Last Sunday, the Marmot & I donned our hilariously attractive 3d glasses, and sat down to enjoy an afternoon of watching Helena Bonham Carter and Johnny Depp in yet another delightful Tim Burton romp: Alice in Wonderland … in 3d!
So, I haven’t seen any of the new 3d movies yet, and only vaguely remember them from the brief popularity they had in the 80s when it was all about “THROW THIS THING IN YOUR FACE BECAUSE WOO LOOKY HERE WE GOT THIS HERE THREE-DEE TECHNOLOGY.” Although the old glasses were far more cool, with the paper frames and the red & green lenses. We got to the theatre fairly early, since it was a sold out show, but even then were not near the front of the lineup. Still, we got decent seats, but somewhat off to the side.
The 3d started in the trailers for Toy Story 3 and Tron. And I started getting a bit dizzy. Well, shit. I was rather nervous at that point that said dizzy was going to get worse, and I dislike vomiting in public or wasting money, so this was a Bad Thing. But, it never did — I just stayed mildly dizzy throughout the entire movie. Phew. I think it may have had something to do with sitting so far to the side. The opposite side of the screen had a bit of a blur to it, which just seemed to be from the angle.
Anyway, dizzy & blur aside, the 3d was pretty neat. They’ve gone away from the THROW THIS IN YOUR FACE style, and now just use it to add a little depth to the scene. Much preferred, thanks.
The movie itself? Absolutely gorgeous, as usual. Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter was dead on, nobody could have Red Queened as well as Helena Bonham Carter, Mia Wasikowska was a perfectly fragile looking Alice (until the end, anyway) and the vorpal sword was, in fact, vorpal. I’m not a huge fan of Anne Hathaway and … didn’t quite think her “look” was right, but I liked her performance of the White Queen anyway.
And I could listen to Alan Rickman’s voice ALL FREAKING DAY.
The story was good enough, entertaining and fun, but of course it’s a Tim Burton movie: I’m there for the visuals. And it paid off, it was fucking pretty.
Worth a watch? If you like Tim Burton style movies, and Johnny Depp’s particular insane brilliance, then absolutely. And now… futterwacken!
Update: This is a little too accurate. Luckily, I love it. Deedly deedly deedly deedly!