Malice ~ Alice in Wonderland

• Mirana (The White Queen) made Alice smile,
• Mirana made Alice cry,
• Mirana made Alice feel!

I have no idea how many times I’ve re-watched this movie. As far as I can gather, not that many a people were impressed with this Tim Burton’s take on the fairy-tale which leaves me completely baffled as to why! So maybe the CGI could have done with a few more months but it is CGI, somehow the fact that it is easy to tell with AiW makes it all the more fitting. But more so the fact that it puts things more in line with how Alice is spuer confused at first and not ready to believe that Underland is actually real. This makes me believe that the non-polished CGI was intention. I mean, the poeple who worked on it aren’t plebians, they are one of the best, if not, the best!

That being said, I thoroughly, and I mean, thoroughly enjoyed this movie! The most important reason being of course – Malice, or to you all who know not of the term – Allice/Mirana (or Mirana x Alice). Whenever these two were on screen it took me like 7 times the time to watch their scenes than it should take normally! I just can’t have enough of them.

As to why now of all these years since its release do I decide to write about it? Well, seeing as Disney gave us Maleficent only months ago, another of the retelling of some of the most famous fairy tales, and how gay it totally was (seriously, one has to be really, really innocent or completely in denial to not see it) not to mention that is is coming on Bluray in a month or so (Nov 4th), I was in the mood for more LAYERED Disney goodness.

And so I started out by re-watching that Tinkerbell movie I already posted about, and it was after that, added in with the very fresh memories from Maleficent, that I realised how awesome Disney is turning out to be. And then I remembered that movie that came out almost four years before Maleficent and not nothing could have stopped me from re-watching it again! And the gay somehow seemed even stronger this time around! It kind of hurts me to know that if this is a trend, that I have to wait for four more years for another awesome Disney LIVE movie that will most probably have a twist to it like its predecessors! But those feels were placed on hold when I finally got around to sit and follow Alice down the rabbit hole once more only to realise that I hadn’t posted about it, which frankly is Blasphemy!

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

The first thing of course that popped out to me, and I am sure most others, was how great this movie looks! Tim Burton is one of the best Artistic Directors out there with the likes od Zack Snyder, Cameron and Spielberg. Tim’s visuals are more on the dark and gritty side which might make it about taste but thankfully, I am one of those that love these kinds of visuals! My eyes felt like they were being visually massaged throughout the whole thing! The BGs, the Character designs, the costumes, dear Lord!

But enough of that, we are here (well I was here) for some Malice and while they took their time with them, in fact I think we didn’t get to them meeting until almost halfway through but all good things come in small packages, or to those who wait, which ever you prefer and I have to say I wasn’t at all disappointed! Before their actual meeting the only thing we got was how looking forward to meeting Alice The White Queen was. How disappointed she was when she saw that Alice hadn’t come with her messenger (the dog).

Yeah, they took their sweet time alright. Alice spent most time with the Mad Hatter and the Red Queen until far into the movie. But when Alice finally met Mirana, it was a treat worth waiting for!

 

 

 
 
 

 

 

 
 
 

Just look at those smiles. I can’t who was happier upon meeting the other which really kind of was the only disappointment for me in this movie. I never got to see that appreciation of their (not) first meeting like the others had with Alice. For crying out loud, even Dee and Dum showed more impact on their meeting Alice but for some reason when it came to Alice and Mirana, they just…were! Like Alice had gone out for a few hours and just came back kind of meeting. it wasn’t the Oh Alice, it’s been years. haven’t seen you since you were but a youngling. Or, You must be the the infamous Alice, I have to say I have been very much looking forward to meeting you and I gotta say, you live up to expectations, but alas! Alice just sauntered in like she had just been on errand, as I said, handed the White Queen the sword of legends and Mirana received her arrival just the same way, like she had only just seen Alice hours prior and had been seeing her for as long as her life.

Yeah, that was a bit of hit but then there is the other side of that exact coin. they acted really familiar with each other! While you could feel and see the distance the White Queen had with her other subjects, she was way too intimate with Alice. Like, how many times did she offer her hand to Alice to hold like Alice was some kind of baby that might get lost. I mean that fact alone is kind of question-raising. Mirana is a Queen, she shouldn’t be doing things like offering her hand to others. It should be the other way around, no, that is actually quite dis-respectful so it shouldn’t happen at all, unless of course the person in question was The King to her Queen’s Majestic…

And not just Mirana, there is Alice as well. Alice, a girl who has been portrayed as having the most curious mind, always having questions, always wondering always looking in through the outside of the fence, always kind of taking two steps back and one forward and yet here, whatever Mirana did, whatever action she too, Alice went along with it. Alice, who seemed to hate people telling her what to do, what to think, here she seemed quite ready to let Mirana lead her way.

My goggles, they exploded quite a lot during this movie let me tell ya that!

Alice, letting Mirana lead her by hand. Alice, letting Mirana feed her. Alice, accepting Mirana’s questionable, very questionable brew of a magical portion that has things like urine, severed fingers, eyeballs and to mention but a few – (and bluntly) Mirana’s spit! Then Alice once again letting Mirana lead her by holding her hand even as hard as it was since she had to hold her now enlarged clothes together to protect her decency! I was like, whatever happened to that Alice from the real world!?!

Then later that night, the two have a moment under the moonlight, with Alice all but decked in pants and gowns, something that is very not feasible during that time, especially in a world like Underland! I was like, – Are you even trying (to conceal your intentions) Disney?! Seriously, it was like these two were already lovers the way they weren’t interacting on screen!

