I think some of my irritation (and maybe even anger) at Alice is that this SHOULD have been a great movie. We've wanted to see Burton take on Alice and especially Mary Poppins for years! But this was just so ordinary.

I said to Jilli that I wonder what kind of Alice movie the Beetlejuice-era Burton would have created. I suspect it would have been better because it would have at least honored the nonsensical nature of Wonderland.

And it saddens me that this will probably be financially successful when such movies as the beautiful non-Disney Peter Pan from 2003 (IMDB link) barely made a ripple in the public consciousness. If you've never seen this Peter Pan, btw, you owe it to yourself. It's beautiful, well-acted, charming, entrancing and innocent. And it never falls into the trap of including a cynical wink to camera.

It's a joy.

the beautiful non-Disney Peter Pan from 2003 (IMDB link) barely made a ripple in the public consciousness.

Oh, we own it and love it. Jason Isaacs and Olivia Williams!

Just caught A Single Man before coming home to watch the Oscars. Colin Firth was wonderful and I want to live in that house!

Another movie I caught in between was Children of Men. What a heartbreaking movie!

I loved both of those films, quester.

Thanks for the rec, Pete. I'll go netflix it.

I am running away from Natter so I can shower before bed. Can catch up on the Oscars later.

Wait Until Dark with Audrey Hepburn and Alan Arkin

Lovelovelove that movie! Alan Arkin is sooooo evilicious as Harry Roat, Jr., and Richard Crenna is also terrifically smarmy.

And early feature-film Disney did use a lot of live-action film to base their animation on, especially for their human characters. IIRC, there were a few actresses that were used in the live-action film who later did voice work for another film.

Lovelovelove that movie! Alan Arkin is sooooo evilicious as Harry Roat, Jr., and Richard Crenna is also terrifically smarmy.

I forgot to mention that the little girl in the movie was in the audience so that added a bit of fun as everyone would clap and cheer at her key moments.

We own & love the 2003 Peter Pan, too. The kids love it too.

Alice in Wonderland made $116 million. The second-place movie made $13.5 million.

If Alice keeps making money they'll probably have to do a sequel. Or turn Tim Burton loose on all of our childhood favorites as he squelches them under his increasingly more banal vision.

I think we can safely assume that the Velveteen Rabbit will be a stripe-suited ninja in 2012, heralding the end of the world.