The Wonderland

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.

Teenage Akane is unmotivated and moody, just like any teenage girl. She always feels put out by her mother's requests, never more so when she's sent to see her shopkeeper aunt Chii to pick up her own birthday present! Once there, however, Chii and Akane are visited by strangers from the basement, Mr. Hippocrates and his apprentice Pipo. But Mr. Hippocrates is an alchemist, Pipo is an elf, and the basement is a portal into another world, one that desperately needs Akane's help to avoid utter destruction.... A few years ago I saw another animated film by director Keiichi Hara, "Miss Hokusai," and was very taken with the incredible beauty of the work; the director works the same magic here, with some stunningly gorgeous backgrounds (and foregrounds for that matter), along with a story filled with imagination from an evil mouse-shaped monster machine to oversized sheep who provide wool *and* protection, to the very real crisis that the Wonderland is facing, that of running out of water. Oh, and there's an enchanted Prince, too! Even if the viewer isn't taken by the story itself (based on "Strange Journey From the Basement," a children's book by Sachiko Kashiwaba), s/he will certainly enjoy simply watching this very colorful feast for the eyes.

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.

Animation quality very typical cheaply mass produced, nothing special, flat, 2-D, non-moving backgrounds. Foreground central characters also flat, lacking detail, movements very typical almost mechanical. Usual odd characters with magical associates, usually animal or spirit, but in this case a miniature boy, and interacting with humans. Usual another dimensional world needing human help to save it. In this case we have a couple of steampunk baddies out to steal a precious resource - water. Usual prince & pretty girl hooks. Storyline lacked flow with a few incomprehensibls (sp).