Anyone who actually read the Lewis Carroll book knows that "Alice in Wonderland" has a lot more teeth than the 1951 animated Disney film (which, incidentally, British film and literary critics completely shredded). Lewis Carroll's Alice was bratty, slightly arrogant, self-serving, bad tempered, and had a habit of eating first, asking about possible side effects later - the type of daughter I hope to have someday. In his re-imagining of the classic story, a 17-year old Alice runs away from her snooty society peers at a fancy party only to end up following a familiar white rabbit straight down a long, dark, mysterious and magical tunnel. Let the drug and sexual innuendos begin! You know straight off the bat a girl who prefers talking to rabbits and drinking and eating strange substances so she can shrink or grow at will over hanging out with lads in silk waistcoats and powdered wigs isn't going to be all sweetness and fluff. No, this is the type of girl I'd bring home to mother.
From the looks of the official trailer, Burton has managed to capture much of the book's lush, magical, grotesque, almost gothic mood. Making the heroine an adult rather than a child gives Burton a great deal more creative license, and the result, I hope, will be magically macabre: A moat full of floating heads, character designs and costumes that look like something out of a wonderful nightmare. Then again, this past year brought us Neil Gaiman's "Coraline," which is hardly saccharine, so perhaps this is a sign that movie makers are going to stop treating children like they have eggshell-fragile psyches.
I've got more than 6 months to go until the movie is release, so in the meantime, I'm going to try and convince the other Pencilheads to do a bit of research with me and read the original book and watch the most well-known version of A.I.W: the 1976 X-rated version which was also a musical!
Huzzah, music AND sex! At the same time..?
Official website, featuring trailer and concept art: http://disney.go.com/disneypictures/aliceinwonderland/
You know I love nothing more than knowing there are people as...normal and sane as I am, so send us comments/links/thoughts. Oh who am I kidding. I NEED LOVE. SEND IT. STAT.
