April 21st was the Alice in Wonderland IMAX 3D premiere in Brazil. It was great!
First off, I have to talk about the issues in the film's launch. It appears that there have been lotsof problems in bringing it over the Brazil and distributing it. The movie's national launch was re-scheduled over 4 times. The last time it was re-scheduled, the tickets had already been sold to2 days before the new premiere date. Happily, the IMAX launch date did not change ˆˆ' Which made all of us who went to the IMAX premiere quite special 'cause all the other people get to watch it only tomorrow.
The tickets, however, were sold very quickly, it started 1 week before the premiere and 2 days lates, they were already sold out. 2 days is quite a long time, comparing to popular movies like Harry Potter and such. But for a Tim Burton movie, it was the first time, which is great! Of course it was all due to the huge advertisement Disney provided for the movie worldwide, and also because Alice in Wonderland was one of the most anticipated book adaptations ever.
It is true thatBurton has become extremely popular recently, but still he hasn't reached that far, but knowing that this movie was so expected made every Tim Burton fan very happy....or not! Personally, I find it terrible for the fact that 9014f these so-called Burton fan are nothing but people who bought a fake Jack Skellington bag and watched Corpse Bride and Edward Scissorhands and so they think they are huge fans! If you haven't watched EVERY single production Tim Burton has participated and if you don't own original merchandise and DVDs AND if you don't know Tim Burton's work(and/or life), please don't call yourself a fan,really.
The people who went to the premiere did not seem that much Burton-fan like, but I'm sure they were all there to really watch the movie, and not just pretend they are movie geeks that love Burton. Unfortunately there weren't Alice cosplayers, which is always fun in movie premieres, except for one girl who wore a Alice dress but the overall cosplay was quite...disappointing, to say the least. Nevertheless, I can't say much because I did not work on a Mad Hatter cosplay, which I sort of intended to, perhaps not a Johnny Depp approach, but a sort of Visual Kei Hatter. Anyway, it didn't work out and I ended up wearing a half-Mana-sama-like hair style, a frilled shirt and striped gloves.
There wasn't a long line because the seats were marked for everyone, which is great. I got a right-side seat, which doesn't work very well in IMAX, the middle seats are the best because the screen is curved, so the side seats end up have some 3D issues, but if you keep your head straight you'll have a great experience.
The movie itself, I think, was fantastic. I absolutely loved it but maybe not all I expected. I'm not sure what was missing, but something was. Perhaps a bit more from actress Mia Wasikowska, which portrayed Alice very nicely, but she was a bit dull all movie long. The movie's adventure, and Alice's point of view, was about her finding her "muchness", which essentially is her strong personality and courage. She doest find it, and she shows it by her actions, but now by her acting. However, we have to consider she is a learning actress, she's starting her career. And starting with a Tim Burton movie is pretty awesome huh?XD
Johnny Depp's portrayal of the Hatter was... not that fresh. After watching half the movie you find yourself adoring the character, he is very charismatic. The problem, however, is the first impression. His acting was very similar to Willy Wonka with a touch of Jack Sparrow. I'm not criticizing but I believe he could have been a bit more fresh about it. It was great though, in the end of the movie, all I could think about was of the Hatter. Also, the big-eye effect on him really brings up his emotions, plus the make-up and costume color change that follow his emotions, it was all wonderful. x3
I absolutely loved the Red Queen and the White Queen. Helena was absolutely amazing, she brought up a funny, scary and loving Red Queen, and her huge head is really something you end up adoring, it is cute is a freaky way! And the White Queen is adorable and creepy. Anne played the White Queen skillfully, the character is pure, nice, cute, glamourous but weird in some sort.
A character I really love, after the Mad Hatter, is the Cheshire Cat. The movie's cat was great, he is visually stunning (in a 3D animation point of view, the fur animation and particle rendering was great) and his personality was everything you could wish for him. The problem, I think, was that he did not participate much, I wish we had more scenes with him. Just a thought.
Another point that was really fantastic was the fact that the movie is 90 77928160igital and not just about the digital characters and landscapes, but the only character that didn't receive any digital modification was the White Queen. Alice, for example, is not deformed like the Hatter, but she keeps changing sizes! The really proves the directors capability, remembering that in most of the scenes, the actors had to act sort of alone, pretending the others were there in different places because they all had different deformations and size changes. Let me explain with this pic:
The the Knave of Hearts had a digital body, the only real part is his head. The Red Queen has s head half the size it is here and Alice is half her size as well. This way, when the Knave has to look at the Queen, he had to imagine where her eyes would be and how big her head is, in order not to compromise the scene. The Queen had to look at both Alice and Knave imagining her head in a different size AND Alice has to look at the others pretending she is twice her size. All 3 of them have to be masterfully directed in order to seem as if they are really deformed and they show! It is really amazing how they all pulled it off, really. Tim deserves true claps for this.
I really recommend everyone to watch it, in 3D specially, it doesn't really have to be IMAX, but just watch it in 3D, it is a spectacular experience. If you are die-hard Lewis Carroll fan, you might end up cursing Tim's adaptation, it is nothing like anything's ever been done to the Alice series, it is a mash-up of the 2 books but in a completely new point of view, characters, places, names, events and the whole storytelling are new. You must see it as a tribute to Alice and Lewis Carroll, not a adaptation like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. The story's lesson in also very new, it touches whoever watches it. It is about leaving childhood and innocence, but being able to recover it, to be a person who can see though both adult and child eyes. It is also about friendship, trust, fighting for what's right, making decisions, taking risks and it also provides a sort of revolutionary and feminist approach to Alice, when she ends up deciding that she'll not marry at that moment, but she'll follow her father's steps and be business parterns with her ex-fiancee's father.
Well... I've said enough. GO WATCH IT YOURSELF! XD IT'S WONDERFUL!
じゃね！(＝⌒▽⌒＝)
龍
