Features > Movie Reviews > Alice in Wonderland…

Tim Burton falls down the rabbit hole as he re-visions Lewis Carroll’s classic novel. This is Alice with extra Burton flourish.

The story takes place some years later than the original, with a decidedly more grown-up Alice (Mia Wasikowska). She is19-years-old, stubborn, grieving for the death of her idealistic and inspirational father and about to receive a marriage proposal from someone she most definitely doesn’t want to marry.

When summoned to take a stroll in the garden with the bossy Lady Ascot (Geraldine James), who is trying to push her into marriage, Alice gets distracted by a white rabbit and runs after it. Having chased it to the rabbit hole, she promptly falls in.

On arriving in Wonderland she is greeted by the White Rabbit (Michael Sheen), Tweedledee and Tweedledum (Matt Lucas). But this friendly welcome is short lived, “she’s the wrong Alice”, mutters Dormouse (Barbara Windsor).  Alice doesn’t mind so much, she thinks this is all a dream and is pretty certain she can wake up when she wants.

But in Burton?s world, Alice’s return to Wonderland has been foretold. She must fight the Jabberwock, in order to defeat the reign of the tyrannical Red Queen (Helena Bonham Carter). On hearing this, Alice isn’t convinced she’s up for the job, and when the wise Blue Caterpillar (richly voiced by Alan Rickman), confirms that she is, “hardly Alice”, she herself starts to have doubts.

But plucky as ever she perseveres, and after inadvertently fighting the grizzly Bandersnatch (a cross between a giant bear and a dog), the Cheshire cat (Stephen Fry) offers to take her to the Mad Hatter.

Johnny Depp?s Mad Hatter is played with marvellous complexity. More mental than mad. He is full to the brim with wide-eye smiles, alternative voices and sudden movements. He has the air of ex-veteran, scarred by the events that have happened since Alice’s last trip to Wonderland.

This marks Depp?s seventh collaboration with Burton, a relationship that has spanned 20-years, since their first union with Edward Scissorhands back in 1990. An alliance that has proved to be both a creative and a commercial success.

Bonham Carter, another Burton regular, is on fine form; her twisted Red Queen is played with all the petulance of a small child. Her performance is the most amusing, providing welcome relief for a Disney film which is light on laughs and heavy on drama.

The final battle scenes might be seen as a departure for the most serious Carroll enthusiasts, but it is richly drawn, with some dazzling CGI. Wasikowska is magnificent as Alice. She manages to balance the fragility of a little-girl lost, with great resourcefulness and strength.

The move into 3-D strengthens the startling visuals, the Red Queen’s giant head works particularly well, as does the metaphoric Cheshire cat, who slinks around the screen.

It is a meticulous and detailed adaptation of Carroll’s tale. Burton himself has argued that with over 20 previous versions of the novel he felt that no one had tackled it properly. I’m not sure if this is a ‘proper’ retelling, but while it deviates from the book, it has all the spirit and wonder you would expect from Alice. 

Hats off to Tim Burton for a marvellous, magical journey.