Review: Alice in Wonderland

A look at Tim Burton's new view of an old classic.

WASHINGTON, DC (Catholic Review) - At age 19, Alice falls into a hole, ends up in Wonderland and encounters the Mad Hatter,  Cheshire Cat, Tweedledee and Tweedledum and others, most notably the red queen and the white queen.  They are sisters, and the white queen is good.  The red queen is mean, and likes to yell "off with their heads!"  Some are questioning if Alice is the "real Alice".  She is indeed, as she later recalls that she's been there before, when she was younger.  She has a mission, to find a special sword (I don't recall the name) and return  it to the white queen.  The bigger challenge is, Alice must slay the jabowocky, a large dragon-like creature.

To be honest, it has been way too many years since I heard or read the fairytale to judge how faithful this story was to the original,  but my nephews told me it is pretty close :)

Having seen the previews, I had expected Johnny Depp's Mad Hatter to be a wild and  crazy character.  He was indeed strange, but more tame than I expected.   At times, they made him almost a Jesus-like character in the way he sacrificed himself for Alice.

There was a bit more of a plot than I expected.  It clearly is oriented toward a younger audience.  It is very entertaining, and there is no objectionable content.   I would definitely recommend, especially for the kids.

http://adisney.go.com/disneypictures/aliceinwonderland/