Munster Express Online

Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland tells the story of Alice Kingsleigh, a young woman who feels trapped in Victorian society and just as she is proposed to by the detestable Hamish (Leo Bill) she falls down a hole into Wonderland where she learns she is pre-destined to find the Vorpal Sword, be-head the Jabberwocky and over throw the Red Queen.

Johnny Depp works his usual weird magic and plays the Mad Hatter perfectly with plenty of mood swings, accent changes and even an odd little victory dance.

Mia Wasikowska (Alice) brought very little to the film, she hadn’t much to do except look around lost and feel sorry for herself.

The Queen of Hearts (Helena Bonham-Carter) was by far my favourite character, her brattish spoilt ways were so amusing that you couldn’t help but chuckle and I especially loved how she adopted Alice into her court for having such a large head.

The White Queen (Anne Hathaway) likes to float around gracefully and is of a mild constitution which causes a few laughs with her queasy gags and heaves.

Altogether, I think most of the characters were really good, that it was the story that seemed a bit lost and jumbled. Burton didn’t show his story telling mastery in this film like he did in that of ‘The Nightmare Before Christmas’ or ‘Edward Scissor Hands’. Even though the 3-D aspect gave a nice effect, especially to some of the more magical creatures like Cheshire Cat, I think it took away from many of the costume and scene details.

With great characters, effects, costumes and scenery, sadly for me it was the story that let the film down. At least it didn’t have any underlying plots or overly creepy characters that would make it unsuitable for children. Although the story was a let down, just for the visuals and characters alone it’s defiantly a film worth watching.