Alice in Wonderland is boring!

March 16, 2010   

15

I had heard good things and went to see the movie this week-end in IMAX 3D. I was extremely disappointed and this review is reminiscent of my Avatar review. The movie is visually stunning, but the pace is incredibly slow, the characters are all one note (which is intentional but disappointing when you have actors like Johnny Depp and Anne Hathaway) and the story is just not gripping. I did not care about the characters or their quest and spent half the movie hoping it would end soon!

It’s disappointing given Tim Burton’s previous work and I hope this does not foretell an ever increasing trend of movies focusing on style over substance!

I hear I will get good story telling in The Ghost Writer. Fingers crossed!

  • So you don’t like Star Wars or Alice. What kind of heroic-fantasy or science fiction movies do you like? Lord of the Rings? Matrix? Anyway Tron Legacy will be fun to watch in 3D this summer.

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  • I did not care for The Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter either. I could not get through the Lord of the Rings books – way too slow. The Lord of Rings movies were ok, especially the second and third, but just not as great as people made them out to be. I really did not like the Harry Potter movies though, again way too slow and boring.

    As for sci-fi, as long as it’s well written and pseudo-realistic, I love the genre. I loved the original Matrix. I adored Gattaca. I also loved some of the Star Trek movies: First Contact and JJ Abram’s reboot (though I hated many of the other Star Trek movies).

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  • Hello Fabrice,
    long time. 3 years? I see you’re still into movie critics. and still saying nonsense. lol. Burton always has been about style over substance. Although he often had substance and with such a strong classic novel as a spine it should not be different. See it as a piece of art and not only entertainment. Although I agree that it is often hard and boring. But not with Burton. Style has always been THE proeminent part of Arts since ALL has been said since human birth, forever. So much in your genes and culture that even your olx is much more into style and “beauty” than anyone before. Congrats. Keep the nonsense about Arts to entertain us although I much prefer your lessons on business. Cheers!

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  • Jacques: We can agree to disagree 😉

    I look to movies, book, TV shows, video games and plays to entertain me. I can appreciate the art form and the artistic considerations, but ultimately if I am not entertained it’s not doing the job.

    Thanks for the compliments about OLX 🙂

    I have a few pending blog posts on business, it’s just that I have not had the time to finish writing them as I have been crazy busy with OLX for the past few months…

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  • I have found that if people over hype movies I tend to be let down, if they trash them then I tend to be Surprised. Tropic Thunder was a movie many of my friends trashed but it has become a favorite of mine. Also, I have not seen Avatar, but it just does not look like something I’d be interested in.

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  • Jérome, I totally agree with you. After thousands of screenings I came to the conclusion that that’s why the best is to see a movie totally virgin if possible. Meaning to not even have seen the trailer and to not know anything at all about it, except maybe the author or some other detail that can drive you to it. There you can have the best experience of it. Alan Ball’s Nothing Is Private (2007) or Little Children (2006) made it this way in my top 500. Whereas hundreds hyped others made it out that way.

    Fabrice, I agree with you. And here some more we maybe could agree on http://cinema.fluctuat.net/blog/42861-2000-2010-l-etrange-gamelle-de-tim-burton.html. I just don’t know if I totally agree with it yet but it goes our ways. Burton is getting boring indeed. But always and forever immensely unique, visually.
    Have a good one. Cheers.
    PS: Posting your “salon” was a great generous (slightly centric) idea. Unfortunately, the sound rec made it barely audible. External mic is the only way to go there. Hope you continue to share more. Thanks.

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