I nearly laughed out loud at the family of three seated beside me, as the dad loudly remarked that they are probably the only persons in the hall who have read Lewis Carroll's books Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and the follow up Through the Looking Glass. It's one thing to try and brag to all around that they are well read and learned, and it's another actually to know that it's probably not Tim Burton's style to adapt a classic to the T, given various adaptations from print to screen thus far. The characters are clearly from both books with events vaguely resembling what was read before, but this film is a totally different ballgame altogether.

In some ways, the narrative screenplay that Linda Woolverton adapted seemed to be more in line with Steven Spielberg 1991's effort Hook, which had Robin Williams star as Peter Pan in the retelling of the J.M. Barrie character, only that Pan had grown up, and had forgotten his roots and experiences in Never Never Land. While the characters in that world clearly remembered him (although older, pudgier and without the ability to fly),much of the story explored how Pan had to rediscover his touch and memories of the place he once called home.

Which to Alice, played by the relative fresh and ethereal looking Mia Wasikowska, the audience joins her in that similar route to discovery, and we're left wondering really, like the rest of the characters, whether we're all mistaken if this Alice was the same as the one we grew up with, the wide eyed child who flitted from one random event to another in Underland, encountering fantastical characters such as talking animals, to jealous kings and queens. It's not quite how we remembered it to be, and Tim Burton also showed glimpses of how it would look like if he had played this movie straight, but that would be losing a lot of fun that had found its way to his vision, so much so that he provides such a trippy ride, you'd wonder who was more loony, Burton, or Carroll himself.

In fact, every character here seemed a little mad or come with that tinge of insanity, even the White Queen (Anne Hathaway) herself seemed a little bit over the top in her all white goodness. And the host of characters we come to love, such as the constantly grinning Cheshire cat, the twins Tweedledee and Tweedledum, the rabbit with the watch, and plenty of card soldiers now given a bit more flesh, all make a cinematic comeback thanks to the wonderful world of computer graphics, and 3D technology to make them all pop out of the screen vividly. While there were plenty of specially crafted 3D moments to enhance the visual storytelling (the final battle scene involving Alice being the most outstanding I've seen thus far),kudos also went to the wealth of British talent roped in for roles both in the flesh, CG enhanced or providing voices to their graphical representation, with the likes of Stephen Fry, Michael Sheen, Alan Rickman, Timothy Spall, Christopher Lee and even Michael Gough, who had collaborated with Tim Burton before.

And this film, like most of Burton's others, comes the return of long time collaborators Danny Elfman in music, Helena Bonham Carter having a field day as the ridiculously evil Red Queen with her big head being the butt of most jokes, and Johnny Depp, who wows in yet another unorthodox role as The Mad Hatter, given more screen time and more depth compared to the novels. We know how outlandish Depp can become each time he's in a Tim Burton film, and Alice in Wonderland is no different, but surprise surprise, Mia Wasikowska's performance as the titular character got curiouser and curiouser as the film went along, which is a good thing since she delivered enough not to be overawed by her co-stars, and stood her ground in making the character her own.

She's quite the clotheshorse too, given the opportunity to showcase some Underland fashion sense no thanks to her changing body size. She becomes quite the reluctant blonde messiah to Underland whose presence rings forth the prophecy in the change of ruler-ship. In her own world, we see how she's quite the stubborn girl who is a far cry from societal demands of fulfilling one's role as a dutiful young wife to a rich lord (thanks to her good looks),taking off during a surprise proposal ceremony in order to follow the white rabbit. Mia Wasikowska fit the bill as this headstrong girl with that tinge of uncertainty and curiosity, and makes it a delight to follow her in one heck of an adventure filled with comedy, danger, and spectacular computer generated graphics.

Purist shouldn't go up in arms that the film didn't stick to their beloved tale, as it had enough Easter eggs and references contained within that will please the fans when they spot them. This one in my opinion had more bite, and fit quite well as a compendium of sorts to the established classics, showing that Burton has the insane gall to add his own Midas touch to entertain the masses, with a quality effort complete with amazingly designed visuals that just might make everyone go pick up the books and give them a read again. Highly recommended!

To me it is very hard not to give this movie a 10 (I don't like giving away too many 10s) because I find it very difficult to find anything I don't like about the movie. To me it is a masterpiece. The characters are very well defined, the actors play their roles very well, and the movie moves at a very good pace, leaving time to breath, but also keeping you enthralled. Tim Burton is a masterful film-maker, and his films do tend to be of the highest quality (ignoring Batman of course). In this film he revisits the story of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (as well as Jaberwocky and Through the Looking Glass) and though it may reflect events in these previous stories, it is not the book that Lewis Carrol originally wrote.

Alice is now 19 and she has been haunted by strange dreams since she was a young girl. She is a very imaginative girl, and her father always encouraged her imagination, however he is now gone, and she is expected, at the age of 19, to become a proper English lady, so is taken to a party to get married. We can see from the beginning that she is not the normal English aristocratic girl, but is fed lies (such as you really don't want to turn out like Aunt Imogen, and that this guy is the only guy that will make her life complete) but she can see that the choice she must make will affect the rest of her life.

