Alice in Wonderland

I am now officially fed up with greenscreen. Sin City and 300 were the epitomy of style over content and now Tim Burton (who has always had an easy approach to narrative) is the latest to decide an all-GCI world is the way to go. It's bright, weird and undeniably imaginative but totally insubstantial (and in 2D replete with many spot-the-3D bits better known as throwing things towards the camera) And as with all CGI, it only takes one thing to be poorly rendered to drag the viewer out of the film. Prime example: every time the Knave of Hearts appears in long shot or on his horse it's so jerky that you immediately stop believing in the reality of the character. There's also that old perennial which has plagued everything from LOTR onwards, the obvious fakery of the digital substitute. The movement is never right and it applies just as much to Alice as it did to the Fellowship running across the bridge. Having said all that, the Cheshire Cat is great, with his disconcertingly wide, toothy smile and a disconcerting habit of popping up unexpectedly, while the poor hedgehog is totally adorable. My other bugbear is the unintelligibility of some of the dialogue (step forward J. Depp, esq. and his silly accents) OK, it's not exactly depriving us of essential exposition but it's very, very annoying. Thank heavens for the clarity of Stephen Fry's Cheshire Cat and Alan Rickman's laid-back Caterpillar. His mere vocal presence can improve any film by 50%.