Alice in Costumeland and Legoland

Kind of late on the draw with this one. It's Colleen Atwood, the costume designer for Alice in Wonderland, talking about a bunch of the costumes from the movie.

 Tommy Williamson (a.k.a. GeekyTom) works for CafeFX as an effects artist where he worked on turning Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland into a 3D movie. After the wrap, Tommy built some of the characters from the movie out of LEGO bricks. Via

Previously: Interview with Colleen Atwood

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Images of Other Alice Tonner Dolls

Entertainment Earth has images of the new Alice in Wonderland Tonner dolls. They are available for pre-order here: Red Queen and White Queen at Entertainment Earth. The White Queen looks really amazing. Here are the descriptions:

Red Queen

• "Off with their heads!"
• Amazing Tonner Doll of actress Helena Bonham Carter as Iracebeth, the vile Red Queen.
• From Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland.
• Amazing likeness. Phenomenal clothing.
• Your friends will lose their heads when they see this in your collection!

"Off with their heads!" Helena Bonham Carter breathes extraordinary life into Iracebeth, the vile Red Queen in Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland. This phenomenal doll from Tonner captures her unique, authorized likeness and comes clad in rich gown with a soft, flocked bodice, gleaming stomacher with contrast stitching, high-standing collar, slim lamé sleeves with ruche overlay and ribbon trim, a decadent brocade skirt with custom heart embroidery on the front inset panel, full petticoat, custom printed card-suit tights, lace-up faux-leather gold boots with black lace overlay, and a jeweled crown. Your friends will lose their heads when they see this in your collection!

White Queen

• Anne Hathaway is a vision of beauty as Mirana, The White Queen.
• Doll based on Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland movie.
• Exceptional detailing. Extraordinary attire.
• A truly spectacular Tonner Doll for your collection!

In Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland movie, Anne Hathaway is a vision of beauty as Mirana, The White Queen. Her likeness is exquisitely captured in this breathtaking Tonner Doll that arrives wearing a frothy white confection, sprinkled with silver snowflakes and trimmed with glittering mesh and silky ribbon. The dress is accented with a glittering chiffon apron and downy chiffon bow in the back. Around her neck, she wears a shimmering necklace of rhinestones, trimmed with net ruffles. Pantyhose and white faux-leather boots are also included. A truly spectacular doll for your collection!

As discussed previously, there is also an Alice Kingsley Tonner doll and a Mad Hatter. We're still waiting for a picture of the Mad Hatter Tonner doll. The Alice Kingsley Doll is also available at Amazon: Alice in Wonderland Alice Kingsley Tonner Doll

Previously: Alice Tonner Dolls are Coming

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My Review of Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland 2010

I just got back from seeing the movie and I thought it was really good. To be honest, since I've been anticipating seeing it, and really looking forward to it, and being very excited about it, I was worried that it wouldn't meet my expectations. Luckily I thought it was really good. I will say, however, that it is an adventure movie. Ready for adventure?

Everybody should know the story by now: Alice Kingsley is expected to marry an overbearing young man that she isn't really into, and when he proposes to her, she excuses herself and takes a side trip down the rabbit hole. But in doing so, Alice jumps out of the proverbial frying pan and into the fire. Once in Underland (Wonderland) again, she is pulled into an adventure where she is expected to do other things she'd really rather not do by some characters that she can barely understand. Like the books, everything works by its own logic (or illogic, as the case may be) and Alice plays the part of the "straight man" by being serious and sensible in the face of madness.

The movie has its weak points. For example, I felt let down by the Tea Party. I was expecting something more like the book or the Tea Party in the 1952 Disney adaptation. Both are silly and maddening. While Burton pays homage to the 1952 Disney version by having the March Hare pour some tea "into" a tea cup with a broken bottom and some other nonsense like that, the Tea Party in this movie is squandered to provide some background information about current events in Underland. Both my guest and I felt let down by the Futterwacking, especially after so much had been made of it. I don't know about anybody else, but I also felt like the movie was "rushed" and could have used some more attention or time in some scenes. *Whew* OK that was a lot - let's look at the good things.