While she is wondering around the party, she catches glimpses of the White Rabbit, and is also remembering scenes from her childhood (such as painting white roses red),but when the question is finally asked of her, she flees, and falls down a hole after the White Rabbit, and lands up in Underland. This is one of the changes that Burton has applied to this realm. While the original story was a nonsense tale written for children, Burton has turned it into a true fantasy tale. As soon as Alice steps out of the tree into Underland, we immediately see Tim Burton's touch to this story, with the strange and fantastic realms that are characteristic of his movies.

It turns out that Alice has been prepared for this moment as she is the one ordained to slay the Jabberwock and to free Underland from the Tyranny of the Queen of Hearts. It is the Jabberwock that gives the queen her power, and as soon as it is taken away from her, she is beaten and exiled. I always love a film that ends with the antagonist being exiled as it, to me, is a greater punishment than death. Death is the great unknown, whereas exile keeps the person alive, while forever reminding them of the crimes that they committed (though it is not always the case, as an exiled person can simply burn with rage and seek vengeance).

This film is a fantasy quest, in that the quest that Alice undertakes is reflective of her quest to come to understand who she is and her role in the world. While the events in Underland take place over a number of days, only five minutes pass in the real world, though it is in these five minutes that Alice comes to discover who she is. She begins denying her destiny, and then comes to understand that the only person who is in charge of her destiny is herself. However, in discovering this, and taking a stand, it becomes clear that it was destiny for her to reach this moment. It is then when she draws the vorpal sword, and believes that she can slay the Jabberwock, that she truly comes into her own.

We see this as the film winds up magnificently. The slaying of the Jabberwock, and the freeing of Underland is not the end of the film. Alice returns to the real world, and while some may become despondent in returning to the same old boring world, Alice is not, and takes what she learns. She is an adventurer at heart, not an English lady. It is her desire to travel the world, and to pick up where her father left off. While it may be somewhat unrealistic for her to go into business with an English gentleman at this point in history, we need to remember that she is a lady of high standing, so we cannot have her running off into the underground. Instead she retains the image of the heroine as the move closes with her boarding the ship, taking pride of place, and sailing off to China where no doubt she will face many new adventures.

I've gotta admit up front that I am not a huge Johnny Depp fan and frankly think I've seen enough of him for some time. Now I am not saying he isn't talented—he certainly is. But so often his films have 'mega-hit' written all over them and the public throngs to his films like lemmings—and I just think I've seen enough. So why did I finally get around to watching "Alice in Wonderland"? Well, I am currently on a Disney Cruise and the ship is equipped with an amazing 3-D theater…and this film just happened to be playing. And, given that my family is exhausted after a day of exploring Martinique, I thought I'd take in this film. After all, even a bad 3-D film could be a nice diversion…especially when I have to pay nothing extra to see it.

Well, after seeing this film I am a bit stumped. On one hand, I didn't particularly enjoy the film—it has a particularly joyless thing—not at all fun to watch. But on the other, I can't just discount the good things about the film. Despite the plot doing almost nothing for me, I at least enjoyed the following: The 3-D will sneak up on you. Much of the early portion of the film (in the normal world) could have just as easily been done in traditional 2-D, once things got moving in Neverland the 3-D was lovely—and very immersive.

The music was very nice. There must be a law that says that in addition to Helena Bonham Carter and Johnny Depp, Danny Elfman MUST write music for every Tim Burton epic. The music was great and well done.

I enjoyed seeing and hearing some old favorites. The voices of some were recognizable—such as Christopher Lee as the Jaberwock, but Michael Gough (who appeared in lots of old Hammer films and must be 134 years-old) and Stephen Fry provided their voices as well. While Crispen Glover has had a very mercurial career, here he is rather mainstream (like he was in the "Back to the Future" films) and it's nice to see him again. Matt Lucas was lovely in a non-"Little Britain" role as well. Plus who cannot enjoy Alan Rickman's wonderfully disdainful voice?!

Now to provide equal time, here is what I didn't like:

Alice in the real world was one giant anachronism. Women did not act like her….ever. The ending in particular was very politically correct and timely…but not for the mid-19th century. As a result of this and the way her character was generally written, she was really impossible to like or care for in any way—she was simply a caricature. And, speaking of caricatures, what was up with Depp's Mad Hatter?! Break dancing?! Bizarre makeup that looked way too whacked out and bizarre for a Rocky Horror reunion?! Plus, like Alice, he seemed to have nothing in the way of personality—he was just goofy .

As for the story, as I said above, it was joyless. Too dark, too intense, too violent and way too gross---all the fun of the Red Queen from the cartoon was replaced by a homicidal maniac and heads being lopped aplenty. For a kids' film, this was surprisingly gloomy and un-fun. There…I think I hit on the BIG problem….the movie simply was not fun to watch. Spectacular and cool, but rarely fun.