Full of unlikely characters, adventurous twists and dark undertones. Like a Tom Waits song.

Rating: 4/10 (4 June 2010)

We're all familiar with the basic idea of Alice in Wonderland", be it from the book itself, or it's various film and animated variations.
This time the acclaimed film director Tim Burton gave it a spin.
The story in a nutshell: girl is about to get engaged against her own will, girl follows an overgrown rabbit, falls into a hole, drinks a little, eats a little, grows a lot, gets branded as DE Alice", meets a cat with a half-moon smile, threatens an evil Red Queen with her existence, has some tea with a Mad Hatter that looks a bit like Johnny Depp, meets the White Queen, and eventually cuts of the head (that's a very big thing there) of a Dragon-like monster. And gets home for dinner.
Alice in Wonderland" seems like a Tom Waits song that came to life. Full of unlikely characters, adventurous twists and dark undertones. Hell, I'm surprised he didn't stared in the damn' thing.
But even thought Alice..." amazes us with it's boundless Burthonesque creations (the CGI is top-notch) it misses the secret ingredient... the directing. Instead we get 3D! I could not shake the feeling that the story was heavily rushed, like someone would hastily flipped the pages of the book itself just to see what the ending is like. And in the process, stopped on the more interesting parts, with character introductions of Cheshire Cat voiced by Stepfen Cry (that's one cat you cannot simply please with milk & tuna), Blue Carterpillar, voiced by Alan Rickan of Profesor Snype fame (that smoking will be the end of you) or Mad Hatter (played by the audience-favorite Johnny Depp) who's a happy-sad mad-man, with amazing dancing skills.
Alice, played by Mia Wasikowska, gives a very bleak, dull & doubtful performance. From beginning to start of her journey in Wonderland, she shows no signs of amazement, deeply believing it's all a dream. Is that what happened to Wasikowska herself? She couldn't believe she was cast as Alice, and didn't know what to do with it? Seems so.
If Alice holds the story together as it's MAIN PROTAGONIST it is the Red Queen (played by Helena Bonham Carter) and the Mad Hatter that keep it interesting. They're both trying to outmatch each other in who can be most WHACK but still most believable in the WHACKNESS. I mean, as much as you can think believable" in Wonderland.
The Red Queen seems to have a lot on her head, and clearly doesn't want too many heads to be around (Off with his head" is her signature catchphrase). And the Mad Hatter is just trying to stick to the remains of his sanity. Luckily, there's not much of it.
There's one scene in Alice in Wonderland" that made me hold on to my seat a bit tighter... It wasn't the Epic-size battle, or the chase by the over-sized cat-like creature. It was something more... subtle.
It was when Alice, after a bit of a struggle, opens the small door that leads her to Wonderland. I could not stop thinking of a similar scene, where a girl by the name of Dorothy, after landing" her house, opens up it's door and walks into a scenery of vivid, over-saturated color...
Sadly, Alice in Wonderland" is not The Wizard of Oz". It is a miscalculation, where the amazing cast, latest technology, and a film director who's gone mad, turned out to be no match for Lewis Carroll's novel. Maybe some musical numbers would have done the trick?