Alice in Wonderland

Alice in Wonderland is a solid home run for Tim Burton and for movie fans. Maybe in the past this film couldn't have been realized to the extent it has been rendered in 2010 with contempo CGI. Apparitions and people with odd-sized heads mix and mingle with talking rabbits, stubborn mice and some rather bizarre fantasy creatures. Alice succeeds as it leads the audience from a world of normalcy and down the rabbit hole of surrealism.
Burton gets his cake and eats it too. At least three times we see an eyeball either plucked out or stabbed with a pin. Because the story takes place in a fantasy land this R-rated action gets away with a PG rating. I also giggled every time Anne Hathaway, as the White Queen, gags in her mouth when she smells something repugnant. There's a seditious side to this film, and that's mirrored in the narrative that places Alice (Mia Wasikowska) in a prim and proper background before thrusting her into a world that's a bit more perilous than the Wizard of Oz. Remember Dorothy kills two witches before all is said and done. Alice has some dragons of her own to slay. Wasikowska should be able to milk this performance for the rest of her life. She has a relaxed yet charismatic manner and is new enough to be unfamiliar to most viewers (Wasikowska was in last year's acclaimed indie That Evening Sun).
Alice in Wonderland also features several engagements in 3D and makes good use of the medium in the same manner as Coraline or Avatar in the sense of spacial awareness of the environment. But none of the eyeballs come flying directly at you.
Surrounding Alice are a gallery of thesps who know how to make this kind of dramatic fantasy work. Some are recognizable despite great alteration of their physiques, like Johnny Depp (Mad Hatter), Hathaway (her eyebrows have never been more prominent), Crispin Glover (wearing an eye-patch to compliment his crooked nose) and Helena Bonham Carter as the domineering Red Queen. Some are only readily apparent if you know their voice like Alan Rickman as a hookah smoking catepillar or Christopher Lee as the monstrous Jabberwocky.
Obviously the film plays well to the kids and princesses that will connect directly with Alice's plight. But Burton's overall achievement and the film's literary pedigree guarantees Alice in Wonderland fans of all ages.