Things I really loved: The Cheshire Cat is amazingly cool, has mysterious dialogue, is an intriguing character, and is awesomely animated. The Bandersnatch is horrifying, sad, and (surprise) complex. Helena Bonham Carter is a hoot as the Red Queen, and Anne Hathaway totally hams up the prim fairy queenliness of the White Queen. Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter is by turns tender, mad, sad, haunted, and crazy. There are also: talking animals, laboring monkeys, a horrifying moat crossing, a menacing performance by Crispin Glover, some white-knuckle bravery, some men acting like pigs, some emotional depth, and some arguments that end only when one of the parties involved manages to makes absolutely no sense. The architecture of the palaces is amazing. Alice rides several creatures in the movie and each time it is exhilarating.

On a basic level, I think Tim Burton's movie is about a girl searching for her identity. Alice's identity is questioned at the very beginning by the Dormouse and other characters. At first Alice claims to be "The Alice" but then chickens out. When consulted about her identity, the Caterpillar says that she is "Not Yet Alice." Later in the movie, Alice deceives the Red Queen by claiming to be someone named "Um." All along, Alice is either too big or too small. It is as if she needs to get "right-sized." As the story unfolds, Alice finds herself walking the line between what she thinks is right and what everyone else in the story expects of her. I don't know how anyone else feels about it, but I liked this extra level of meaning, and I also liked the extremes that Alice has to traverse to find her own answers.

As a bonus, Alice also gets to wear a bunch of beautiful and amazing dresses and outfits. Much kudos to costume designer Colleen Atwood for these and the other costumes in the film. Last, as everyone seems to agree, the 3D and animation is really amazing and Underland is dazzlingly cool and dark. If you're going to see Alice in Wonderland with the expectation that it will be everything you would expect a masterpiece based on Lewis Carroll's timeless books to be, you might come out disappointed. BUT if you're looking for a fun adventure about a girl who is trying to find herself, then you're in for a fun ride.

What did you think? Leave a comment here or send in a review to alice@coldcold.com. I'll publish any reviews received on a special review page. If you have a blog and review the movie, drop me a line and I'll link to your review.

Previously: Review of The Mystery of Lewis Carroll by Jenny Woolf

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Giveaway: Mad Hatter Bobblehead and White Rabbit Plush

Good news! I have a bunch of Alice in Wonderland bobbleheads and plushes which I will be giving away courtesy of FunKo. Here is the first batch. It's been pretty easy to enter these giveaways so far, so this time I'm asking everyone to name their favorite Alice in Wonderland character or scene in the book. For example, you might like the Pool of Tears best. Or maybe your favorite character is the Bandersnatch.

What is up for grabs: A Funko Mad Hatter Bobblehead and White Rabbit Plush.

Who will win: Two winners will be selected. One will get the Mad Hatter and the other will get the White Rabbit. To enter, leave a comment on this post with your favorite character or scene from Alice in Wonderland. If you are logged in to Google make sure your email is visible in your profile. Otherwise make sure that you leave an email address. (I've been trying to find a way around this and can't. If anybody knows of a way to add an email field to the Blogger comment form, please let me know!) Entrants must live in the US or Canada (my apologies to everybody else).

When and how the winner will be chosen: The giveaway ends two weeks away at midnight, on Tuesday, March 2. The winners will be selected randomly using random numbers generated by random.org.

Notification: Winners will be notified by email.

Previously: Alice in Wonderland Mad Hatter Barbie

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Alice in Wonderland Mad Hatter Barbie

Almost without warning (at least it seems that way to me) Mattel has come out with a Tim Burton Mad Hatter doll. Amazon will have it in April BUT Entertainment Earth has it in stock and shipping now.

While we're on the topic of merchandise for the Disney movie, make sure you're sitting down when you check out the price of this Swarovski Austrian crystal studded, gold plate and resin Disney Couture Alice Rabbit Bangle Bracelet.

Previously: Tim Burton's Alice Tonner Dolls

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Mad Hatter Featurette with More Footage and Commentary

Alice in Wonderland Exclusive Mad Hatter Featurette in HD

Trailer Park Movies | MySpace Video

OK all of you are going to have to start watching these for me because I'm worried that I'll see the whole movie before it comes. I hope you'll do me that favor.

In other news, the Alice in Wonderland branch of the online Disney Store is open for business.

Previously:

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What?!?! Disney iPhone Alice Game Now Available

Thanks to Nancie for this tip: The Disney Alice in Wonderland iPhone "Lite" version is now available in the iPhone App Store. Unfortunately, the game play seems a little dreary to me. It's the kind of game where you walk and jump and do things to get past puzzles.

