Rating of
1.5/4
Sugarcoated holiday tripe. Looks nice though.
Indyfreak - wrote on 05/21/19
One of the worst of the Disney live-action remakes thus far. But this often silly rehash of the familiar story at least doesn't reach the bottom-of-the-barrel lows alongside Tim Burton's Alice-in-Wonderland movies. It is admittedly very colorful to look at but the story is rushed and short on character development.
The most memorable performances are for the wrong reasons. Helen Mirren gives arguably her worst performance as a gender flopped Mad Hatter called Mother Ginger. The other is given by of all people, Keira Knightley as the Sugar Plum fairy. She's actually so purposely cheerful that it's cuckoo-crazy. I suppose Morgan Freeman and Mackenzie Foy aren't bad but they're not necessarily noteworthy.
I'll give the movie this, the plot does take a twist I didn't really see coming. Kudos I guess? Speaking of Tim Burton, the movie does have a few surprisingly dark moments but then swings back to family friendly comedy.
In the end, I suppose it's harmless but aside from its unintentional comedy and some nightmarish imagery, it seems like just another one of those movies that was made w/o any real reason for its existence. Almost as if it was made just to fill out a seasonal slot. Attention, Hollywood. Stop doing that.
