GRADE: B+

It’s not the Alice many will remember, as Tim Burton’s creative concoction is actually a clever combination of Lewis Carroll's “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” (the first book, commonly known as “Alice in Wonderland”) and “Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There,” the follow-up to his time-honored classic.

Why Burton and Walt Disney Pictures didn’t promote the film as something of a sequel—it might easily have been entitled “Alice, Through the Looking-Glass”—remains a mystery. Certainly it would have altered audience expectations and reduced the confusion many moviegoers expecting to see a remake of the first Alice tale experienced, as the original story continues to be one of the most well known and remembered works of fiction.

Nevertheless, none of the foregoing prevents Burton’s lush reinvention of the Carroll stories from being thoroughly entertaining and captivating to look at, anchored by a wonderful performance from newcomer Mia Wasikowska as the grownup Alice (after the story begins in earnest, Alice is nearly 20-years old).

A short set-up starts the affair as the seven-year old Alice complains to her loving and understanding father about having “that” dream again (this is the dream that forms the basis of “Alice in Wonderland”). The film then jumps ahead 13 years to find Alice, accompanied by her mother (her father has died), on her way to a gathering at an upper-crust estate where a young British lord is about to ask for her hand in marriage.

Of course, Alice really isn’t interested in getting married or leading a conventional life, and here the feminist themes apparent in Carroll’s work take center stage. Such themes are a bit stronger and certainly more straightforward than those in the original prose, but the emphasis Burton and screenwriter Linda Woolverton put on Alice’s burgeoning independence as a imaginative free-thinker are completely appropriate to her character, making this latest “Alice in Wonderland” something of a must-see for adolescents.

Escaping the crowd gathered to witness her betrothal, Alice pauses to consider the prospect of marriage by taking a walk in a gardenlike maze where she has caught glimpses of a giant rabbit rushing about. Following him to a large tree that crowns a hobbit-sized opening, she peers in to have a look, only to (once again) take a crazy ride down the rabbit hole.

When she lands in Wonderland, she’s awed and amazed, but convinced she’s never been in such a place before. That soon becomes the sentiment of those she meets, each of whom is convinced the young woman is not the Alice of old, and she most heartily agrees. Whether or not she is, in fact, the original Alice, who might simply have forgotten the experience of 13 years ago or a different girl entirely becomes the film’s major plot point.

For both Carroll and the filmmakers this development is a device that sets into motion a bold journey of discovery as Alice confronts the evil Red Queen. Leading to that confrontation finds many of Wonderland’s most notable creatures, including Mad Hatter, Cheshire Cat, White Rabbit, Dormouse, Epsilon (the Blue Caterpillar) and others.

Each of these characters is wonderfully realized—some pure computer graphics; others a mad but effective combination of live performance and digital alteration. The landscapes conjure up all the right conceptions, with the occasional homage to past Wonderland incarnations, and the details have almost a rich watercolor look to them.

“Alice in Wonderland” is very easy on the eyes, although truth be told, this kind of stuff has become so commonplace in films today because of advancements in technology, that—for the moment—it’s becoming harder and harder for filmmakers to visually wow an audience.

The cast handles the material well, and the spirit and essence of the two books is firmly in place. What keeps this "Alice" from hitting a home run is the sometimes dulling effect of watching so much computer generated imagry and the film's shortage of warmth, which may be more befitting the second chapter in the Alice saga, but a quality that makes the movie more likeable than loveable.

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