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Rating: Country: USA Release Date: March 5, 2010 Distributor: Walt Disney Pictures Director: · Tim Burton Cast: · Mia Wasikowski · Johnny Depp · Helena Bonham Carter · Anne Hathaway · Crispin Glover · Alan Rickman Related Sites: · IMDb: Alice in Wonderland Grade: B

Tim Burton's reimagining of Lewis Carroll's classic suffers on a number of levels, the most obvious being that it's mistitled. It is not "Alice in Wonderland." If anything, it is "Alice in Wonderland 2," finding an Alice (Mia Wasikowski) who has not only grown, but also acquired a last name and a backstory. Alice Kingsleigh is a girl who defies convention, inspired by the memory of her late shipping magnate father who was also a bit of a dreamer. She finds herself in the uncomfortable position of nearly having to accept a marriage proposal from a suitor who's a lord but also a bit of a tosser, when she sees (wait for it) a white rabbit wearing a waistcoat, which she (naturally) runs after. There's the rabbit hole, down goes Alice, and the viewers are treated to perhaps one of the best falling sequences ever set to film.

At this point, I should mention that the version of the film I watched was the Disney 3-D one, and I have to say I'm a little disappointed in the process. While it adds a great quality of depth to the scene in places, items that rest (or are thrown) into the foreground get quite blurry. I found myself wishing I'd saved the extra two bucks and seen the standard version instead.

Once down the hole, Alice goes through the familiar motions of potion, cake, and key, as tiny voices from the other side of the door converse about how they're surprised she's making all the same mistakes. Yes, this is Alice's return to Wonderland, but she believes her first visit to have been a dream -- a recurring nightmare that's haunted her most of her life. But even though she's returned, many of the familiar characters aren't sure they've brought back the same Alice -- the one they need to fulfill a prophecy necessary to bring down the tyrannical Red Queen. (And here's yet another downfall to the film: the Red Queen is a Chess Queen, from Through the Looking Glass, yet Helena Bonham Carter is most assuredly portraying the Queen of Hearts, both in attire and in attitude -- not to mention the quite real beheadings.)

Alice finally comes to accept that everything about her is real after meeting up with the Mad Hatter (Johnny Depp, who looks sadly like a cross between the Joker and his portrayal of Willy Wonka). The Hatter also has acquired a backstory to explain how he went around the bend, and he finds himself strangely possessed by William Wallace's Scottish brogue at the drop of (ahem) a hat.

"Alice in Wonderland" has a few moments of violence and unease. A shrunken Alice at one point must navigate the moat into the Red Queen's castle by hopping from one floating severed head to the other. And the doormouse is quite a deadly swordsman with her needle, causing graphic injury to eyeballs in at least two scenes. (Never mind what Mrs. Grundy would say -- Dr. Wertham would be apoplectic!)

Alice ultimately meets up with the White Queen (Anne Hathaway), who's far too dainty for her own good, and who needs a champion to face the Red Queen's Jabberwocky (as I kept down the urge to say, "It's a Jabberwock! 'Jabberwocky' was the name of the poem!") and free the land. The prophecy states that Alice will be the one to don the army and slay the beast, but Alice decides to forge her own destiny -- obviously learning the lesson that she would carry out of Wonderland and into the real world when she must needs be decide whether or not to accept her marriage proposal as her mother expects her to do. However, the ending is prewritten and Burton takes the easy way out -- for while it's made clear to Alice that the choice is always hers, what she chooses to do is to fulfill the prophecy exactly as it is written -- so where's the suspense in that?

Now despite my many critiques, "Alice in Wonderland" does have some very nicely done special effects to give it this otherworldly appearance. There's a well-reasoned logic to explain the grotesque deformities of the Red Queen's fawning court, and Depp and Carter both deliver scenes of utter nonsense that would well befit the immortal characters. Wasikowski herself is a treat, portraying the coming of age of the dreamchild with a fierce independence and a denouement that will have audiences clappping.