Imaginative but not exactly thrilling!

Johnson Thomas

Taking the Alice in Wonderland theme to amusement park levels, catering to the below 10-year-olds, this Paramount-Nickledeon animated feature has an imaginative 8-year-old, June (Brianna Denski) thinking up an adventure for herself following her Mom’s transfer to a hospital for treatment.

A visibly distressed June burns up the meticulous blueprints for Wonderland created by herself and mom, and reluctantly heads off to math camp. But she runs away almost immediately, into the woods where she begins to experience visions of her imaginary theme park. She finds herself in an old roller-coaster car in Wonderland, the theme park where animals run the rides and carousels are mounted with fish that really fly - a rather dilapidated though.  

Peanut has gone missing and the park has been invaded by Chimpanzee-like zombies. It’s up to June and her stuffed-toys-inspired-animals to rescue the once glorious park from receding into nothingness.

Saving the park means the narrative becomes predictably infested with set-pieces that reflect June’s struggle with her own demons brought on by insecurities of an ailing mother. The CGI is rather ordinary and uninteresting. A few adult sounding lines are included to cater to parents accompanying their children to the theatres but largely, this is a film that is a little too straight-forward in its zest to engage with the young unadulterated minds. The visual design though is not as imaginative and thrilling as the story idea suggests. The characters and behaviour may be emblematic of young girl’s confusion but they don’t always make sense nor do they enthuse or enthrall. 

The ‘darkness’, I suppose, is an existential villain born from the shadows that lurk deep within June following the outbreak of sadness and tragedy. But it’s not presented with an easy-to-understand clarity like in the far more accomplished animation adventure like Pixar’s Inside Out. The high concept ideas don’t bear any fruit here and that’s really disappointing for a film that starts out wanting to be the new-gen Alice in Wonderland experience!