Weird and scary stuff.

But I definitely enjoyed Tim Burton’s take on this combination of Alice In Wonderland and Through The Looking Glass. Burton is such a stylised director that you probably either like him most of the time or hate him most of the time. Maybe. But I like his style most of the time.

This was my first ever experience, wait, maybe not first ever, but first in the Asia – to experience a 3D movie. I didn’t like it. The “goggles” and the 3D picture was more of a distraction than a pleasure. Finer CGI details were impossible to see in 3D. Which is why I may just go and catch the movie again in 2D before the end of the week.

But the visuals were fantastic, no doubt about that. We may see this effort pop up in the next Academy Awards.

The cast was great. I loved what they brought to their characters. Mia Wasikowska was just perfect for a teenage Alice. Johnny Depp is such a great character actor. I tried to link this performance to something he’s done before but even the closest one as Willy Wonka in Charlie And The Chocolate Factory had distinct differences. As the Mad Hatter, he was definitely “mad” enough.

Helena Bonham Carter and Anne Hathaway were opposing polarities and brought great characterisations into their parts. Bonham Carter though I have to say was far more interesting.

And I loved how Burton created that final battle scene with the Jabberwocky, as Alice counted down to the final blow. Even though it really wasn’t anything too significant, but Burton made us pay attention to what she was doing with a sense of urgency and desperation.

As dark as it was, humour was never out of touch. This was a great fantasy experience.

The story was quite generic if you think about it. And we did see it coming when Jeff Bridges’ character was going to lose “something”. So there weren’t any surprises about story progression, not that you can have anything really refreshing in this genre. But the drama was done well. That’s what’s driving the story.

Bridges made his character interesting and hook us in with his performance. Then there’s Maggie Gyllenhaal whose performance was equally captivating.

The casting of the dogs were fantastic though. The puppy was the cutest thing onscreen of late. It’s easy to fall for such an obedient, good nature and cute dog. So the movie did well in portraying the dog.

The human cast mostly involved only Richard Gere who adequately created that bond with the dog onscreen. And that’s what the movie rode on to drive its story and to capture the audience. There’s nothing fantastic, just a nice story.

There’s a solid storytelling here with a convincing enough story. Not too tear-jerking and may have needed more to really involve the audience. At times it was a bit too slow. And everything was very low-keyed. Nothing overly dramatic so there wasn’t much going on to really capture the audience.

One thing that threw me off though was the fantasy section dreamt up by Precious. I know that was a big part on Precious’ psyche but every time it came on, it was quite distracting for me. Probably because the person she dreamt up did not resemble her at all.

Great performances all around, and I liked how Mariah Carey was almost unrecognisable, or totally plain looking.

The characterisations were over-the-top but in the right amount. The drama and situations were hilarious. The acting was top-notched. It was all very entertaining to see the characters search for meaning of life in their own ways and failing at it.

There’s a saying that goes, “Life is a tragedy when seen in close-up, but a comedy in long-shot.” I bet the Coen Brothers know this well.

You know you’re no longer youthful when the Chinese chiropractor, after noticing something’s wrong with your body, asks if you’ve been sleeping late when in reality you hit the sack at 12am every night.

Those who say 12am is late, yeah, you too are no longer youthful.