Burton's drop down the rabbit hole

Rating: 6/10 (21 March 2010)

Like many before me, I must say I used to be a huge Burton fan. When it comes to the Burton/Depp thing, it's in my opinion that after both 'Ed'(Scissorhands/Wood) movies they quickly lost their old chemistry. They used to have something unique during that era. But unfortunately, they've(IMO)drifted away a bit too much, from what made them so unique. Like Charlie and the chocolate factory, Alice in Wonderland left me quite indifferent, nice visuals, above average acting, but it was quite shallow. Where the older characters, that Burton used, had a certain unique depth. The latter ones he chose to portray, ended up feeling like stereotypes.
And sadly that's what bothered me the most with his vision on Alice in Wonderland. It used to be a dream to have Burton take on 'Wonderland'. But having seen the actual movie, it ended up failing in almost every aspect. The story was rushed(typical Disney adventure crap), the characters ended up dull and wrongly used. And overall it didn't move me at all. The visuals were nice, but not amazing...
I grew up reading both original books, but after watching this movie, it's like everyone who didn't read the books, will believe in a completely different wonderland. It looked the same, but in the end it didn't feel the same. To me the only moments that really had the feel were Alice tumbling down the rabbit hole and the flashbacks. Sadly this is another uninspired, over advertised Burton movie(while it's actually a Disney movie).
The acting left me even more indifferent then the plot. Although there were some highlights. Like the march hare,the Cheshire cat,the queen of hearts and the hatter. There was a bit too much hatter, hilariously few of the hare, disappointingly few of the cat and definitely not enough of the red queen...
There was enough Alice, but she didn't really say or do much, even for someone believing to be stuck in a dream. And towards the ending she had hardly even changed(personally) at all...
The over-hyped hatter, was nice but there was no depth to his character, which was disappointing after hearing Depp and Burton constantly talking about their 'deeper' approach towards the character, which led me to believe there'd be a lot more to him...
It's not what it could've been, and with a story like the original, I can't understand how they simply took elements out of the books and mixed 'em up with elements out of recent cliché Disney adventure movies.
As a fan of the books, I'd give it a 5(maybe even overrated), but as a loosely adapted movie I'm prepared to give it a 6(the visual experience and at least some of the acting deserves it) But okay, I guess I(and many others I'm sure) will have to wait until someone has the courage once more to 'try' and bring this classic back to live... again...