Film Review: Alice in Wonderland

And his re-imagining of Lewis Carroll's classic tale complete with his signature whimsical, slightly sinister style seems the perfect fit for the original, darker story.

Written as a sequel to Lewis Carroll's tales, the film follows a teenaged Alice (ethereal Australian Mia Wasikowska) back down the rabbit hole to a menacingly darker Wonderland where she is faced with the age-old battle between good and evil. In a departure from the saccharine Alice of Disney's 1951 cartoon, Burton's Alice embarks on a quest to save Wonderland, mirroring her personal journey to find her much-ness and place in the world as a woman.

Burton has created a visually splendid fantasyland in vivid 3D, with Carroll's timeless characters brought to life by Johnny Depp (the Mad Hatter) and Helena Bonham Carter (the Red Queen), as well as Anne Hathaway, Alan Rickman and Stephen Fry.

This enchanting, lush production brings a grown-up perspective to a much-loved childhood fable.