trailer made the blog rounds and spread both excitement and curiosity wherever it went.

WE'RE ALL MAD HERE

Burton confirmed early on that the story is not merely a repeat of the Lewis Carroll classic. Instead, scriptwriter Linda Woolverton took inspiration from the many different tales within the story and brought familiar characters back to life in a new light. What is possibly the most obvious difference of the movie is that it features not the little lost girl we've learned to love, but a young woman in the cusp of adulthood. In fact, the movie opens with 17-year-old Alice being proposed to in front of society's snootiest. Distracted by the sight of a white rabbit clutching a pocket watch, she runs off and follows him down a rabbit hole-and we all know where that would lead her. She finds herself in Wonderland of course, which she has no memory of. And there she begins an adventure unlike anything we've seen before.

The film stays true to the story by retaining the major characters that easily remind us of the weird world of Wonderland. There's the Cheshire Cat, the White Rabbit, Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee, the Red Queen, and the Mad Hatter, who's played by Burton's constant collaborator Johnny Depp. It's an all-star cast with Helena Bonham Carter as the Red Queen, Anne Hathaway as the White Queen, Michael Sheen as the voice actor of the White Rabbit, and Australian actress Mia Wasikowska in the title role.

While the familiar characters are all present, Burton promises that they have done their best to do more than just put all these weird characters together. In an interview, Burton said that what they tried to do was give each character their own particular craziness: "You know every character's weird, but it's to try and give them their specific weirdness so that they're all different."

Perhaps most distinctive among the characters are the Mad Hatter, whom Depp portrays to a hilt, and Alice, who grows up in the _lm in more ways than one. Depp, who has established himself as an excellent character actor, lends the Mad Hatter the predictable craziness-and something else, which moviegoers are bound to discover. As for Alice, well, she evolves from the naive child into a woman of character who actually goes out to fulfill what has been prophesied.

WHAT IS THE USE OF A BOOK, WITHOUT PICTURES OR CONVERSATIONS?

Inspired mostly by the seemingly senseless Jabberwocky poem, the film takes us on a journey through Burton's imagined Wonderland. Stills from the _lm that have found their way online give viewers a tempting taste of what people like to call the Burton-ized Alice in Wonderland. And yet, these stills barely capture the real essence of the movie that's set to be released in 3D.

Apart from the pressures that come with interpreting a classic, Burton's biggest challenge in doing the film was working with the green screen for extended periods. Imagine how difficult it would be to be stuck with that sea of green for someone who prefers doodling sketches over scribbling notes for the script. He isn't a Fine Arts major for nothing.

Yet another challenge for Burton was how he would put together the entire movie, which combines live action with CG animation and motion-capture creatures- and then converting the completed 2D film to 3D. The film was not shot with a 3D camera given the time constraints, but Burton thinks that this further gave them the freedom to work with the available material. "I felt the techniques we were using-the pure animation, the live action (but manipulating and doing strange things to that), plus the other elements we're adding into it-it just gave us more freedom to get the depths and layers we wanted in the time we were dealing with," he says.

Burton is not only an artist, he is also a storyteller and he does exactly that with Alice in Wonderland. He takes us along on Alice's journey through a forgotten world and invites us to see things like Alice-with fresh eyes and a heart open to the many wonderful possibilities that awaits us. Alice in Wonderland is a film by Walt Disney Pictures.