Alice in Wonderland: What's the Matter with Hatter? (2007)

A small subsidiary of Sony Pictures known as BKN International produced a handful of computer-animated specials based on public domain properties.  Spearheaded by animator Ric Machin, the producers churned out a 47 min adaptation of Alice in Wonderland.  The story is very simplified and altered, clearly intended for an elementary school audience.  Alice speaks more like a 21st-century American kid than an upper-class Victorian child, and the whole cartoon has a very modern feel.

This cartoon reminded me of those cheap knock-off Disney clones that are intended to trick unsuspecting customers into purchasing inferior quality merchandise.  And it especially reminded me of religious cartoons with very simple, non-threatening morals and vanilla humor.  I'm not saying that was the intention or the case here...but I kept expecting the characters to start singing their praises to the glory of God at any moment.

Original Source Breakdown

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Chapter I: Down the Rabbit Hole - MOSTLY INTACT/ALTERED
Alice gets bored by the riverbank with her sister and her pet dog Jabberwock.  Her dog chases the White Rabbit down the hole and Alice follows, falling down a long ways.  The Cheshire Cat appears at this point, introducing her to Wonderland and they both end up in a room with many doors.  As in the Disney film, one of the Doorknobs helps talk her through this new process of growing and shrinking.  This time, however, it is accomplished by a magic double-sided hand mirror.

Chapter II: The Pool of Tears - MOSTLY REMOVED/ALTERED
Alice gets upset at becoming stuck and cries, filling up the entire room with water.  Amazingly, she doesn't drown, but she manages to open up another door that dumps her out into a nearby river.

Chapter VI: Pig and Pepper - MOSTLY REMOVED/ALTERED
The Cheshire Cat pops in and out of the story at various moments.  Also, when Alice arrives at the Pink Palace, the Duchess is inside, complaining that the White Rabbit has been arrested and is awaiting trial.

Chapter VII: A Mad Tea Party - MOSTLY REMOVED/ALTERED

The Hatter appears after Alice is flushed out into the river and takes it upon himself to help Alice find her dog.  He appears as a kid about Alice's age, and is not mad at all (though he supposedly makes others mad).  He occasionally produces tea items from underneath his hat.  The Dormouse also appears, though he takes the place of the hedgehogs in the croquet game.

Chapter VIII: The Queen's Croquet-Ground - MOSTLY REMOVED/ALTERED
The Queen holds her croquet game which is played as it is in the book until Alice and the Hatter crash the party.

Chapter XI: Who Stole the Tarts? - MOSTLY REMOVED/ALTERED
The White Rabbit is put on trial for stealing one of the Queen's tarts.  The King appears as the judge and takes great joy in abusing his power.  The Hatter opts to be the White Rabbit's defendant during the trial.

Chapter XII: Alice's Evidence - MOSTLY REMOVED/ALTERED
It is revealed that Alice's dog was the real culprit behind the missing tart.  Alice, fed up with the unfair trail, uses the mirror to grow large and destroys the courtroom, as well as the entire house of cards, which all fall around her.  She wakes up and tells her sister a bit about her dream.

Through the Looking-Glass
Chapter I: Looking-Glass House - MINOR REFERENCES
The dog is named Jabberwock and Alice uses the Looking-Glass to change sizes, but she doesn't travel through it.

Chapter II: The Garden of Live Flowers - MOSTLY REMOVED/ALTERED
The flowers are the first to greet Alice after she escapes the Pool of Tears.  They introduce her to the Hatter and everyone sings a song.

Chapter IV: Tweedledum and Tweedledee - MAJOR REFERENCE
Dee and Dum appear as helpers for the Duchess.  They are quite dumb and repeat each other often.

Chapter VII: The Lion and the Unicorn - MAJOR REFERENCE?
In a scene that is not present in the story, the Hatter and Alice don wings to cut through the clouds of the Sky Kingdom which is ruled by the nice Sky King.  I assume this is loosely based on the White King whose messenger is the Hatter in the book, but nothing else that happens comes from the story.

