Originally written March 10, 2010

Okay, so Alice in Wonderland is an absolute classic. I’m sure the majority of people have seen it, at least as a child. And now, the movie is being remade, by Tim Burton, no less. No doubt this movie had a lot of buzz and excitement surrounding it, but the question is did it live up to the hype?

Well, we should all be familiar with the Alice in Wonderland story, however Tim Burton actually did a lot of things different with it. You have to see the movie to see for yourself, but basically the movie is about a girl named Alice (played by Mia Wasikowska), a girl who is having a hard time in the real world. She stumbles down a rabbit hole, however, and finds herself in a magical world. According to the mysterious people there, including the famous Mad Hatter (played by Johnny Depp), Alice is already known in this world, and they have been waiting for her to return for a long time, as she’s the chosen one to take down the Red Queen (played by Helena Bonham Carter).

Well, if you’re familiar with Alice in Wonderland, you’ll recognize many of the familiar faces. And the best part about it is that all of these characters are done in live-action VERY well. The characters look completely amazing, and they are portrayed very nicely.

The acting in the movie is really great, too. From watching the previews, I was worried that the Mad Hatter would get too much screen time because Johnny Depp was playing him (honestly, the guy took over all the trailers and posters for the movie), but thankfully most of the spotlight was given to the main character, Alice. However, all three of the lead characters gave fantastic performances, and I had no complaints with any of the rest of the cast either. Really great acting here.

The visual effects are top-notch. Wonderland looks gorgeous, and it’s just a real treat to look at. All of the creatures in it are really great looking too. The visuals is the aspect of Alice in Wonderland that really shines. It’s just a treat to the eyes to watch, and the 3-D makes it even better. If you get the chance to see it in 3-D, do so, because it’s done pretty well. For once, things actually came out of the screen, which I really don’t see too much in 3-D movies these days, to be honest.

All around, Alice in Wonderland 3-D is well worth seeing. In my opinion, everything about the movie was fine-tuned to be a really nice package deal. The movie wasn’t perfect or anything, but considering all of the hype that was surrounding this movie, I have to say that I really wasn’t disappointed.

4.5/5