It's certainly not Alice, but it is still a fantastical work.

Rating: 10/10 (6 March 2010)

There are different types of quirkiness in this world. First there's the whimsical quirky that the best children's books seem to have. This type of quirk can be found in the Alice in Wonderland books. There's the quirkiness that's quirky just for the hell of it, something Terry Gilliam does an excellent job at. There's the everyday quirky, that can be found in some of the best comedies. Then there's the dark quirky, and this is Tim Burton's domain. Now the question is, how do you take a time-honoured masterpiece of whimsy, satire, and humour; and make it dark, morbid, and slightly disturbing? The answer is Alice.
Lewis Carroll would probably like Tim Burton's movie. It's dark, just like the book, though the book's much more subtle about it. It's twisted, something Lewis Carroll delighted in doing. In fact, the whole thing seems much more related to Carroll's lesser-known novel Sylvie and Bruno, which is itself a rather dark fairytale that goes where AIW didn't go near. Tim Burton takes the books and completely reinterprets in his own masterful style.
As this is NOT the happy-go-lucky Wonderland, you do not have any saccharine and neon colors. This is UNDERland, muted, sad, but every once in a while a color will pop out at you surprise you. In White Queen world, it's so white it hurts. Cherry blossoms everywhere, everything ethereal and way-too-sweet, just like Anne Hathaway as the Queen. She tries hard to be good, and she over-succeeds. When flowers droop, she asks people to talk to them more nicely. And while making a potion for Alice, she sweetly puts dead men's fingers, dead men's blood, and other assorted dead things in the boiling tonic, all the while smiling and holding her hands up daintily. She is most certainly way too happy.
Then there's Red Queen land. The castle has hearts everywhere, everything is red, ranging from blood-colored to the color of a a raspberry chocolate. The moat is sticky red tar, with beheaded heads in it (Off with their heads!). The Red Queen (Bonham Carter)is cruel, using animals as servants and furniture and enslaving various characters to do her bidding, cooing at them and treating them like pets. Everyone must have something deformed about the to make her head predicament less blatant. And if someone disobeys her, she will say without a blink that phrase everyone in Underland dreads.
In Underland, you will find the dormouse, brave, not sleepy at all. Who has a habit of sticking swords in monster's eyes. There's the march hare who likes to throw things. Tweedledum and Tweedledee (Nohow!), the caterpillar (a wise, but obviously drugged insect who insults Alice at every possible time), and the white hare (who is so sure it is the real Alice). Then there's the wonderful Mad Hatter (which fits Johnny Depp like a glove). Excellent acting aside, I must give props to the makeup and costumer for making this character work so well.
Alice is played by the practically-unknown Mia Wasilkowska. She is pale, oh so pale, and way too independent for her age. She seems weighed down by something, there's a fierce gravity to her. She seems to fit in with the dark and brooding Underland. Even her dresses reflect her surroundings. The acting is real, and she plays a dreadfully serious Alice.
Plot is alright, not as bad as it could be. But at times, it lists, at times confusing or unexplained, and sometimes generic. But the references to the books are spot-on and give you an inward smile. The screenplay needed work, but there are moments of charm, pathos, and just overall wackiness. The music is perfectly suited to the atmosphere.
10/10 for visuals, 10/10 for acting, 10/10 for music, 10/10 for costumes and make-up. 7/10 for story, and 9/10 for screenplay.