Review:

Well, I was bound to hit some of the pointless adaptations sooner or later.  Many low-budget production companies like to use public-domain stories to churn out a quick buck or two without having to put a considerable amount of effort forward.  This 2007 cartoon definitely had some sort of...vision behind it, as there are choices and differences made, however bizarre they might be, and it isn't entirely misguided, but this was the first time during this exercise that I found myself wondering why they even bothered making this at all.

There is a lot of new material and modern aesthetics that make it feel as if it is marketed to today's children, but I couldn't find anything particularly charming about it.  And the added songs aren't anything to write home about.  The most confusing aspect of this special was its title.  There was nothing the matter with Hatter.  This young Hatter just seems like a generic teenage boy without any noteworthy qualities.  Why bother taking the most interesting character in the book and making him the least interesting?  Was the title some sort of meta-commentary on the cartoon itself that the Hatter was so bland?

There are some interesting choices made here and there.  The whole trip through the Cloud Kingdom was interesting, as it allowed for some new puns and the design of the King was amusing.  He's a bear with an upside-down stool on his head for a crown.  And Alice destroying the courtroom was something I hadn't seen yet in any adaptation.

This version borrows heavily from cartoons tat came before it.  Obviously Disney, with the appearance of Alice's outfit and the Talking Doorknob (which is NOT a public domain character, so Disney could do something about that).  The hipstery Cheshire Cat and the search for a missing dog where very reminiscent of the 1966 Hanna-Barbera cartoon as well.

Overall, this was the first adaptation that I felt I did not gain anything new from.  It's competently made, for the most part and the voice actors really seem to be giving it their all.  But this provided nothing noteworthy.  Well, except for creepy, low-budget CGI.  It all reminded me of the fake Tim & Eric CGI character Grum that mocks cartoons like this one.  That Cheshire Cat's grin was unintentionally frightening to behold.  I just want to put this one behind me.

0.5 out of 5 CGI Abomonations

Alice (2009)

The 2000s seemed to be the decade of the dark, gritty, reimaginings of classic stories, and Alice in Wonderland got its fair share of this in multiple forms of media.  Books, video games, and films about Wonderland all took a sinister look behind the fantasy.  In 2009, after the semi-success of the Syfy's Wizard of Oz miniseries Tin Man, the channel placed their bets on another modern reinterpretation of an old fairy tale about a girl going to another strange world.

Interestingly, the director, writer, and creator of this project was Nick Willing who had ten years prior directed the 1999 Alice in Wonderland.  So it was clear that they picked someone who was very familiar with the material and had a passion for authenticity.  This new modern story takes place 150 years after the events of the original story and finds a new grown-up Alice making her way into Wonderland, which has also kept up with the technological times of our world and fallen into a dark age.

This new Alice must live up to her original's namesake and take down the Queen of Hearts, whose poor ruling has caused dissatisfaction among her subjects that can only be cured by artificial means.   All characters are human with animal names so there is no attempt at crazy costumes or CGI characters (save for the Jabberwock). Sci-fi meets fantasy meets action-thriller in this two-part miniseries.

Original Source Breakdown

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Chapter I: Down the Rabbit Hole - MAJOR REFERENCES
Alice Hamilton is a martial arts instructor who has just been proposed to by her boyfriend Jack Chase.  After turning him down, he leaves the ring with her and she observes him being kidnapped by an odd group of people.  One of them, Agent White works for the White Rabbit organization and Alice pursues him through a mirror that causes her to tumble into Wonderland, similar to the Rabbit Hole.  While investigating the new surroundings, she finds herself in a room with a red drink in a bottle on a glass table marked "Curiosity."

