So...I went to see Alice in Wonderland yesterday. And I'm going to again next week when my brother visits me. And I loved it so much that I decided to turn all my fangirling over it into a blog post. There are spoilers galore below this, so if you haven't seen it, I HIGHLY advise you to NOT read this until you have. Hopefully, all my ramblings can be written into little categories so its not too fangirl-y.

3-D

I figured I should start with this since its something that everyone knows about it and its one thing that makes it stand out from most movies. Now, keep in mind the last movie I saw in 3-D was Spy Kids 3-D in...2002(?). First, the glasses are no longer paper which is something that I really liked because the paper ones bend/break/rip easily. Plastic doesn't. They resemble Ray Bans a little which is even better. Now, the actual expierence of this movie in 3-D...I can't even think of this movie any other way than in 3-D. Its amazing. Before the trailers even come on a screen with a pretty green background and the White Rabbit comes on telling you to put on the glasses. Then the lights dim and the trailers begin...in 3-D. Which definitely didn't happen in Spy Kids. And like most of the audience I was in awe of the fabulous work that was right in front of me. There were many times that I wanted to just reach out to touch something, but quickly remembered that I'd look like an idiot since its fake. And then like any curious person watching a 3-D movie, I took off the glasses for a moment to see the difference. Now remember those ugly blue and red lines around everything in the older 3-D movies like Spy Kids? Yeah, those are GONE. Completely. If anything its just slightly blurry, but otherwise there's no difference other than its not as cool.

The Actors/acting/Tim Burton's general amazingness

Helena Bonham Carter - she was brillant as always. And the blown up head doesn't even look out of place. She owns that head and her character The Red Queen even thinks that the bigger the better. Her court even has at least something about them that's fake and extremely big. One has a nose fit for Pinocchio, another has stuffed his pants and shirt so he looks like he has an extremely fat tummy, and yet another has giant ears. Of course, there's the little quirks of Helena's that I noticed like the way in close ups she squints her eyes slightly (you can see a lot of this in Sweeney Todd), but it doesn't take me out of it at all...I still see The Red Queen in front of me and not Helena. Everything about her performance is amazing and completely believable. I won't be surprised if next her she is nominated for a few awards...and possibly win some of them as well.

Johnny Depp - *sigh* Where to begin with Johnny? The British accent, the way he can portray all of the Hatter's emotions so well on his face, or perhaps the light lisp he gives his character? Overall Johnny has done amazing as he always does, which shouldn't be a surprise by now. Alice in Wonderland is set in London (I'm guessing 1700s-1800s) and so all of Underland (or Wonderland as Alice calls it) has a British accent. Now, Johnny is amazing at faking this and if I didn't know any better I'd say its his normal accent. Its a bit stronger in a few places and a little on the weak side in others, but its always there. Then his character has this space between his two front teeth which makes him have a slight lisp. Again, he has it perfected to a "T" and doing that on top of the British accent is just astounding. His character the Mad Hatter also likes to show all his emtions through his face, all of which are very close to the surface and not very deep or complex at all. And even though Johnny wears various colors of contacts throughout the film, his hair "deflats" slightly, and the bow tie he wears will "inflate" or "deflate" slightly as well, Johnny does the best at wearing the Mad Hatter's emotions as possible. There's nothing more you could do unless there was a sign on his forhead saying "happy", "sad", "angry", and ect in flashing neon lights. And even though in the trailer where he walks across the table he walks slightly like he does in 'Pirates' throughout the film he doesn't do this at all. In fact, in most of Johnny's other films there's this slightly unrealistic grace that he gives his characters and in this one there isn't. The Mad Hatter isn't a klutz per say, but he definitely doesn't have that confident walk that Sweeney does or the shyness of Ikabod. In fact, the only reason his walking even resembles that of Jack is because the table is a lot of smaller tables put together that aren't too sturdy, which you can see in the movie much better than you can in the trailer. Throughout the film you can't help but want Alice to end up with him because of how well he bonds with Alice throughout the film and even though this is a children's film there's this certain level of UST* between the two characters that Johnny is just fantastic at showing. The fight at the end gives Mad Hatter a bit of confidence and watching Johnny as Mad Hatter fight is a sight to see. And then within the last moments you are not wanting him to go away at all. Really, I was just wanting him to take Alice into a big hug and tell her not to leave him mainly because I couldn't seem to get enough of him even though he's in easily three fourths of the film - if not more.

