Dead as a dodo, but never forgotten?
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Many people suppose the Dodo is an imaginary creature (myself included), however I just read an article which clearly hints otherwise. According to National Geographic, a group of explorers recently discovered a cave within an island on the Indian Ocean whereupon they were able to retrieve the “most complete and well-preserved” dodo skeleton in existence.
Well, too bad they didn’t find a living specimen. According to the wikipedia article, the dodo is regarded as the archetype of the animal who became extinct as direct consequence of human activity, around the 16th and 17th century… thus the sentence “dead as a dodo”.
The dodo was this intriguing feathered creature with a dopey look and a large body which resembled a cross between a chicken and a dove (or maybe a short chubby ostrich), although it reportedly tasted terrible. Oddy enough, that didn’t prevent its extinction, although human hunters were only part of the reason that led to the species’ demise. It was a flightless three-feet tall zany bird whose name was possibly derived from the portuguese word from “crazy”.
In case you’re wondering, the reason why so many people recognize this creature (and also one of the reasons why most people think it’s imaginary), is because it was featured as a character in Lewis Carrol’s “Alice in Wonderland”.
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Kudos to Depp, then, that he still generates another memorable, albeit this time one-dimensional, on screen persona. He provides his Hatter with plenty of lovable eccentricities and rough edges, all the more noteworthy considering the non-existent depth to which the material affords him. He’ll certainly be a hit with the kids. The rest of the cast are unpredictable in their output: Aussie newcomer Wasikowska overdoes it as the titular protagonist, Hathaway’s saccharine White Queen grates on the nerves and the opaque Glover is unbearably boring as Stayne; whilst Carter’s malevolent Red Queen is a hoot, Lucas induces a laugh or two as Tweedledee and Tweedledum, Rickman oozes noble charisma as the Blue Caterpillar and Paul Whitehouse’s March Hare steals every single scene he is in.