Chapter II: The Pool of Tears - MAJOR REFERENCES
Alice eventually gets trapped in a shrinking room (instead of her growing, clever) which is a capsule that starts transporting her and other prisoners off somewhere by airship.  Alice manages to pick her way out of the traveling room and lands in a large body of water.  From here, she meets with the Ratcatcher (based on the Mouse) who explains the situation to her and takes her to the Hatter in exchange for some of the Hatter's wares.

Chapter III: The Caucus-Race and a Long Tale - MINOR REFERENCES
Alice and the Hatter team up and the Hatter takes her to a library to meet the rest of the underground Resistance.  Here, we meet the Dodo, the Duck, and the Owl who realize that Alice's ring has a great value, the Stone of Wonderland.  The Hatter at one point reminds them of the comfits he gave them as a gift, alluding to their Caucus-Race prize from the book.

Chapter IV: The Rabbit Sends in a Little Bill - MINOR REFERENCE
When Alice is being interrogated inside a tiny house about the ring's whereabouts, a fan and gloves appear on the writing desk that is provided for her.

Chapter V: Advice from a Caterpillar - MAJOR REFERENCES
The Caterpillar is the leader of the Resistance and helps explain to Alice the reason she specifically was chosen to be brought into Wonderland.  He explains WHO she is.

Chapter VI: Pig and Pepper - MINOR REFERENCES
Alice sees a vision of her deceased cat Dinah who helps lead her through Wonderland at one point, fulfilling a similar role as the Cheshire Cat.  The Duchess also appears as Jack's actual fiance, but she seems to be working for the Queen.  She is also quite beautiful in contrast to the usually ugly depiction of her character, perhaps something the Queen arranged in the intervening years.

Chapter VII: A Mad Tea Party - MAJOR REFERENCES
The Hatter plays a huge role in the story, accompanying and helping Alice every step of the way.  He sells "teas" out of his tea shop which are actually liquid positive emotions that the citizens of Wonderland are hooked on since there is no more genuine positivity left in the world.  (It is unclear if this is the same Hatter as before or a descendant of the original, due to his young age.)  The Dormouse acts as the seller who handles the crowds and usually sleeps except to promote new "flavors."  The Queen's favorite assassin is called "Mad March" and as he lost his head in the past, a new ceramic hare head with a computer is attached instead, making him a cyborg.  At one point, March captures the Hatter and the interrogation is reminiscent of the Mad Tea Party conversation.

Chapter VIII: The Queen's Croquet-Ground - MAJOR REFERENCES
The Queen of Hearts rules alongside her King in a casino run by the cards. The King quietly pardons all those who are threatened with death by his wife.  The Ace of Clubs is the Executioner, the rest of the Clubs are her lackeys, the Spades are general henchmen, and the Diamonds are the dealers and dancers in the casino.  Because money is useless in Wonderland, the casino is actually a system designed to elicit positive emotions out of its "customers" which can be drained and distilled into tea.  Jack Chase is actually Jack Heart (the Knave) and the Queen's son.  There are flamingo-shaped flying contraptions for quick getaways as well.

Chapter XI: Who Stole the Tarts? - MINOR REFERENCES
Towards the end, both Alice and Jack are captured and while they aren't exactly put on trial, the King and Queen behave the way they did when they were judges of the trial, especially when the Queen explains to the King how to properly question Alice.  Also, the Queen calls Alice a tart, derisively.

Chapter XII: Alice's Evidence - MAJOR REFERENCE
The original Alice has become the stuff of legend after she "made the house of cards fall" before she left Wonderland.  The new Alice has a similar moment as she takes the Queen down several pegs at the end of the story, confidently knowing that none of her subjects are willing to follow her.

Through the Looking-Glass
Chapter I: Looking-Glass House - MAJOR REFERENCES
The way in and out of Wonderland is through the Looking-Glass that is powered by the Stone of Wonderland, the driving force of the story.  The Jabberwock appears in a forest when the Hatter tries to lure it out so it may attack the Queen's men.  And at one point, our heros eat a Borogove.

