Alice in Wonderland

Normally I would review this movie like I would any other: the good, the bad, the ugly. But three years ago, in my review for Sweeney Todd, I declared Tim Burton to be my favorite filmmaker. I feel that statement needs to be further examined, and what better place to do so than in my review for his latest movie? Suffice it to say, I do not stand by that statement any longer, and it is not Alice in Wonderland that makes me reconsider. But it is Alice in Wonderland that so perfectly exemplifies why I can't stand by that statement any longer. Alice in Wonderland is a bad film, and it's a bad film because it is a Tim Burton film. It exemplifies what exactly is wrong with the career of my once favorite director.

There was a time when Tim Burton made original films - or at least films that weren't remakes/reimaginings. But ever since Sleepy Hollow, he has felt the need to remake everything that sounds vaguely like a Tim Burton movie (he is even reimagining one of his own next, the short film Frankenweenie). Perhaps no story sounds more tailor made to Tim Burton's sensibilities than that of Alice in Wonderland - and that's exactly the problem. When Burton gets his hands on these properties, he immediately goes into autopilot. There is no challenge in taking a story that sounds like a Tim Burton film, and then turning it into a Tim Burton film. One has only to look at the various elements of this film to see how much they mirror everything else he has ever done, and how little thought he had to put into it.

The most obvious autopilot choice Burton always makes is the casting. Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter are both fine actors, but his reliance on them repeatedly results in tamer and tamer performances on their parts. Depp especially seems lost here. After seven collaborations, I can't imagine that Tim Burton has a lot of new directorial ideas for Depp to try out. As such, we get a performance that never takes off, relying too much on silly makeup and bad character quirks. Carter fares better, taking her character to some really silly places, but all too often she seems to rely on quirkiness and not actual performing.

The score is exactly what you would expect. Where once a Danny Elfman score would jump out at you, now it seems to just serve as a placeholder. Nothing about the music is memorable because it hits the exact Elfman beats you would expect from a collaboration with Burton. While music shouldn't be a make or break element in the quality of a film, it is certainly a piece of the film, and in this case it serves to illustrate the lazy mentality that seems to go on when someone teams up with Burton for the umpteenth time.

But what Burton is most known for, of course, is his visual style. When someone says a story seems like a perfect fit for Burton, it is usually this element they are referring to. Here is no exception: Burton's love for German Expressionism is once again on display, but filtered through copious amounts of CGI. And it looks really bad. Perhaps this aspect of the film is the one I would have most easily given a pass, as his visual style still entertains me, but it is done so poorly here, I can't ignore it. Maybe it was the 3D, but this is one of the most visually repugnant movies I have seen in some time. One has to look no further than Johnny Depp's makeup design to see what I mean. It is harsh on the eyes, garish and without reason. It's weird simply for the sake of being weird. Why is the Red Queen's head so big? Because it looks weird. Why does Crispin Glover appear to be stretched out vertically? Because it looks weird. That seems to be the length of thought process Burton has been putting into his visuals, and the bad CGI here does him no favors.

The best films Tim Burton has done are among my all time favorites. But it has been a long time since the days of Ed Wood or Beetle Juice. It's strange to watch a man I once wholly respected so completely tarnish his image and credibility. Between the Frankenweenie remake and his stated desire to tackle the Sleeping Beauty story, there is no reason to think his decision making will improve. And when his movies make as much money as Alice in Wonderland has so far, why would he risk making something as uniquely personal as Edward Scissorhands again? As long as Burton continues to make the films people expect him to make, his creative decisions in each film will probably become more and more bankrupt of creativity. Tim Burton is a man in need of a comeback, but he'll need to step outside of his comfort zone again to achieve it.

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

Inevitably when someone writes reviews for a specific medium - be it film, music, books, art, or whatever - biases come into play. Even the most seasoned critic can't help but gravitate towards certain genres or themes while consistently holding others at arm's length. Take, for example, Roger Ebert's strong predilection towards films dealing with race issues and his inability to enjoy the vast majority of film's made by David Lynch or Tim Burton. Everyone has different biases, and as such certain critics need to be taken with a grain of salt in specific instances. I say all this because this review is heavily influenced by my own biases, more so than most reviews. Sometimes I'll watch a film I don't especially love, but I can see why it deserves recognition and recommend it in spite of my own tastes (No Country for Old Men jumps to mind). But sometimes my own biases prove too strong to overcome. If I were to name my two biggest biases, they would certainly be that Tim Burton is my favorite filmmaker and that musicals are the most tedious of film genres to sit through. So imagine how hard it is for me to try and explain my thoughts on Sweeney Todd, a Tim Burton musical.

