I had the pleasure of seeing my first 2010 3D movie today, Tim Burton’s adaptation of Alice in Wonderland. The film takes place in Alice’s later years, and her return to Underland holds the mission of dethroning the Red Queen and slaying the Jabberwocky.The story of Alice and the setting of the fantastical Underland all serve as excellent examples of how 3D’s strengths lie in bringing fantasy to life.

Alice, and the audience, follow the Chesire Cat into a world of wonder

As discussed previously, one of the fears behind the sudden surge of 3D films is that it will be overused. I hold this same concern, but in the sense that it will be overused in films whose genres do not warrant the technology’s use. 3D, in my view, is best utilized when the following criteria exist: a) the visuals are largely (if not entirely) digital or constructed in some manner, and b) the genre or story is rooted in fantasy/the fantastic (this can include science fiction, horror, and often children’s animated films). In short, 3D is best utilized when it is making the unreal and fantastic seem realistic.

This likely (and rightly) seems paradoxical, in that I am suggesting that an effect that is rooted in creating a realistic experience is best incorporated in situations of obvious fantasy.  I believe this, however, because as realistic as 3D may render a image, it is an effect, one that we are aware of and one that is not perfect in the sense that it does not match our realities exactly. Thus, when it is applied to images that closely match what we perceive as real, we notice what deviates from our reality and thus become distracted by the “mistakes” that exist in this creation. Such distraction takes away from immersion in this particular world, and may lead to annoyance with the effects that are attempting to (inadequately) bring it to life.

Fantasy, on the other hand, creates a world that may resemble our own at the most basic levels of recognition (seeing motion, looking at plant and animal life, etc), but beyond that, has created its own rules for how its inhabitants look and function. As such, when an audience watches a fantasy, an audience can accept that fantasy as reality for the time being, and in turn, become more immersed when that fantasy is brought to life by digital effects and, in the case of Alice and other films like it, the 3D. When one is viewing the world of Underland, one is not distracted by its deviation from reality due to the digital effects and the 3D motion, as the world itself already deviates from reality. Instead, audiences can become immersed in the fantasy and better take part in a cinematic virtual reality through this 3D fantasy construction.

Fantastic characters like the Chesire Cat, which are completely removed from reality to begin with, are less jarring than their human counterparts when they appear in 3D

Burton seems well aware of this necessity, lending to Alice in Wonderland‘s strengths as a 3D film. The entire film is in 3D, but the scenes taking place in England are not distracting in 3D; they just occur. The magic happens in Underland, with spaces opening and closing within the screen and fantastic elements coming forward as well as from the sides (Burton, like Cameron, does well in utilizing 3D to be more than just an effect that brings objects out). The effects serve to create a more immersive space and while there is a cheap 3D trick or two (watch out for the Mad Hatter’s hat), the focus is on the entire world of the film as opposed to a single object when the technology is utilized.

Two worlds watch one another in a 3D, immersive space

It is fitting that a story such as Alice in Wonderland has been adapted into 3D, as it revolves around a woman whose own reality has been disrupted by an alternate world that differs vastly from her own. Throughout her life she remains convinced that her visions of Underland are the result of a dream, and when she returns, she remains convinced that she is still dreaming, even as she encounters characters who pinch her arms and try to convince her she is not asleep, but in fact living in this “fantasy” world. 3D almost aims to do the same. While it is obviously not transporting anyone into a fantasy world, it is making fantasy worlds a reality, or at the very least, a virtual reality, one that audiences can mentally inhabit while awake. Such worlds are not dreams, but memories, memories of imaginations yet to be explored.

All stills from All Movie Photo