Tim Burton's "Alice in Wonderland"

^Beezle, you officially are awesome. THANK YOU for pointing that out (and thank you for not praising Sweeney Todd - that butchering of such a good musical nearly made me weep).

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland was completely nonsensical, and full of characters that acted without any true logic. Burton's film makes them seem much too sensible. And anyway, from what I've seen thus far of Burton's reimaginings and adaptations, I don't think he's very good at making them, and I doubt this will be an exception. The visuals look promising, but otherwise I don't think the film will meet its expectations.

Additionally, it is suspected that a lot of "creative borrowing" has been going on with this film - a video game with a very similar plot came out around 2000, called American McGee's Alice. In it, Alice is called back to Wonderland to defeat the Queen of Hearts, who has completely taken over and ruined the lands with her tyrannical cruelty. It gives a lot more sense to the characters than the book as well, but in this version Wonderland was a representation of Alice's psyche, so it kind of all works. The Queen took over after a traumatic event in Alice's life, overcoming her with insanity. In that aspect, it's not quite like Burton's film (and is much darker), but with the Queen of Hearts taking over, the war, Alice being Wonderland's champion and all that... It all sounds quite familiar. I guess I'll have to see it before I can really say how alike they are, but I have some suspicions.

Look, because the novel is all nonsense, with no plot, it's impossible to make a successful faithful film adaptation. It's a brilliant novel, better than The Wizard of Oz, but Oz had three act structure and Wonderland doesn't. All film adaptations to date have been miserable failures. What Burton is doing, based on the trailer, is a sequel, not an adaptation of the original story. He has the right idea because you can't film the novel the way it is written. The latest trailer looks fantastic to me and I didn't think much of the previous ones. But we still have to wait for the movie to come out to know for sure.

Alice In Wonderland: New Character Images & Banner

This is like the previous trailer posted here, but longer with more scenes. I still like what I see and, no, this ain't your grandma's Alice in Wonderland.

I mentioned the contents of the trailer to my sister and she also said it sounded like the video game . She is very excited about that as she is a big fan of the game unlike me.

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Wow, a few folks that hated Sweeney Todd? I wish you two would chime in over in the Sweeney Todd thread. Most of us just loved it, even folks that have seen the play several times. Always nice to get some dissenting discussion going.

Anyway, I'm in the bag for Burton and I can't wait to check this out. Should be another very interesting movie from "Timmy!".

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I might just pop over (if I already haven't) as thought it was a real disapointment. It was also the time I realised that, actually, I don't really like Tim Burton films very much.

I think the problem with this adaptation/sequel is not that it will be unfaithful - films made from books can never truly be faithful - but that it simply will not live up to the greatness of the story. From what I can see in the trailers, the characters are quite different from what they were innitially intended to be - utterly mad. I'm not saying changing the characters' personalities is an utter crime; I actually think such a thing can work, if the characters are still as well developed as the old (or moreso). Trouble is, Burton's recreation of the characters really doesn't seem up to par with Carroll's original creations. They seem much too mundane and sensible (especially the Queen), which is rather boring in comparison the the original insane inhabitants of Wonderland. I can't really say all this for sure until I've seen the movie, but I have low expectations of it (especially after seeing all his other adaptations). I really don't trust Burton with this story.

To be honest, I'd rather see McGee's story in the film they were planning to make out of the game rather than in Burton's film. Here, it feels more like stealing than anything.

Facebook just revealed the "first official photo" of the Mad Hatter:

http://www.facebook.com/#/photo.php?...id=96787126667

Well I'll say one thing: he does look Mad!

Just watched the trailer for this. Hmmmmmmmm.

I mean, good grief, someone really should pull the plug on Tim Burton. I don't know if even Depp will be able to save this thing.

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Johnny Depp talks Mad Hatter

A brief 1 minute clip of Johnny Depp talking about playing the Mad Hatter in Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland has appeared online. We also get a montage of footage playing in the background. Watch below!

Source: Filmonic

I've read a majority of the novel and bits of Through the Looking Glass. And certainly the novel is nonsense, but I do enjoy the 1950 classic animated Disney version, which is probably the best that I've seen.

I will watch Tim Burton's version, but like most of his stuff, I'm sure it's going to be style and visual flair over substance and story. That's all fine, I pretty much know what to expect. I hope it isn't as boring as his Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

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The Mad Hatter has been affected by mercury poisoning? Is that actually part of the script or is Johnny Depp putting way too much creative thought in character motivation? Like when Harpo asked during Duck Soup, "What's my motivation?" and producer Herman Mankiewicz replied. "You're a middle-aged Jew who picks up spit because you think it's a quarter."

^That's what I was wondering. If it is in the script, I may laugh, or I may just start screaming at the forces that allow this movie to be. The character was a 'Mad Hatter' in reference of a saying that spawned from mercury-poisoning being common among hatters, yes, but that wasn't part of the actual plot. He was mad because everyone in Wonderland was mad - it was quite simple, really.

Also: on the cast list on IMDB, there is a character called 'Hatteress'. Seriously. What the f*** is Burton doing?

"Mad as a hatter" - arcaic expression

"Mercury used to be used in the making of hats. This was known to have affected the nervous systems of hatters, causing them to tremble and appear insane. A neurotoxicologist correspondent informs me that "Mercury exposure can cause aggressiveness, mood swings, and anti-social behaviour.", so that derivation is certainly plausible - although there's only that circumstantial evidence to support it."
http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/mad-as-a-hatter.html

Watchng the previews to this movie, and all the other 90% animated movies coming out, I wonder;
Are we seeing the death of film?

Oh god, you're not alone.

Im so looking forward to seeing this movie it looks like its going to be a great watch

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^^ I definitely agree n3wt! The trailer in 3D was pretty amazing, and I love those new images - the character progressions of them are pretty neat too, seeing how they came to life from Burton's drawings.

Also, two new videos came out talking more about the characters and the story: