An average movie

I already saw this movie, I have even seen it in the movie theater when it was released but, since it was available on Disney+, I thought I might as well check it out again. I actually remember it well when this movie was released. Indeed, it was a huge box office success and one of the first movies to reach $1 billion worldwide gross. At the time, I was still a huge fan of Tim Burton and Johnny Depp but I’m afraid both their careers have been increasingly disappointing since then. Anyway, I have noticed that, even though this movie was a commercial success, its reputation was actually rather lame and, after re-watching it after all these years, I understand why now. First of all, even if nowadays we have all become so numb about all these blockbusters filled with some CGI and other green screen shenanigans, this one actually still look really neat though. Burton especially created some amazing CGI characters such as the twins Tweedledee and Tweedledum, the Cheshire Cat, the Blue Caterpillar or the Bandersnatch. I’m still not sure about the Mad Hatter though. Indeed, the guy did look great but I’m not sure if  Depp’s performance really worked after all. However, the biggest issue was with the story though. Basically, instead of going for a faithful adaptation like they did with other live-action remakes such as ‘Cinderella’ or ‘Beauty and the Beast’, they went for something else which was not really a remake but also not really a sequel. Anyway, it was such a misguided idea and the end-result certainly felt rather half-baked. The fact that Tim Burton never really cared for the classic tale from Lewis Caroll probably didn’t help. To conclude, I still don’t think it is such an awful live-action version of the classic animated feature and it is worth a look, even if it should have been properly much better considering all the talented people involved. 

6/10