Now we've got that out of the way, let's start off with the story!
Story
Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland
Burton's version is more the generic prophecy/chosen one for Alice despite constantly saying throughout it's a dream, which gets real old real fast. This makes the massive 'spoiler' at the end that Alice is in fact the Alice from Alice in Wonderland predictable & doesn't even feel like a twist as everyone saw it coming! I mean, why else would they choose her out of all the Alices in the world with the same blonde hair & blue outfits? I will say it does do well with explaining the world of Wonderland & how it all works like with the calendar which can see the future & the different kingdoms & creatures. Unfortunately, this is also a flaw as a place that supposedly makes no sense seems to have a lot of rules & order! Sorry, that is what bothers me!
But there's another massive problem I have: it takes itself too seriously. It goes into politics and war in a world which is supposed to be full of nonsense! Not only that, but it feels disloyal as it tries to be like the original despite the premise being completely different & not advertising itself as a sequel to the original story. This therefore breaks the spirit of the original book & is what ruins the experience for me when watching it. Not only that, but there are plot holes throughout & lead me to question
I'm sorry, I know I seem to be bashing this movie for what it is, but there are a few good things like the world is interesting, the, but a plot full of confusion, complexity & lack of consistency does not fit with a book which is full of nonsense & simplicity!
Once Upon a Time In Wonderland
This version, while kind of also has a generic quest plot & is serious, it does take more time to have a crazy side that we know & to see the world of Wonderland. When I went it, I expected it so that Alice & Will would fight due to their split personalities but get together by the end, but it actually wasn't that at all! Heck, Alice & Cyrus' romance is possibly one of the healthiest in the OUAT world cos they actually talk about their problems & the future! And I'll admit, it is adorable! Same goes to Anastasia & Will! We even get to see more of the backstories compared to Burton's which makes the characters more developed & likeable, including Jafar, Anastasia, Alice & even Will when he was one of Robin Hood's Merry Men!
But that's not saying OUATIW has it's flaws when it comes to plot. It is very hard to get into at first up to about episode 3 or 4. Honestly, I didn't like it when I first watched it because of the acting, plot & crap CGI, but it changed over time as I watched each episode. But the biggest issue I have is it's only for Once Upon a Time fans. It doesn't do much to establish what's going on or the premise of it's mother show for newcomers. Heck, Storybrooke is only seen twice & there are only a few iconic from OUAT, but only hardcore fans would be able to recognize them. But even with that, it still kept me engaged throughout & it was rather fun to see them small cameos.
Overall, when it comes to story, OUAT's version wins me over. That's not to say it's good, but I just found the journey aspect more engaging & the character growth of the main characters is a thousand times better!
Winner: OUATIW
Now onto something very important in the Wonderland universe: the visuals!
Visuals
OUATIW
Completely ignoring the fact the CGI is pretty bad, the look of Wonderland itself is actually pretty good! We get to see different parts of the world & to their credit they actually look creative. Like the Caterpillar's hideout, the Grendel's home & even the Red Queen's palace. Unfortunately, there are still some issues like the forests look like a generic forest but with tacked on mushrooms & honestly, it's not really that memorable. Even the town where Lizard & Will go to just looks like a normal town which could easily be mistaken for a town in the Enchanted Forest. Might as well go over a bit on Agrabah since it's also pominent & it looks good with the Arabian decor influencing the style, but we don't get to see much of the world. By the way, the inside of the lamps are pretty cool, just. It's unfortunate because it genuinely does take advtange of the world like the Marshmallow quicksand, the dragonflies, that perfumed forest which removes your memories & even Jefferson's abandoned house!
Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland
This version has the classic Burton look we've all come to love. Yes, besides the quality being a thousand times better than OUAT's, I loved the size & scope with it. It reminded me of the Disney movie in a way with the talking flowers, the designs of the characters & even the creative costumes & I love all of it. If there's anything good about this movie, the look of the movie would be on the top of the list!
I also love how it takes advantage of the zaniness of Wonderland like when Alice falls through the rabbit hole & the different kingdoms being creative & colourful. If I did have some issues, it would be it can get creepy at times. I know that's weird to say for Wonderland, but it can get a bit macabre like the grey-ish colour pallette, the severed heads in the Red Queen's river & the Bandersnatch.
But in all, which one is better? Well, in Burton's as well as the scope being better while OUATIW's takes advantage of the crazy side. Honestly, I'm gonna go with Burton's as it reminds me much more of the Wonderland I imagined and the designs are actually much more creative. That's not to say OUATIW has a chance to be creative, but Burton's just sticks with me more! Burton wins this round!
Winner: Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland
Surely Alice needs to play off some eccentric & colourful individuals! This is the side characters!
Side Characters
Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland
Although, yes, the original characters and personalities are intact & the designs are admittedly pretty cool, a few of them didn't really stick out in terms of personality like the Dormouse, March Hare & the Cheshire Cat. In fact, The Mad Hatter is probably the best out of them & Johnny Deep of course does an over the top performance as you'd expect from him. For that he'd win me over, but the backstory as to why he went mad wasn't all that great to me. Tweedledum & Tweedledee had some funny moments, Bayard the Bloodhound was interesting & I also enjoyed Alan Rickman's performance as Absolem (the Caterpillar) but I thought he was way too serious for a hookah smoking caterpillar in a world full of nonsense. Actually, it feels like they had the wacky personalities to compensate for Alice's weak characterisation (I'll get to that later)& they're not really that developed (again, besides Johnny Depp) especially the White Queen! I love Anne Hathaway, but she just bored me & was the generic nice queen to contrast her sister!
