Alice in Wonderland (2010)

Intended by Tim Burton as a new adaptation of Louis Carroll's legendary 1865 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland' and its 1875 sequel 'Through the Looking Glass', this movie turns out to be a perfect continuation of the story. For the second time in her young and brilliant life, Alice falls through the ground into the mysterious world she visited years ago. She reunites with her old little friends and realizes that she is on a new and dangerous mission, which is to free the Underland from the terrorizing reign of the Red Queen.

Pursued by the now emerging memories of her childhood adventure in the Wonderland and grieved at her daddy's death, Alice Kingsleigh (Mia Wasikowska), now nineteen years old, comes to a garden party at Lord Ascot's estate. She is faced with the grave prospect of being married to someone she doesn't love at all and being condemned to dull and dreary puritan life. Luckily, she sees a rabbit dressed in a blue waistcoat, rushes after him and takes a tumble into the rabbit hole. She descends into the Underworld, where she meets her old friends - the White Rabbit, the Dodo, the Dormouse and Tweedledee. Here she knows that she is the one, who is destined to overthrow the Red Queen (Helena Bonham Carter) and defeat the wicked Jabberwocky (Christopher Lee's voice) on the Frabjous Day. Bandersnatch and the Knave of Hearts (Crispin Glover) attack the group, but Alice manages to escape. Hunted by Knave's squad on the Red Queen's order, Alice meets the Cheshire Cat, and together they visit the Hatter (cast by Johnny Depp, also featured in Pirates of the Carribean: At World's End, Public Enemies and Rango (voice role) and the March Hare (voiced by Paul Whitehouse). The Red Queen fails to identify Alice, who arrives in her castle to help out the Hatter. Here Alice learns about the Vorpal Sword – the only good weapon against the Jabberwocky, which is locked safely away in the Bandersnatch's lair. Eventually, Alice makes buddies with the Bandersnatch and gets the sword. Bandershatch takes her away from Knave trying to capture her, and they arrive in the White Queen's castle, where Alice hands the sword over to the White Queen (Anne Hathaway). The Cheshire Cat rescues the Hatter, who attempts to kick up a rebellion against the Red Queen. Absolem, the Caterpillar, helps Alice square shoulders for the fight against the Jabberwocky. On the Frabjous day both armies gather on the chessboard battlefield and put forth their strongest fighters – Alice and the Jabberwocky – for the final contest, which she wins. Alice gets a vial filled with the Jabberwocky's blood and returns home. She is now more assertive with her family and Lord Ascot about her life, who eventually gives her a job in his trading business.

Contrary to Louis Carroll, who veers toward the most paradoxical and least comprehensible, Tim Burton's story is shot through with common sense, which is viewed by many as a mishap. However, it is rather an attempt to demonstrate Alice's maturity and ability to cope with her own doubts and misgivings. In fact, this lack of confusion appears to be the only weak spot of Burton's adaptation. It is his vision of the story that truly meets the 3D craze and is really worth a two-hundred-and-fifty-million-buck investment. Of all previous versions, this is the only version that precisely reflects John Tenniel's original illustrations and perfectly reincarnates Carroll's and Tenniel's ideas. The crazy 3D effects literally plunge you into the fantastic realm of the story, making you want to choke on the Caterpillar's hookah smoke and feel your feet sink in the foliage. Actors convey their characters ideally, which is observable in the Crazy Hatter's breath-taking jig dance, the Red Queen's head off hysterics and the White Queen's prim bizarreries. Immaculate dubbing, coupled with Danny Elfman's tunes, have you walking out of the audience room purring the Cheshire Cat's little feline tunes!