Even if you haven’t seen any of its past film incarnations, “Alice in Wonderland” is a story everyone knows. Originally a 19th century novel by Lewis Carroll, the fairytale focuses on Alice, a curious young girl who falls down a rabbit hole and ends up entering a wacky world filled with madness and surreal creatures. It has been adapted into dozens of movies with the most famous being the Walt Disney animated version in 1951.
Disney is at it again with its 2010 “Alice in Wonderland” from the always-imaginative director Tim Burton (no stranger to remakes as he brought us “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” in 2005 and “Planet of the Apes” in 2001) and his male muse Johnny Depp, who plays the “Mad Hatter.” It was the number one movie at the box office on its opening weekend, earning an estimated $116.3 million (the highest grossing weekend ever for a spring release) and has created a lot of chatter with its 3-D visuals and talented pedigree. Ironically, the 1951 version was a box office disaster that later became a cult classic during the 1960s.
However, this new “Alice in Wonderland” isn’t actually the remake one might have expected. No, it’s actually a pseudo sequel that’s simply inspired by Carroll’s works, not based on them. It takes familiar situations and characters from those stories and dreams up a completely new tale. Because of that a trip down memory lane is almost necessary for any kind of true appreciation.
Whether or not you have strong memories of the earlier films, you most certainly will remember the White Rabbit saying “I’m late, I’m late, for a very important date” or Alice’s culinary choices of “Eat Me” and “Drink Me.” You’ll probably too remember the silky smoothness of the disappearing Cheshire Cat and the Red Queen’s mantra “Off with his head!”
All of these things are thankfully in the new movie. Beautiful as it is, the film may remind us of the “Alice in Wonderland” we all know so well, but really it’s anything but. It is more of a straightforward adventure story that plays off our nostalgia from the original films. Based on last weekend’s box office numbers, it seems that moviegoers are open to Tim Burton’s new interpretation of a highly-regarded timeless classic.
Published on March 9, 2010
While there are many sites today dedicated to the pursuit of fashion and style, here at MRK Style we approach these subjects through a collector’s lens. Through exploring how people relate to Art, Family, Fashion, Food, Film and Travel—essentially life’s various, everyday obsessions—we reflect on how we all live with the things we love. 
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