Nobody drinks shrinking potions or is late for a very important date, but this story is still full of magic and grandeur. The audience watches what happens when a bright little girl and her family are forced to face her inexplicable and troubling behavior.
Elle Fanning portrays nine-year-old Phoebe, who begins to exhibit behavior that is unacceptable in today’s society. Phoebe starts to isolate herself in school, spit at other children and say negative things under her breath. Phoebe’s mother (played by Felicity Huffman), who is writing her dissertation on Alice in Wonderland, initially denies that Phoebe is doing anything other than acting like a little girl. She won’t listen to the conservative school principal, her husband or the psychiatrist. She believes that children are no longer allowed to just be children.
She finds solace from Phoebe’s eccentric drama teacher Ms. Dodger (played by Patricia Clarkson) who finds Phoebe extraordinary. Fanning does an incredible job expressing her internal struggles. She knows that something is not quite right about her behavior, but explains to her parents that she “just can’t help herself.” Ms. Dodger enforces Phoebe’s growth and development in the drama class.
First -time writer/director Daniel Barnz does an exceptional job of incorporating the themes of real life through a child’s dreamlike reveries with the rabbit, the queen of hearts and other characters from the much beloved book.
Barnz could have created a hokey, pull at your heartstrings film. Instead, he shot a moving, creative masterpiece that explores both a child’s illness and how it affects those around her. Phoebe’s courage and honesty allows the people close to her to face a difficult situation and reach a higher level of understanding.
Grade: A
