Film Review: 'Alice in Wonderland'

Mia Wasikowska as Alice.

> Alice in Wonderland

Director: Tim Burton
Cast: Mia Wasikowska, Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Anne Hathaway, Crispin Glover, Matt Lucas
Rating: (PG)
2 stars (out of 5)

Reviewed by Christine Powley.

The promotional banners for Alice in Wonderland (Rialto and Hoyts) looked so wonderful that I immediately wanted to see it, but then the trailers started appearing and the doubts set in. Would this be the film that finally set me thinking too much Johnny Depp was quite enough?

Well, fans of Mr Depp can rest easy. Yes, his character the Mad Hatter dominates to a ridiculous degree, but as this Alice in Wonderland only has two strengths - how it looks and Johnny Depp - it is just as well he has been shoe-horned into almost every corner.
Believe me, you miss him when he is absent.

For some mad reason, director Tim Burton has decided retelling the book would be too easy.
Instead he has to show off and give us a 19-year-old Alice (Mia Wasikowska), who has been plagued all her life by bad dreams of falling, and send her back to Wonderland to sort out the Red Queen (Helena Bonham Carter) and regain her inner Alice, so she can better face the problems in her real life.

It reminded me of 1991's Hook where a grown-up Peter Pan was sent back to Neverland, due to the same sort of faulty logic. The public did not take kindly to Steven Spielberg's messing with a classic and it will probably be the same for this retelling.

Best thing: Once again Johnny Depp makes sense of a Tim Burton extravaganza - pity about the eyebrows though.

Worst thing: Burton seems to believe that he has improved things by exploring the Red Queen's sibling rivalry issues. Not so.

See it with: Your Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End lunch box to remind you not to expect too much - that way you will probably enjoy yourself.