What I loved about Alice in Wonderland

I saw the new Alice in Wonderland movie last night, and loved it. I have been obsessed with the Alice books for some time, but always disappointed by every film adaptation ever attempted. (In fact the closest anyone has come to capturing the magic of Alice on film may be that episode of The Muppet Show with Brooke Shields as Alice.)

Like that episode of The Muppet Show, but in a completely different way, this new version of Alice deviates quite a bit from the original stories, but does so in a novel way, imagining an older Alice who is on the verge of an unwanted marriage and escapes into the magical Wonderland/Underland.

I love the new premise. In typical Wizard of Oz fashion, the characters in Underland mirror the people she knows in her real life, but what I really liked is that these characters are played by completely different actors and actresses. It made Underland that much more magical of a place.

Of course, the movie was as beautiful and haunting as only a Tim Burton film can be. Costumes were fantastic. The merging of real actors and animation seemed seemless. The set brought to life the magic and wonder of the fantasy world. That combined with a decent plot, made for a very enjoyable film.

Though I could do without the 3-D stuff (much of it just appears sort of blurry to my messed up eyes) I don’t think it really detracted from what is an excellent movie that managed to capture all the things I love about the Alice books in brilliant cinematic way.

What movie do you want to see made into a film?

I am so excited about the new Alice in Wonderland movie coming out. I’ve loved the Alice books for a long time, have a healthy collection of Alice in Wonderland crap collectibles, and have always been disappointed that all the movie versions of the book pretty much sucked, but with Tim Burton at the helm and the premise being a return to Wonderland by a 19 year-old Alice, I have a feeling that this new movie is going to finally succeed in turning a couple of great books into a great movie.

Dad kindly gave me this article about the film from USA Today, because he knew about my Alice obsession. I already wanted to see the movie based on all the trailers I had seen and buzz I had heard, and well because I think Tim Burton is a genius, but the article only drove home the fact that I must see this movie.

It also made me realize that I would love to see a movie of Jasper Fforde’s Shades of Grey directed by Tim Burton. Yes, I know I just finished the book last week, and I know that probably nothing will happen cinematically until the other two books in the trilogy are out, but it would make for an awesome film, especially by someone with Tim Burton’s visual imagination.

So what book would you love to see turned into a movie? Who should direct it? Who would star in it?