PGStarring: Mia Wasikowska, Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Anne Hathaway, & Crispin Glover, Running Time: 1 Hour & 49 Minutes.
This is the classic fairy tale on steroids! It begins with Alice as a child who continues to have a dream that is very realistic.
Then Alice who is now 18, has just been brought out to a public social gathering in England by her family. When a young dowdy Lord whom she is not attracted to at all, proposes marriage to her. She is distracted by a little white rabbit. She chases after it where it goes down into a hole. She falls down, down, down the hole herself where she ends up in Wonderland. She has to find her way out of a room with many doors. She has a potion to drink for making her small and cake to eat to make her large. She is completely confused and bewildered. She encounters the white rabbit, a mouse, the cheshire cat, the caterpillar, Tweedle Dee Dee, Tweedle Dee Dum and finally the Mad Hatter played superbly by Johnny Depp. He is simply amazing in this role! All that meet her ask her if she is indeed Alice? She assures them that she is and they question her if she is the real Alice? She does not understand why they question her. The Mad Hatter tells her "You were once muchier." "You've lost your muchiness." She continues to believe that she is still dreaming and that all she has to do is wake up to get out of there and go home.
Helena Bohnham Carter plays the Red Queen of Hearts. She was delightful as this quirky little character with an enormous head. Her favorite saying is "off with their heads". She is mean, self-absorbed and heartless.
Anne Hathaway plays the angelic White Queen who is gentle and kind.
The battle of the queens of good and evil ensues and Alice is chosen to slay the infamous Jabberwocky. He is a dastardly character who looks like a gigantic dragon.
She has to muster the courage she needs to take on this enormous task and be successful.
She has luck on her side and ends up victorious! Then she is allowed to leave Wonderland and return back to her life. When she escapes the hole she finds things just exactly as she has left them. The young dowdy lord is still waiting for her answer. She refuses to marry him and wants to live her own life.
I found this movie utterly amazing! I saw it in 3-D and felt like I had been transported myself down into Wonderland. The special effects were astonishing! Tim Burton directed this movie and he did an outstanding job of it!
Be advised that there were scenes with the caterpillar smoking something and some pretty scary and realistic fight scenes during the Jabberwocky slaying! I am actually surprised it received a PG rating rather than a PG-13 because of the dark and scary scenes. The children in the audience loved the movie and so did I!