What piqued my interest, however, was the splash screen. The "Buy Tickets" button on the top left does not currently get you to a place where you can get Alice in Wonderland tickets, but maybe sometime in the next couple of weeks? The most interesting thing here is the Journal. The Journal is basically a scavenger hunt where you have to collect a number of game-world and real-world things.

When you collect items, they become unlocked. So for example, in the GPS area of the Journal, you actually have to travel to place listed and unlock it there. The game uses the GPS built into the phone to unlock the item. There are four categories of items to unlock. The first is in-game.

There are three items in this screen. It looks like as a person plays the game, they can unlock these.

The GPS section has five items to unlock, and a person would have to do a lot of traveling to get them all. Needed are visits to the Alice's Wonderland at the Disneyland Resort, the Tea Party in the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World, Alice's Curious Labyrinth in Disneyland Paris, the Tea Party in Hong Kong Disneyland, and Alice's Tea Party in Tokyo Disneyland.

The photo section requires that you upload the hinted-at photos to your iPhone or take pictures of them using the camera. It's pretty obvious which ones you need from the hints. I already got two of them.

Last, there is a date section, where you have to wait for the correct calendar day to activate each item. The first is the date in 1865 that Alice's Adventures in Wonderland was published. The second is what date the Disney movie was release in 1951. The last is what date Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland is being released.

Here are the two wallpapers I unlocked in the photo section.

 

 

Seeing as how it would take some doing for a single person to unlock all of these I propose that as people unlock them, they email them to me and I'll post them! (I'll give you credit, of course!)

Previously: Alice Video Game Covers

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Anne Hathaway Role and Fun Facts about Alice

Click the picture above for details on a Alice in Wonderland themed craft swap.

Looks like Anne Hathaway turned down the title role for Alice in Wonderland.

Here is an enormous page full of information about the coming Disney movie by Tim Burton on Stitch Kingdom.

I don't know if you've been to the Mad Hatter's Facebook page recently, but there is a sweepstakes going on there.

Previously: Alice Video Game Covers

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Wonderland Wednesdays on You Tube

Wonderland Wednesdays on You Tube. Walt Disney Studios UK has a high quality version of the trailer with Johnny Depp commentary that was released last week PLUS it says that if you subscribe, you will receive announcements of new clips to be released every Wednesday. I looked for the same in the regular Disney You Tube channel, but it looks like either my You Tube browsing talents are not up snuff, or it's only on Disney' UK channel.

Also, there are a bunch of sites with new Alice in Wonderland images - mostly of production art - here and here.

Previously: Alice in Wonderland Concept Art

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New Movie Poster for Tim Burton's Alice

Wow this week has been full of news. Here's a new poster for Alice in Wonderland 2010. As you can see, we have here: The Red Queen (Helena Bonham Carter), The Dormouse (Barbara Windsor), The March Hare (Noah Taylor), The Mad Hatter (Johnny Depp), Alice (Mia Wasikowska), The White Rabbit (Michael Sheen), The Cheshire Cat (Stephen Fry), and The White Queen (Anne Hathaway). Back there in the distance is the Caterpillar (Alan Rickman).
 
Previously: Another recent Alice 2010 Poster

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Alice in Wonderland Collectors Medicom Action Figures

We have here the first "toys" I've seen attached to Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland 2010. What we have here is figures of Alice (Mia Wasikowska) and the Mad Hatter (Johnny Depp). (Wow, I can finally spell Wasikowska without look it up. That took longer than I expected.) As you can see, it looks like we've got two different versions of the Hatter available. There's the $20 version and the $170 version. Alas, these are expected in July 2010, but can be pre-ordered now.

Previously:

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Final Piece of Tim Burton's Alice 2010 Poster

Disney has released the third and final piece of the Alice in Wonderland poster. This one with Johnny Depp (as the Mad Hatter) and Alan Rickman as The Caterpillar. I was reading somewhere that the movie is only four months away, which it is!

Disney also released an eye-strain-o-vision tiny version of the three posters stitched together. Of course, I got out my construction paper and scissors and did it up right. So, here it is, an Alice 2010 exclusive! The whole poster.

Previously: Cool Alice in Wonderland Calendar

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New 2010 Images and Mad Hatter Action for Alice

Wow, I'm getting to post real news about Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland 2010.

