I have always loved old fashioned fairy tales and folklore stories. They are so full of moral conundrums, dark happenings and quite often deeper insights that are so often lost on younger audiences. In particular I have always adored Alice in Wonderland and Little Red Riding Hood.
Alice in Wonderland is absolutely drenched in hidden meaning, the characters are crazy to the extreme and the story is as dark as it is hopeful. In particular I love the Mad Hatter character, he is such an unlikely friend choice and he has all of the best one liners that are speckled with philosophy and intrigue. I also adore any children's book that has an escape to a new and unknown world of fantasy, Wonderland being one of the most dangerous and exciting of those places.
The attraction to Little Red Riding Hood stems from my love of the contrast of hard and soft things being thrown together. Innocent Little Red against the ultimate bad guy - The Big Bad Wolf. I'm pretty sure that all girls come up against some form of the big bad wolf in their real lives at some point, and the story has solid and valuable messages about trust, manipulation and vulnerability. It is true that the depraved so often prey on the most beautifully naive things in this world.
There have been so many adaptations of these stories onto the big screen, my two favourites are below, but in truth, I am a sucker for them all. I am a big kid at heart, and I am probably living out my own new age fairy tale most of the time by regularly escaping into the forest to outrun the wolves, and willingly falling down the rabbit hole every chance I get.
Alice in Wonderland is absolutely drenched in hidden meaning, the characters are crazy to the extreme and the story is as dark as it is hopeful. In particular I love the Mad Hatter character, he is such an unlikely friend choice and he has all of the best one liners that are speckled with philosophy and intrigue. I also adore any children's book that has an escape to a new and unknown world of fantasy, Wonderland being one of the most dangerous and exciting of those places.
The attraction to Little Red Riding Hood stems from my love of the contrast of hard and soft things being thrown together. Innocent Little Red against the ultimate bad guy - The Big Bad Wolf. I'm pretty sure that all girls come up against some form of the big bad wolf in their real lives at some point, and the story has solid and valuable messages about trust, manipulation and vulnerability. It is true that the depraved so often prey on the most beautifully naive things in this world.
There have been so many adaptations of these stories onto the big screen, my two favourites are below, but in truth, I am a sucker for them all. I am a big kid at heart, and I am probably living out my own new age fairy tale most of the time by regularly escaping into the forest to outrun the wolves, and willingly falling down the rabbit hole every chance I get.
FREEWAY
Release Date: 1996
Rating: R 18+
Running Time: 97 mins
A dark and disturbing film loosely based on the fairy-tale Little Red Riding Hood, Freeway is a hard hitting satire with a fast pace and a lot of very deranged characters.
Illiterate delinquent Vanessa (Reece Witherspoon) is on the run after her mother is arrested, she is heading to her grandmothers house when she encounters Bob Wolverton (Kiefer Sutherland). Bob is a charming and hospitable man, who also happens to be a sadistic serial killer and pedophile.
Just like the fairy tale, Vanessa with her red hair and confident attitude spends the duration of the movie trying to outwit Bob, the big bad wolf. There are a lot of deeply sinister behaviours being portrayed here, it's a gory, shocking and mostly unpleasant watch, but Witherspoon and Sutherland are both terrific, and if you can handle your fairy tales speckled with prostitution, drug use and sickos then you will get a lot out of it too.
FINAL SAY: Look who got beaten with the ugly stick.
3.5 Chili Peppers
Release Date: 1996
Rating: R 18+
Running Time: 97 mins
A dark and disturbing film loosely based on the fairy-tale Little Red Riding Hood, Freeway is a hard hitting satire with a fast pace and a lot of very deranged characters.
Illiterate delinquent Vanessa (Reece Witherspoon) is on the run after her mother is arrested, she is heading to her grandmothers house when she encounters Bob Wolverton (Kiefer Sutherland). Bob is a charming and hospitable man, who also happens to be a sadistic serial killer and pedophile.
Just like the fairy tale, Vanessa with her red hair and confident attitude spends the duration of the movie trying to outwit Bob, the big bad wolf. There are a lot of deeply sinister behaviours being portrayed here, it's a gory, shocking and mostly unpleasant watch, but Witherspoon and Sutherland are both terrific, and if you can handle your fairy tales speckled with prostitution, drug use and sickos then you will get a lot out of it too.
FINAL SAY: Look who got beaten with the ugly stick.
3.5 Chili Peppers
ALICE IN WONDERLAND
Release Date: 2010
Rating: PG
Running Time: 108 mins
Tim Burton drops us down the rabbit hole in this exciting and beautifully realised version of Lewis Carroll's classic novel Alice in Wonderland and its 1871 sequel Through the Looking Glass. This is Tim Burton's most successful film to date, taking out the Best Art Direction and Best Costuming awards at the 83rd Academy Awards, and becoming the nineteenth highest grossing film of all time.
Alice escapes marriage by plummeting down a hole after following a very odd white rabbit. She arrives in a surreal place called Underland that is filled with all manner of strange creatures and characters, soon realising that she is there to fulfill her destiny to over throw the evil Red Queen and defeat the terrifying Jabberwocky.
Mia Wasikowska is the most delightful Alice to have ever graced the screen, Johnny Depp is an epic Mad Hatter and Helena Bonham Carter is fabulous as the bulbous headed Red Queen. I particularly loved Anne Hathaway's hysterical portrayal of the White Queen, I thought that she really stole the show. Overall, I was absolutely enchanted and swept away by this grand and magical fairy tale.
FINAL SAY: You're entirely bonkers. But I'll tell you a secret, all the best people are.
4 Chili Peppers
Release Date: 2010
Rating: PG
Running Time: 108 mins
Tim Burton drops us down the rabbit hole in this exciting and beautifully realised version of Lewis Carroll's classic novel Alice in Wonderland and its 1871 sequel Through the Looking Glass. This is Tim Burton's most successful film to date, taking out the Best Art Direction and Best Costuming awards at the 83rd Academy Awards, and becoming the nineteenth highest grossing film of all time.
Alice escapes marriage by plummeting down a hole after following a very odd white rabbit. She arrives in a surreal place called Underland that is filled with all manner of strange creatures and characters, soon realising that she is there to fulfill her destiny to over throw the evil Red Queen and defeat the terrifying Jabberwocky.
Mia Wasikowska is the most delightful Alice to have ever graced the screen, Johnny Depp is an epic Mad Hatter and Helena Bonham Carter is fabulous as the bulbous headed Red Queen. I particularly loved Anne Hathaway's hysterical portrayal of the White Queen, I thought that she really stole the show. Overall, I was absolutely enchanted and swept away by this grand and magical fairy tale.
FINAL SAY: You're entirely bonkers. But I'll tell you a secret, all the best people are.
4 Chili Peppers
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