Alice

 Greg and I have joined a movie club.  My parents and a few of their kind friends invited us in to the circle and we LOVE it!  On the last Tuesday (Stimulus Tuesday) of every month we pick a movie to go to.  Then, after the movie, we go out for drinks to discuss what we thought of the movie.  The discussion ends with a round robin where everyone gives the movie a 1-5 star rating and why they rated it that way.

Tonight's movie was Alice In Wonderland.  I have been so excited for this movie.  I think part of the excitement was the fact that I have never been to a 3-D movie, so this was a first!  However, the MAJORITY of the excitement was the nostalgia of the cartoon version from my childhood.

The overall consensus for the club was an average of 2 stars.  Two of us gave it 3, two of us gave it 2.5, five members gave it a 2 and one member gave it a disappointing 1 due to the fact that he actually fell asleep during the movie!  The major complaint of the movie among the members is that you never developed any real connection to or feelings for the characters and that the movie was overall lacking substance.  In addition, the 3-D quality of Alice was widely compared to the 3-D quality of Avatar (which I have not seen) and was decidedly disappointing in comparison.  The main positive among the club members were the special effects.

My personal evaluation of Alice was 3 stars.  I liked it but did not LOVE it.  I agreed that there was just something missing from the movie and didn't feel transported to my childhood awe and wonder as I had hoped I would be.  I did enjoy the 3-D, but it seems like 3-D will be an option for most movies coming soon to a theater near you.  Overall my favorite parts of the movie were the make-up and costumes.  In addition I really appreciated the ability of Tim Burton to not only imagine a modern day Wonderland but to translate that imagination to the big screen for all to see.  So, not one to own, but maybe one to see once just to say you did.