an abomination

Rating: 2/10 (23 March 2010)

I have been enchanted with the story of Alice in Wonderland my whole life. I read it for the first time as a child of 11 and was immediately under its spell; I read it twice more as an adult and it lost nothing of its charm.
I was ecstatic over the prospect of a big budget new adaptation of this classic.
When a friend of mine who had viewed it before me mentioned that a 19-year-old Alice escapes down a rabbit hole to run away from an undesired betrothal, my reaction was "Huh? I don't remember that from the book."
Nevertheless, I went to see the movie with a sense of excited anticipation.
Less than half hour into the movie my excited anticipation was dashed upon the rocks. This was NOT the Alice in Wonderland I knew and loved. The phrase "artistic license" popped into my head, but even that phrase would not describe the travesty wrought by Tim Burton.
The last time I had such an angry reaction to a movie was when I went to see "The Last Temptation of Christ." Both movies took something well-known and loved by many and twisted it into something entirely different and unrecognizable. In the case of Alice in Wonderland, I couldn't help but ask: "Why even bother calling it Alice in Wonderland?" Tim Burton simply cannibalized Lewis Carroll's original beloved characters and created his own storyline involving dark conflict and warring factions. (If anything, there were more elements of The Wizard of Oz in this movie than of Lewis Carroll's classic.)
If you're a technophile and are interested in nothing more than special effects (and there must be many of you out there judging by all the hoopla generated by this movie's being in 3D), by all means go see it. But if you, like me, are enamored of the original Alice in Wonderland story as written by Lewis Carroll, do yourself a favor and avoid this movie at all costs.
All in all, as someone who has been so touched by the story of Alice in Wonderland, I found this movie a total abomination. An abomination. Lewis Carroll must be rolling in his grave.
P.S. - If anyone is interested in seeing a truly loving (and accurate) re-telling of this tale, I highly recommend the 1999 TV-movie starring the adorable (and age appropriate) Tina Majorino.