Alan Rickman - Okay, first, YES HE IS IN THIS FILM. Second, he's an animated character, but he is still amazing in it. Its hard when you are relying on only your voice and what the animators can do to be able to have your character not fall flat. Now, this IS a Tim Burton film after all and he's known for using the same actors in many films. And so the fact that Alan is in this is not surprising at all and I couldn't have picked a better character for Alan to be at all. He's almost a hero that no one really thinks about. Just someone left at the sidelines. But as the Caterpillar, he gives Alice adivce all throughout her journey and helps her keep moving forward. And Alan has the best voice for someone who's supposed to be that "wise-something[I vote pot]-smoking-underrated-character" that I've ever heard.

Crispin Glover - Now, usually he isn't the best looking guy out there. But as the Knave of Hearts, he is amazing and easily plays the Red Queen right into his hand until the very end. Its very easy for you to forget that he is supposed to basically be the evil minion, and while you may not fall in love with his character, he is someone you won't be waiting to just get off the screen either. Basically, he's good at what he does and is brilliant for this movie even though he's not who most would pick for a Tim Burton film.

Anne Hathaway - Okay, Anne is the only thing about this entire movie that I was seriously hating....until I saw the film. She's surprisingly perfect for this film and her role of the White Queen. Now, the White Queen is basically all the good in the world rolled into one package that just so happen to take the form of a human being. She's extremely pale, wears all white - even her hair is white, and walks around with her arms held up in this extremely graceful manner at all times. Anne has this finese about her that just fits for her role and the way she can speak so slowly, but not bore you to death also works for her in this film.

Mia Wosikowska - Now, during all the trailers and clips for AIW, I always thought she was an odd fit for the role of Alice, and her hair in the beginning urked me to no end with the braids - it made her head look odd. But after she falls down the rabbit hole and the braids were set lose I could get into her role better and realized that she is actually perfect for the role of Alice - reguardless of what I thought beforehand. Now, I'm not saying her acting wasn't good at the beginning, it was...I just couldn't get past the odd braided hairstyle very well. She's exactly what Alice should roughly look like when she is 19, and the way she shows Alice's growth throughout the film is perfect. And as I said before, her relationship with the Mad Hatter is perfect even though nothing - sadly - ever comes of it.

Tim Burton - Oh Tim. How I love your work. I've heard so many people dis this film because Tim has made it "too dark" or "its nothing like the original" but that's the point. Tim is dark and gothic. Point blank. That's his style. And its not SUPPSOED to be like the original, this is 8 years later. A "what if" if you may. But let's remember that this is supposed to be a children's story. And Tim knows that. There's just enough of the bright colors, silliness, and child-like-humor for kids to enjoy it, but there's also everything - minus ANY type of physical affection except UST* - that adult and teens will enjoy it as well. And he has paid attention to detail as well. Remember the talking flowers? They're in there. The chess board style ground? That's there too. Even the random objects that Alice almost runs into while she's falling down the rabbit hole. There's just so much attention to the little things and the details that its amazing. Hell, the Mad Hatter even has a few fingers wrapped - as well as a few bruises and cuts - from working, remember he IS a hat/dress maker after all. And then the whole 3-D thing is just the icing on the cake for how amazing this film was.

Music

Well, its well known by Tim Burton fans that he always uses Danny Elfman except for only one or two films - Sweeney Todd being one of these. But even from the opening credits, I was in love with the score. Danny get's Tim. This may be from working with him for so long, but there's just something that clicks when Danny is working on a Burton film. Being a music person myself, I always pay attention to the background music, and I must say that it fit beautifully with what was going on at the time, and fit the emotions of the chatacters perfectly as well.

Basically, this movie is pure win and after seeing it a second time I will most likely have more to say about it.

*UST stands for unresolved sexual tension. Basically, those times in movies where you're thinking "OMG! Just kiss her already! Or hug her or just....something!"