First and foremost, a magazine scan has appeared on the Internet which is about Alice 2010 and has photos of some of the characters. The interesting thing about this scan is that the Caterpillar is pictured. The Caterpillar will be played by Alan Rickman. Here's another photos for you.

Another thing about this photo is that the White Queen looks kind of different from how she's looked in other press items...

MEANWHILE: the Mad Hatter Facebook page has new info, mostly having to do with the image above. Looks like once again a leak has preceded a Disney release. Maybe they're leaking these things on purpose.

Previously: Alice 2010 Teaser Trailer Post Leak

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Very Cool Costumes and Photoshot of Alice

These are very cool photos of a Mad Tea Party in the woods. I love Alice in Wonderland photoshoots, and this one is a little more traditional than some of the others I've covered before. At the very least you should check them out to see the Tweedledee and Tweedledum costumes. Very awesome. Check it out here: Mogsterr on Flickr.

Previously: French Photo Shoot

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Fun French Photo Shoot

 

Not much info about this photo shoot except that it was done in a famous French abbey near Paris, and it has to do with Alice in Wonderland (natch). I was just in Paris a few weeks ago and it was AMAZING.

Previously: We're All Mad Here Photo Shoot

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Lots of New Alice Gear and Art

It's really amazing when I can report something relevant to the Tim Burton move, Alice 2010, and today I have something to report. Not that I'm excited. It's a little hard to get very excited about nail polish. A while back I reported here that Disney is working with designers and manufacturers to come out with a slew of Alice in Wonderland 2010 related products. It looks like the first of the bunch will be OPI nail polish. OPI Nail Polish on Amazon Via.

 Not related to the Tim Burton film - well KIND OF not related. Seeing as how 2010 will be the year of Alice. Mezco is accepting pre-orders for some Living Dead Dolls In Wonderland toys. Click here for Mezco Toys on Amazon.

Previously: Alice is the New Black

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Mad Hatter Book Review and Anne Hathaway Interview

Here we have a review of the second Hatter M graphic novel. It took me a while to figure this out, but there is a trilogy of books by author Frank Beddor called the "Looking Glass Wars". As a spin-off from this trilogy, there are these Hatter M graphic novels.

Ann Hathaway talks about Alice in Wonderland.



Previously: Anne Hathaway Here

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New Papercrafts and Other Diversions

I'm back after a two week vacation in Europe. Did you miss me? I've been sifting through the last two weeks for tasty Alice in Wonderland news and there is plenty.

As could be expected, there are more Alice papercrafts. Woo Hoo! These papercraft Alice in Wonderland characters by Alex McMenemy are pretty cool!

Here is a fun page full of Etsy items.

Finally, an interview with Caterina Scorsone, the Syfy Channel's Alice.

Previously:
Alice Papercrafts and Wallpapers
Syfy Alice in Wondeland Trailer

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Charm Bracelets for an Unbirthday

This post is nowhere near my birthday and will not be charming. Drink your tea and don't forget to move to the left or right, depending. Here is a song by Pogo to enjoy your unbirthday to:



It seems there are a lot of Alice in Wonderland choices when it comes to charm bracelets.

First there are Italian charm bracelet links like the Mad Tea Party links above. It looks like you can get different links (not just Alice), but yes including Alice in Wonderland links, and then swap them in and out of the charm bracelet.

Next up there are four different charm bracelet charms that are more like what I think of when I imagine a charm bracelet. They have the Queen of Hearts pictured above, White Rabbit, Alice herself, and Cheshire Cat. Strangely, the only way to get the Mad Hatter is to get the five in one bracelet.

Finally, for those who really want to go over the top, there is the "Ultimate Disney Classic Link Charm Bracelet".

Previously: Alice in Wonderland Animation and Fashion

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Alice Fan Art and Disney's Cook "Ousted"

Amazing Disney fan art by Boy Wonder with some Alice in Wonderland scenes. A Tea Party and a Card Soldier painting the roses. I wasn't able to investigate very closely, but it looks like this is work for some kind of internet challenge - so maybe there's more by other people?

Disney studio head Dick Cook, who worked at Disney a stunning 38 years and started out as a tour operator, no longer works there. Most obvious fall-out - Pirates of the Caribbean.

Interesting make-up job: Mad Hatter.

Previously: Alice in Wonderland fashion and fan art.

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