Tim Burton reimagines ALICE IN WONDERLAND in thrilling new 3D adventure
ALICE IN WONDERLAND (Tim Burton, 2010)
Opens Friday, March 5
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Screenwriter Linda Woolverton and director Tim Burton reimagine Lewis Carroll’s Victorian era children’s classics, ALICE’S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND and THROUGH THE LOOKING-GLASS AND WHAT ALICE FOUND THERE, in their thrilling version of ALICE IN WONDERLAND. Combining elements from both stories, Woolverton (BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, THE LION KING) and Burton (EDWARD SCISSORHANDS, SLEEPY HOLLOW) turn Alice Kingsleigh (Mia Wasikowska) into a modern-thinking nineteen-year-old young woman facing a very public proposal from the wealthy but insipidly snobbish Hamish (Leo Bill). Instead of answering his question, she takes off after an odd white rabbit (voiced by Michael Sheen) and falls down a hole, plummeting into a colorful but dangerous world known as Underland, where she might or might not be the same Alice who had been there years before and was destined to come back as their savior. There she encounters a slyly smiling cat (Stephen Fry), a wise, hookah-smoking blue caterpillar (Alan Rickman), a pair of goofy twins (Matt Lucas), a truly mad milliner (Johnny Depp), and other strange talking creatures and weird personalities. Alice soon finds herself in the middle of an epic battle between the Red Queen (Helena Bonham Carter, with an unusually large head) and her sister, the White Queen (Anne Hathaway, with unusually red lipstick), a fight that also involves the smarmy Knave of Hearts (Crispin Glover), the terrifying Bandersnatch, and the murderous Jabberwocky (Christopher Lee). Filmed in 2D and converted to 3D, ALICE IN WONDERLAND is one of Burton’s most imaginative and exciting films. Although Carroll purists might be upset by the plot tweaks, Burton manages to stay true to the spirit of the books, creating an ALICE in which viewers are continually surprised, never knowing quite what is going to happen next. And Wasikowska (IN TREATMENT) makes a terrific Alice, a confused teenager on the cusp of adulthood who is not yet ready to give up being a child.