Last night, or rather, this morning, Diane and I were privileged to see the premiere of Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland in 3D at IMAX.
It's a technical premiere only, since it's merely because we live in the future that we were able to see it before the rest of the world in general release tomorrow.
And it's brilliant. Frabjous, in fact.
I really appreciated that Tim went for a re-write with an older Alice, rather than just an adaptation of the book. That will likely be an annoyance to some people, but whatever.
I didn't see Avatar (I'm a fan of story more than effects) so I can't compare the CGI, and this film's budget was miniscule by comparison, but at this stage, I think it was as close to a perfect child's fantasy as I have seen. I don't see a lot of movies any more though - maybe 1 or 2 per year - so you may well disagree.
So far the reviews are average, and it may just be the fact I loved Lewis Carroll's writing when I was a child so I'm sentimental about the characters, but I think it's well worth the investment of money & time to enjoy this brief frolic through a child's imagination.
Note that while it is rated PG, I think kids will likely be scared by some of the action, especially in 3D, and even moreso in IMAX.
Also, I think it's worth noting that at the end of the film, the audience of mostly teens & twenties broke out in applause. I've heard of that happening on occasion, but I've never actually been in the cinema when it did. Bear in mind too, that Australians are notorious for not applauding if something is rubbish, even if we're "supposed" to.
