“I Find That Riveting”: Tim Burton’s $1B Disney Movie Gets Nightmares Right, Dream Expert Reveals

Summary A dream expert gives a positive review of Alice in Wonderland's portrait of nightmares.

Falling down a dark hole is a common dream that can be a nightmare if it wakes you up, as in the movie.

Alice in Wonderland received mixed reviews upon its 2010 release.

A dream expert praises Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland. Starring Johnny Depp as the infamous Mad Hatter, Burton’s adaptation of the Lewis Carroll story was released in 2010. It saw a 19-year-old version of Alice (Mia Wasikowska) return to the Wonderland of her youth, encountering old figures and fulfilling her destiny to end the reign of the Red Queen (Helena Bonham Carter). In addition to Depp, Wasikowska, and Carter, the Alice in Wonderland cast features Anne Hathaway, Crispin Glover, Matt Lucas, Michael Sheen, Stephen Fry, Timothy Spall, and Alan Rickman.

Speaking with Penguin Books UK, neurosurgeon and dream expert Rahul Jandial reviews the Alice in Wonderland dream sequence.

Jandial was impressed with the portrayal of young Alice’s dreaming in Alice in Wonderland, noting that it accurately depicts the prevalence of nightmares and how they manifest in children. He unpacked one of Alice’s nightmares, falling down a dark hole, and mentioned that “falling is a common dream.” Ultimately, the expert thought that this was a “pretty accurate” imagining of dreams and nightmares, giving it a 7 out of 10 score. Check out some of the quotes from Jandial below:

So that’s very important. The nightmare. And the nightmare again. Nightmares are disproportionately found in children. Five times as much. Children universally develop nightmares. And some of them can be recurrent. So this already is capturing something really important. Children have more nightmares than adults, and sometimes those nightmares can be a loop, they can happen over and over again. Falling down a dark hole. So clearly that’s not a dream we want to have. And it’s a nightmare if it wakes you up. Otherwise it’s just a bad dream. But falling is a common dream, and it’s happened throughout the ages. What we find in surveys is that children, no matter how gentle and kind their rearing, they still have nightmares about creatures and monsters. And when they dream of animals, it’s not their pets. They’re beasts. So this is a fascinating portrayal of nightmares in kids. Nightmares in adults are a little different. We have to teach our children, at some point, it was only a dream. And that makes me wonder, before that time, are children confusing waking thoughts and dreaming thoughts? We may never know, but it points to the ability to dream is developed, it’s learned, it’s cultivated. Much like other capacities such as walking and talking. If I were to score this 1 to 10, with 10 being most accurate, it’s pretty accurate, I’d give it a 7.

Why Accurate Dreams Are So Crucial To Alice in Wonderland

Alice in Wonderland received mixed reception upon its release. Its Tomatometer came in at 51% on Rotten Tomatoes, with an only slightly higher 55% audience score. Because of this mixed reception, it is interesting to hear a dream expert praise the Burton film so thoroughly. One would not think that an otherwise messy film such as the 2010 Alice in Wonderland would put this much care into making things right, but in terms of this dream conversation, the film clearly did.

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The delicate balance between the waking state and dream state — and the blurred, liminal space between the two — becomes a vital factor in Alice in Wonderland. As a child, adults like the one in the clip say that Alice’s envisioning of this deep dark hole with mysterious creatures is just that: a vision. This version of Alice in Wonderland returns to the protagonist in a late teenage stage of life, however, when she discovers the shocking realities behind what had once been reduced to nightmares.

Alice in Wonderland is available to rent on Prime Video.

It makes sense, then, that the Alice in Wonderland team took time to make sure that dream sequence was the most accurate that it could be in the film, for that is the foundation for the rest of the movie. Other criticisms (such as the uncanny CGI and disconcerting performances) may still be valid. The fundamental emotional heart of the film, however, starts off on an accurate note, even if later moments may distract from its attention to detail.

Source: Penguin House UK / YouTube