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Prepare to go down the rabbit hole as you never have before with Tim Burton's new version of "Alice in Wonderland."
Mia Wasikowska stars as 19-year-old Alice who is on the verge of a less than desirable engagement of marriage. Needing a little time to herself to think things over, she wanders into the woods and spies a waist-coated rabbit disappearing into the ground. Peering into the hole, she slips and falls into a strangely familiar world that reflects dreams she has had since childhood.
Here she meets Matt Lucas and my favorite character in the whole movie -- the mesmerizing, vaporous, slyly grinning Cheshire Cat, made wonderful with the hypnotic vocal skills of Stephen Fry.
Alice discovers that things aren't right in this world. It seems the Red Queen (Helena Bonham Carter) has the upper hand on the White Queen (Anne Hathaway) and everything hangs on a champion being found who can wield the sword that can kill the Red Queen's ultimate weapon, the Jabberwocky.
Could this be Alice's destiny? That's the opinion of the Mad Hatter, brilliantly played by Johnny Depp. Depp is so delightfully weird and is absolutely perfect.
I was glued to this film from the very first scenes. To put such originality and a "rest of the story" twist on the movie without delivering a part II or sequel feel is masterful. "Alice and Wonderland" has Tim Burton's signature all over it and for that reason, it's loaded with action and some really scary and even violent images.
I'm giving "Alice in Wonderland" 3 1/2 stars. It's rated PG.