I had little notion of just what the story of Sweeney Todd entailed before I learned of Burton's decision to make a film version. It turned out that Todd follows a barber (Johnny Depp) who was living the perfect life in 19th century London with his wife and baby daughter, until one day a jealous Judge Turpin (Alan Rickman) had the barber falsely accused of a crime and sent away to prison for the rest of his life. The barber breaks out and returns to London, now calling himself Sweeney Todd and hellbent on revenge. He learns that his wife is gone and that his daughter is under the ward of the evil judge. With the help of local pie maker Mrs. Lovett (Helena Bonham Carter) he sets about murdering the citizens of London with his shaving razors while Lovett bakes the victims into meat pies. Singin' in the Rain this certainly is not.

I've had some time to think about Sweeney Todd, and I think there are a few reasons why it proved to be one of the most enjoyable films I've seen all year. Chief among them, of course, is the usual Tim Burton flairs. From the atmospheric world he has crafted to the dark humor and the themes of an outcast fighting against a society that doesn't understand him, it all feels like something straight out of Burton's mind. If you are in tune with Burton's visual style, you will certainly be sucked in within minutes. But I suspect that even if Burton was doing everything I usually expect of him, he still wouldn't have been able to make me fully appreciate the fact that it is a musical. And not just an occasional break-out-into-song musical, but a near opera of wall to wall music. No, I have to give credit to Stephen Sondheim for crafting a truly aurally striking masterpiece that rises above the typical musical to be something unique.

Whether it is Mrs. Lovett singing about how she has the worst meat pies in all of London, or Todd serenading his razor blades, the songs here are anything but typical. And they really convey just what the characters are thinking, what makes them tick. Perhaps one of the best moments in the film is when Todd has the judge within his grasp, only to lose him at the last second. The song Todd sings truly shows that any last thread of sanity he may have had is now gone forever. As he roams the streets singing about how he will have vengeance not just on the judge, but one everybody, we see that he is not the hero we once might have hoped him to be, but instead a monster, no better than the man who made him what he is.

I'm no expert on these things, but from what I can tell, Johnny Depp is not the greatest of singers. He never does a bad job, but he doesn't hit some notes in the way that is probably expected of him. Helena Bonham Carter isn't much better. But their acting is very good. We've come to expect Depp to be amazing in everything, so the fact that he can convey the emotional distress and conflicted nature of the demon barber comes as no shock. Carter actually outshines him at times, however, and she might have actually been my favorite characters. We understand why Todd has lost his mind, but the fact that Mrs. Lovett so willingly goes along with him makes much less sense at first. Yet Carter makes you believe that this woman would bake human victims into pies simply for the affection of Todd. Alan Rickman as the judge is a wonderful, if too brief, performance. Perhaps the most interesting aspect of him is how his pessimistic world view so closely mirrors that of Todd. Todd says we all deserve to die, while Judge Turpin says we are all guilty of something. I would have loved to get some more insight into what made Turpin into the man he had become. And a special note must be made of Timothy Spall, who plays Beadle, Turpin's right hand man. He is so effectively slimy and unlikable that he steals every scene he is in. Spall is a character actor that deserves more recognition than he gets, consistently outshining his costars in a number of big films.

All the things I hate about musicals were either not included here, or were tweaked in such a way that they became fun and exciting. This isn't a feel good musical made to get you to sing along. These aren't characters you are meant to route for. These are monsters singing about monstrous things, and it becomes much more complex for that fact. I'm not sure what you are to make of my review, however. If you love Burton films but hate musicals, then this movie was made for you. For me, this film is truly exciting in that it gave me a bit more appreciation for a genre I heretofore had no love for at all. Maybe I'm just getting more open minded in my old age. Or maybe Burton really has made a masterpiece in Sweeney Todd.