Welcome to Wonderland

Inpress Review By Andre Cato

More than a movie, but not quite a documentary, Welcome to Wonderland is a fictional story based in the real world of Australian dance music, filled with colour, sound and a bit of high-tech bush-magic. Australia has a unique community; our tremendous weather and natural surroundings make our country the perfect place for an outdoor event where people quite simply gather to have fun… set to music.

For more than 5 years now director James Short has been on a journey to create a film about Australia's outdoor party scene. Thanks to the joy of DVD you can now take a piece of Australian dance culture directly into your home!

Visually, Welcome to Wonderland has captured the heart of the Australian bush blended with the magic of an Aussie bush doof. There is nothing like a wide-angle camera span of the Australian bush, especially when the sun goes down and the lasers come out! Blended with this very true replication are several small subliminal digital sequences that really sell the story, including an Aussie bush fairy and 3D map of Victoria.

The music throughout was composed by local boys including Felix Hamer (Sugar), Ben Last (Mantrix) and Drew (Suncontrol Species). Obviously the music in a DVD such as this is critical and they have done an amazing job mixing the music to reflect the emotion we all feel when surrounded by thousands of like-minded partygoers.

As well as the one-hour feature, there's two hours of extras that take you up close and personal with the sound and visual experts that had a hand in the project. The dance montages are my favourite extras - five to ten minute mini features from the dancefloors across Australia.

What a deal considering you also get a CD included for the price. Get it delivered, turn it up to 11 and sit back and enjoy the Wonderland…

 

Return to Reviews