 
 
 


  

And so, my mind got to working overtime when it came to the fated moment. The Kingdom gathers in front of the Queen and Alice, which really places subjective thoughts in one’s mind when you see Alice standing almost in equal status to the Queen, I mean, who else in the Kingdom has that kind of luxury? But I am not going there again. Any way, the gathering is about finding the Queen’s Champion that will slay the Dragon and bring peace back to the lands (upon the defeat of the Red Queen and thus bringing Mirana back to Supreme Rule).

Many step up but of course the fate that was already written doesn’t change because no one but Alice can slay the dragon which kind of left me confused. It was said to Alice that she need do nothing but hold the sword and the sword would do the rest but if that was the case, then any other would have done so why Alice? Alice, a girl that was only in Underland for like, a day or so and had no training whatsoever in Combat let alone held a sharp object before.

Any way, all eyes turn to Alice when the scroll doesn’t reveal a different future in case a different person took the sword but Alice. And here is where it hit me. Before this moment, Alice had kind of just done whatever Mirana made her do which makes me wonder what would have happened if Mirana had just come out and said that Alice was her Champion from the very moment they had met. I am pretty sure Alice would have just agreed to it instead of denying it like when others called her the fated one.

So I wasn’t surprised when she turned tail and ran with indecision when instead of flatly and confidently referring to Alice as her Champion, she had given Alice a choice instead. To me it felt like Alice was as confident in herself as Mirana believed her to be so when Mirana showed doubt, by giving Alice a choice, Alice was at a loss, which to me explains the first tears from Alice we had seen (and the last). Alice, who hadn’t shed one single tear when the best had almost slashed her arm off. Alice who would have died from the poisoning from that exact wound.

I am telling you, every other watch of this movie turns out gayer than the previous!

And then there was that look of complete devastation on Mirana’s features as she watched Alice run away then. How the next morning, the day of the promised, when the army was ready to march into battle, how expectant and hopeful Mirana was before she mounted her steed, looking back as if willing Alice to appear in all her knight-armoured glory! And then the happiness flowing into her features as Alice actually did come onto the scene, with impact I might add as she rode the beast, all decked in the Champion’s armour with sword in hard. Then the awesome, awesome, beautiful smiles they share as Alice pulls in next to Mirana, then both looking to all the world like a Queen and her King riding into battle like it ain’t nobody’s business!

Like, do I even need to comment any more?!!

Alice, a girl with no battle experience whatsoever, or even a single act of violence let alone a thought of harm, here ready to take on the impossible fate cast upon her to fight for her Queen in a fight like no other, a fight that others consider impossible to win – A fight against the dragon that laid ruin to most of Underland in a single assault.

Love, what is it?

 

 

But complete the impossible, Alice does. She mightily, passionately and miraculously defeats the dragon, Awing the White Queen to the Heavens and back and winning the rest of her affections in the process.

 
 
 
 

Like I said, the rest of Mirana’s affections! That scene though! I was so not expecting it and when it happened, it hit me like a Speed train travelling at max velocity! I had to replay that scene many times the first time I watched this movie I remember trying to figure out if my eyes were deceiving me! And even now, after many years and many watches, I am still forced to pause, replay, pause again and replay that scene once more because it is just so good!

The way the White Queen goes from all smiles to seriousness before she sensitively caresses Alice’s cheek with first her fingers, then her knuckles as if she is trying to convey to Alice how important this means to her, how important Alice is to her, how so highly she thinks of Alice.

Then there is Alice, whose smile grows wider and wider the more Mirana caresses her face, her eyes, not ever leaving Mirana’s face, not showing a single sign of resistance or un-certainty! A smile that doesn’t leave her features for a while still until the Mad hatter gets onto the scene

I swear to you guys, I went broke form all my goggles that were shattered by watching this movie!

And the best thing is that there is no impossibility about Malice. We all know of how so against the tide Alice is, how she isn’t afraid to rock the boat (so to speak). And then there is the White Queen who was portrayed as not being as simple as White. She has layers within her which are hinted at almost every chance they get. These are the moments that stick out the most to me…

 
 

First there is that time that she and Alice first meet. Did you guys catch the look in her eyes as she held the Sword? How about that workshop of hers that so contrasts with the bright background? Like, are those eyeballs and other body parts we see? I think so Doctor! Not to forget her actions that are so un-Queen-like! I mean what kind of Queen spits in food, or makes gag sounds?! Then that look she gives the Red Queen when she is re-instated as the Supreme Queen! I have to tell you that I get the chills every time I see her here. I shudder to think of what she would be like without her vows! Actually what made her take those vows of no harm against any living creature?! She is probably the most deadly living thing ever, or would be if she had chosen the dark side! I guess we have her Sister to thank for taking that option away from her then, huh?

And Alice being Alice, a girl against the tide, me thinks this is the very reason why she has to be so taken with Mirana. This mystery about her, the lingering darkness that is awaiting to be unleashed I find is what most attracts Alice to Mirana and why they are so very compatible. Also not to mention that most fics explore this side of them mostly in fact!

Dark side FTW!

Come on Disney, I hope you are already planning, if not already filming the next project because this thing you are doing these days is quite awesome! I wonder which Fairy-tale is up next…Oh shi…I completely forgot! There is already one in the works isn’t there? In fact I have already seen a teaser of it! You want a hint? Well here is one…

GLASS SHOE!!!!!!!

OMG! Please say there is something in that too. I beg you Lord, please Oh Please!?!!!

Any who, I really rec this movie to you all! And with that, I am out. I will see you around, ya?