OUATIW
And that's my issue with OUATIW's characters: where are all of them? They barely had any of the Lewis Carroll characters, like where the hell is the Mad Hatter (Jefferson)? He's one of the most iconic characters yet he's only mentioned in the Pilot! And same goes to the Cheshire Cat which is pretty much an extended cameo & Tweedledum & Tweedledee aren't really that bizarre enough nor memorable besides the cheap David Bowie make-up on their faces! And with that said, are the characters like Cyrus, Will, Lizard & Anastasia bad? No! They're more in the realm of complexity rather than eccentricity. I'm not including Anastasia as a villain because she becomes a heroine by the end. Honestly, going in, I really couldn't stand her! Seriously, her fish pout, annoying put on upper class accent & wooden acting really grated me & it seemed like she was a Regina rip-off! That is until 1x08! All what I said before was just a demeanour and she had & it's revealed she's always regretted leaving Will for power partly thanks to Cora. Will himself is more the straight man who at first is cynical but eventually realizes how much Cyrus means to Alice. And their friendship is kind of fun! Cyrus was also a good fighting partner for Alice as well as a love interest & to be fair he also values family as he & his brothers do everything in their power to save their mother Amara (Jafar's mentor/lover/serpent staff) Lizard was rather cool & badass, before she was needlessly killed off & the Grendel had a tragic backstory with his wife's passing, before he also had to be needlessly killed...yeah! All the ones which had potential die! And it annoys me when they were interesting & memorable!
This one was a hard one, but I'm gonna go for OUATIW as they're better written, better developed & honestly played off better with Alice! Sorry to blast Johnny Depp, he is good, but that's only one out of so many side characters which didn't really stick with me!
Winner: OUATIW
So what's Wonderland without a little bit of threat? This is the villains!
Villains
Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland
The Red Queen, played by Helena Bonham Carter. Yes, it could be argued that she's a weak & two dimensional character, but her personality fits with the world of Wonderland, and she can be intimidating as she has the Jabberwocky in her grasp. The fact that she has tantrums over stupid little things also shows how intimidating she can be, like her opening scene where she has a frog killed because he ate her tarts! I also want to add that I love her design, as it fits her personality as snobbish and is literally big-headed, as well as fitting the world of Wonderland with the craziness! And despite being cliched, I found her much more memorable.
OUATIW
Jafar...sure he may be hammy but oddly enough it's enjoyable. I haven't seen much of Naveen Andrews besides some Lost episodes, but he seems to do a pretty good job with the material he's given. Now, I know you could arguably compare him to Rumplestiltskin (which I'll also do eventually despite an obvious winner) with the tragic backstory involving their fathers, gaining magical powers etc, but the thing is he had a reason behind his goals: he wanted his father to know how it felt being hurt by someone you love. But that doesn't mean he sticks with me. In fact, I found him to be the kind of funny where it's unintentional cos of how silly it was.
The Jabberwocky in both projects take completely different approaches. The Jabberwocky in Burton's only has 2 lines (voiced by the amazing Christopher Lee) and I find is more of a plot device for Alice to defeat, even if his design is pretty cool & his presence is intimidating. Meanwhile, OUATIW's is a more psychological villain, in fact she's not even a dragon! She gets into people's heads to break them down before eventually killing them. Yes, her design may be pretty unusual & not that creative, but she's still pretty cool. But for which one that pays more tribute to the Lewis Carroll's Jabberwock (yeah, both ofv these made a mistake calling him a Jabberwocky when that was actually in a poem) Burton's wins me over as well as having the scary design & more intimidating prescence.
Both do have good villains, but I'd rather have villains that stick with me, and Burton's version does that! Like I mentioned, Helena Bonham Carter does a great performance & her personality fitted quite well with the world of Wonderland, despite the inconsistencies in the story!
Winner: Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland
Now to end this, it's probably best to look at Alice herself!
Alice
Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland
Mia Wasikowska...I'm just gonna say it she bored me
to death! She never made me care about Alice mostly because she never expresses any emotion throughout. Sure she may do some brave things & kind of
grow by the end, but God is it slow paced & I never get invested. She always thinks it's all a dream which is intolerable. I think it's because Burton focuses too much on what she isn't rather than what she actually is due to Alice being raised in a conformist society. He has done that right like Edward Scissorhand & Beetlejuice, but with Alice, she just fails to impress me. Ironically, even though they attempt to portray her as not being a product of her time, her emotionless reactions make her a product of her time & makes her archetypal dated! Even if Mia tries, she just has the same permanant frown on her face throughout almost the entire movie. Sorry Burton fans, I don't like this Alice!OUATIW's Alice
OUATIW's Alice on the other hand is actually a fighter! She's not just doing what she does for the sake of it, she's doing it partly for her love & to get her father to finally believe her. Heck, her arc is surprisingly tragic and you get why! She goes to Wonderland as a child only for nobody to believe her when she goes back home, returns years later only for her boyfriend to supposedly get killed, returns to London where her father essentially replaced her & her mother, is forced to get married despite her protests & mourning Cyrus & to top it all off, gets sent to an asylum by her father after being forced to by her stepmother! And through it all she still manages to be interesting & complex. And she's actually smart and snarky too! But just because she has all these positive qualities, does it mean she doesn't have flaws. And my main issue is she's just too committed to Cyrus. But even then, she still manages to be interesting & pretty badass! Yes, I called Alice a badass!
Overall, it's pretty clear OUATIW's Alice wins me over!
Winner: OUATIW
And OUATIW wins with 3-2! Honestly, this was a much more difficult one to compare than I thought after rewatching both! I used to think Burton's blew OUATIW out of the water, but that was before I went back & noticed all the flaws as I really paid attention to the eye candy the movie had. That's not to say both are good, they're OK really, and I'd probably recommend to watch them at least once.
