'Alice in Wonderland'

'Alice in Wonderland (PG) ***

Writer: Linda Woolverton based on books by Lewis Carroll
Director: Tim Burton
Starring: Mia Wasikowska, Helena Bonham Carter, Johnny Depp, Anne Hathaway, Crispin Glover
Voices: Timothy Spall, Stephen Fry, Michael Sheen, Alan Rickman

Leave it to Tim Burton to take one of my least favorite fantasy stories and turn it into his own version of coolness. "Alice in Wonderland" is a very creepy and grotesque story that I always found just too weird and not a good weird. I love what Tim Burton has done with this story. He has turned it into sort of a "Beetlejuice", "Edward Scissorhands" type of movie but he gives us another fresh and visually, different movie. This movie is beautiful to look at and in IMAX 3D, which I saw it in, it delivers an exciting, visceral thrill. The set design is dark but hypnotic and beautiful. He has taken the many grotesque characters and assigned them to some awesome talent. Of course everyone wants to see Johnny Depp as The Mad Hatter and I am happy to say that Depp is wonderful again. Do we really expect him to ever deliver a flat, uninteresting performance? He doesn't over do the quirks like he did in "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory". Burton and Depp are so comfortable with each other that I think they could give DiCaprio and Scorsese a run for their money. The actress that I think steals the movie and is fantastic in her role is Helena Bonham Carter playing the Red Queen. She is very funny and her line readings are impeccable. Carter and Depp work off each other well and look like they are having fun on the screen. Mia Wasilkowska is very good as Alice and she has to be in every scene and she does very well handling the important, lead role. Also good are Anne Hathaway as the White Queen and Crispin Glover as Stayne, the Red Queen's right hand man. Also the voice work by Timothy Spall, Michael Sheen and Stephen Fry are very entertaining. The movie is not a great movie but it is worth checking out because it is a lot of fun and visually it is very fine indeed. Tim Burton knows how to make a movie like this and he does it very well. I just wish he would take a break from remakes and adaptations. Maybe an original story like Scissorhands and Beetlejuice would re energize that old, magical and original imagination of his. The movie is a success for it takes what I think is a bad story and breathes some new magic in it. I actually would watch it again just to take in the delicious, visual treats.