Alice in Wonderland in 3D

Who better than Tim Burton to bring Wonderland to life? I have watched (and own) more than a few Alice in Wonderland movies and cartoons.  All are wonderful in their own way and all try to translate the rediculous irrevereance that Lewis Carroll created in his infamous volume.  No matter that he was a pedophile and that I have a strong internal struggle concerning my love for Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There and the knowledge that Carroll was an icky, icky man.  Tim Burton is a wacky guy, and really the perfect one to show us what Wonderland should look like.  

There was a lot of hype surrounding this movie, which ended up being not bad, but not exactly what I wanted.  I intended on seeing it like at least 3 times, but 1 viewing turned out to be enough.  Visually, Wonderland was expansive, colorful, fantastical, and all the things that it should have been.  And yet the expansiveness reminded me of The Neverending Story and the nothingness that encompassed the kingdom.  Wonderland should not have been that way.  I understand that it was part of the new conception of the story, but still.  I really wanted every scene to be full of fantastical creatures and scenery.  I would have liked Alice to stretch and shrink like in the book, all distorted and contorted, which I think suits Burton's morbid style.  I wonder why that didn't happen.  I liked the evolution of the story, beginning in the reality and with the wacky personifications of the wonderland inhabitants.  I wasn't crazy about it being really named Underland and that the focus was so much on the feuding sisters.  The frabjous day battle should have been fought by a knight or at least a man, rather than Alice, to keep true tot the poem, but within the context of the film, forgivable.  All the characters and actors that brought them to life were nearly spot-on: Mia, Helena, Johnny, Anne, Crispin, Matt, Stephen and the entire cast.  Blue caterpilllar should have not been blue, but I forgave that knowing that Alan Rickman lived inside.  Johnny Depp was of course amazing, that is his baseline, I expected no less.  Although in my mind's eye the Hatter doesn't look like that.  But that's ok. 

Overall, I think that this was a solid effort (can't believe I just wrote that about TIM BURTON) and will be one of the top films illustrating Wonderland, but nothing will ever match my imagination or the singing flowers in the original Disney version.