Alice in Wonderland
By Peter K. Lam
I went to watch “Alice in Wonderland” in IMAX 3-D today and it was ok. There was a lot of hype about how magnificent it was going to be but honestly it did not really live up to the hype. The story was not as layered as I thought it’d be and it seemed to be gear more toward children. The 3-D graphics was not really utilized either. It seemed to be used to add addition dimensions to the characters and scenery. There were no scenes where stuff was flying out at the viewers. The 3-D was really not necessary. It could be also that the film was not made specifically to be in 3-D. I didn’t watch “Avatar” in 3-D so I don’t really have a comparison of how “Alice in Wonderland” fared with “Avatar.”
The story was pretty basic as well although there were a few confusing parts. It’s not made clear from the beginning that this live action version is actually a sequel to the animated film. I went in thinking that this was a re-imaging. The audience finds out later that the movie takes place after animated version. It would’ve been a better movie if it had more symbolism and adult-like themes.
On a side note, 3-D is just a passing fad. The technology is still not efficient enough to go mainstream. It might never get to that point. Some movies are able to pull off 3-D while others cannot. Some just don’t make sense to be in 3-D. It doesn’t add that much to the movie-going experience. Since “Avatar” made 3-D a recent hot topic, it may stay in the public eye for a while but I predict that the hype will die down in the coming years.
