Very interesting take on the Alice in Wonderland story.

Rating: Null/10 (30 June 2010)

I've been around a long time, I have read lots of fiction, and I have seen lots of movies. But I must count myself among those who was only vaguely familiar with the story here, "Alice in Wonderland." I knew it had to do with falling into a hole, and encountering some unusual creatures, but not much else.
This movie starts with Alice as a young girl, and discussing imagination with her father who always told her you can't do the impossible until you believe that it is possible.
The main of this movie however is of Alice in her late teen years, and as she is proposed to by a geeky red-haired guy, she runs off to think. And that is when she accidentally falls down a hole at the base of a large tree. This is evidently her second time down the hole, the first when she was much younger. Seems everyone in that strange land is waiting for her. Because she must help defeat the large-headed red queen, in favor of the nicer white queen.
Johnny Depp has top billing as the Mad (as in 'crazy') Hatter. Young Australian actress Mia Wasikowska is teenage Alice. Helena Bonham Carter is the Red Queen. Anne Hathaway is the White Queen. And Alan Rickman voices the animated Blue Caterpillar.
Visually the film is excellent. It is not all fun and happiness, in fact it is a fairly 'dark' film. But I am glad I finally saw "Alice in Wonderland."