Alice in Wonderland Tim Burton

This film is visually stunning, dripping from every frame with some of the most incredible CGI you've seen. (It stands up well in comparison as an eye-fest with Avatar.) And the tone is darkened down in true Burton style. So how could it be anything other than brilliant? It isn't though.

There is a fundamental flaw at the heart of the whole enterprise. This isn't a straight adaptation of Lewis Carroll's books. Burton's changed it about a bit, moved the action forward a few years.

Alice is now an adult and, although she still remembers Wonderland, she dismisses the whole experience as childhood imaginings. That is, until she sees a rabbit in a waistcoat at her engagement party. Following him she soon falls down a rabbit hole and finds herself back in Wonderland, with all its strange creatures, potions that make you small, cakes that make you tall, and splendidly surreal dangers.

But because you know that in her timeline Alice has already done this it gives the whole endeavour a flavour of rehash. And that feeling it never manages to overcome even with the high standard of performances both on-screen and voice only. (Trust me, Stephen Fry as the Cheshire Cat is sublime.)

It's also a little bit skewed towards Johnny Depp. Depp is perfect as the Mad Hatter. Once you've seen him you'll believe no one else could ever play the part. But he does rather overpower the rest.

To watch the film is an absolute treat. There's something happening on screen virtually every second - a caterpillar here, talking horse there, Frumious Bandersnatch next in line. Plot wise though it just doesn't do the visuals justice. Flawed genius.

Page uploaded 18 July, 2010