Alice in Wonderland

Rating ***/*****, or 7/10

Lavish and wonderfully bizarre looking reimagination of the classic novel by Lewis Caroll, directed by Tim Burton, who unfortunately chooses style over substance a bit too much. As we could have expected from Burton, it all looks fabulous and has a fantastic cast, but this semi-sequel to the original story feels a bit sloppy and jumbled together. Alice (the credibly overwhelmed but also naturally dreamy enough to go-along-with-it-all Mia Wasikowska) revisits Wonderland and gets caught up in a battle for supremacy over this grotesque realm between the vicious Red Queen (Helena Bonham Carter, obviously having the time of her life with a really big head) and the peaceful White Queen (a pixie-esque Anne Hathaway), in which she is aided by the Mad Hatter (Johnny Depp is sufficiently crazy enough to pull this role off). The original series of random weird encounters between Alice and Wonderland's inhabitants is now strung together by an all too typical battle between good and evil. Plus, the Mad Hatter's role has been enlarged a lot so Depp gets enough screen time to warrant his face being on all the marketing materials, which undermines the very title 'Alice in Wonderland'. Still, enjoyable flick anyhow.

Starring: Mia Wasikowska, Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter

Directed by Tim Burton

USA: Walt Disney Pictures, 2010