Very disappointing: bad writing, unlikable characters galore

Rating: 6/10 (30 November 2010)

When I heard this movie was coming out, I was intensely excited. I didn't actually get to see it until today. I just need to point out a few things. I found a ridiculous amount of characters totally unlikeable. Tweedle dee and Tweedle dumb were just plain creepy. The dormouse was obnoxious, and I know she had a name, but I couldn't understand what it was that Alice kept calling her. The characters all interacted like they were long time buddies in a way that made me feel like the awkward new kid in a crowd of new people I barely know. I found Alice's character a bit dry at worst. That being said, I actually found Alice pretty likable, as well as the hatter and the hound dog. While it's hard to label the red queen as likable, Bonham-Carter did a pretty good job with the character.
The writing was okay at parts, and i did chuckle aloud a few times. But a lot of it was just plain bad. For example, when the hatter is "executed" and the cheshire cate appears with his hat, the dormouse says "Ches, you dog!". I couldn't think of a more cheesy awkward line than that. There are probably better examples, but that is the line that stood out the most to me.
Visually, the movie was good, but not great IMO. Toward the end when Alice is fighting the jabberwocky, I could actually see where the animation was manipulated for the 3d effects. I found this odd and it looked very strange since I was only watching in 2D.
I bet this movie would have been 100 times better had they just made a creative rendition of the original Alice in Wonderland instead of trying to create a whole new story.