Wonderland, le royaume sans pluie

A perfectly adequate adventure story, The Wonderland is enjoyable if not substantial. The film suffers from a generic plot and excessive length, but the animation is impressive and well stylized. If looking for an entertaining family friendly viewing, you could certainly do worse.

The resemblance to Alice stops at the journey to an alternate, if mysteriously connected, world; instead, "Wonderland" is an uneven mash-up of different Miyazaki films which is somehow more than the sum of its parts. The characterization is wanting: the Alchemist or his sidekick are uninteresting rather than mysterious, nor do we know much about their powers, let alone their personas. And who is this sleepy wizard at the end? All that aside, the portrayal of the landscape is beautiful, and the idea of having an insecure but kind-hearted (high schooler) learn about herself while being shepherded by an aunt who annoys her (and the viewer) somehow works, as she gradually opens up to adventures and connecting with people. The movie has numerous Miyazakian themes, from its steam-punk setting to the environmental theme (water is becoming scarce), but, most of all, it reminded us of one of the lesser known works in that canon: The Cat Returns, with which it also shares a very similar animation style.

My kids both really enjoyed Wonderland. They were in the mood for a Japanese movie that was better (and easier to follow) than Children of the Sea, and this gave them something strange but familiar.

It's never a good thing when you pause a boring movie and go 'Jesus christ how has this thing only been on for an hour?!' The Wonderland has very little going for it. The script feels like about five different movies got shredded and they frankensteined them into one big mess. Scenes just kind of start and then are cut off by the next without any kind of cohesion, to the point it can feel like narrative whiplash. The main plot is to cure a ailing prince, but that plot line is mashed in with about six or seven other plot lines thst the movie kind of just dumps in whilly-nilly. Don't expect any satisfying resolution to any of them either, the movie doesn't even remember half of them by the end.

Couple all that with an absolutely terrible heroine who whines, sulks, and literally doesn't want to be in the movie, and it's an easy skip for this one.

The main standout of this movie are its visuals. The visuals alone are reason enough to give it a watch. Every scene is so colorful and there are so many beautiful landscapes in this film. The character designs of many of the Wonderland residents are also pretty cool! The visuals are definitely the film's strongest aspect.

The story is a bit weaker, and I never really felt a deep connection with the main characters. However, the story is decent enough, and it makes enough logical sense for me to follow.

This movie left me with a sort of warm fuzzy feeling after watching it that I felt compelled to write this review. In many ways this movie feels like a cult classic. Is it the best movie in the world? No, but it's a fun way to spend a Friday night!

Doesn't do anything especially interesting in plot or visuals. Enjoyable enough as it goes a long but leaves you with nothing in the end. The story stops and the lesson was told in the first five minutes. Likely good enough for small children but rather boring and unexceptional for an older audience.

Generally fine but nothing to sink your teeth into. Lacking in its own identity when so many better films exist.