Chapter III: Looking-Glass Insects - MINOR REFERENCE
The people whose emotions are being drained forget everything about their past, including their own names and the names of loved ones, much as they would had they ventured into the Forest of No Names.

Chapter IV: Tweedledum and Tweedledee - MAJOR REFERENCES
Dee and Dum appear as doctors who use their hypnotic/magic powers to interrogate Alice (and they briefly talk like the boys from the book).  The Red King appears as a skeleton, having fallen many years ago in battle along with all the other chessmen.  The White Knight keeps speaking to this stationary king however, as if he were just sleeping.  Most importantly, the Carpenter (aided by the Walrus) works for the Queen, extracting the emotions from the "Oysters" which is the term used to describe people from the real world who have been taken to Wonderland.  He also assembles Mad March and takes away the Oysters' memories as well.  When things go wrong, he fixes them.

Chapter VI: Humpty Dumpty - MINOR REFERENCE

Dee and Dum recite this poem to taunt Alice and have her regress into her childhood memories.

Chapter VIII: "It's My Own Invention" - MAJOR REFERENCES
One White Knight remains alive after the fall of the chessmen from years ago, and he is still stuck in  the old mindset (he may even be the same White Knight the original Alice met).  He is the only character who behaves exactly like his book counterpart and he also assists Alice in her journey, taking on a mentor role.  In addition to being an inventor (of such items as the beehive-mousetrap) he has now also been studying the "black arts" and calling upon his latent psychic abilities which may or may not actually be real.

Chapter IX: Queen Alice - MINOR REFERENCE
After defeating the Queen of Hearts, Jack offers Alice the chance to stay and become the next Queen of Wonderland.

Chapter XII: Which Dreamed It? - MINOR REFERENCES

Alice believes at first that everything is a dream.  When she frees all of the Oysters, she pleads with them to "wake up."  Alice does wake up outside the building where she originally ran into the Looking Glass and after a brief stay at the hospital, she is greeted by the Hatter who left Wonderland, proving that maybe it wasn't a dream after all.

Review:
Aside from all of the references to Wonderland, this miniseries doesn't feel very connected with the original stories.  This is a sci-fi story about people being collected and harvested for their emotions which did not need to be related to the works of Lewis Carroll at all.  Everything is just given a Wonderland coat of paint, as if to continuously ask the audience, "Hey, remember this character?  Hey, remember this line?"

Now, granted, this can work in moments.  The relationship between the Queen and King of Hearts in the book for example influences the relationship between their characters in this version, which creates and interesting dynamic.  But a lot of times, the internal logistics of this new story are bogged down by the fact that everything must reference the old story.  Why is the Caterpillar the leader of the Resistance?  Because he was present in the book.  Why are Tweedledee and Tweedledum psychiatric doctors working for the Queen of Hearts?  Because they were present in the book.  Why is the Hatter a young, attractive rebel who becomes Alice's love interest?  Because he's the most well-known character from the book.  He isn't even mad!

Now, some of the changes and references I enjoyed, which makes me feel that you should just view it as its own story that draws influence from the books.  Making the Carpenter one of the lead characters in charge of orchestrating the "eating" of the "Oysters" was a clever way to keep his character relevant in this sci-fi reality.  And the Queen of Hearts' court becoming a casino was a cool update fitting with the cards theming.  And even the relationship between the Duchess and the Jack is a welcome diversion from the usual portrayal of these two characters.

But the best element of this whole story by far is Matt Frewer as the White Knight.  He is a bumbling knight-errant the likes of Sir Pellinore, Don Quixote, and of course Carroll's White Knight.  By establishing him as a deliberate connection to the original Alice stories, it allows the story to not get so bogged down in it's gritty reboot.  He is the only Wonderland character who acts like a Wonderland character.  And fortunately, he joins the journey as Alice's second companion, so he gets a lot of time to develop and grow as a character.

The White Knight is given his own subplot about being the last remaining member of the Chessmen that all perished in the war against the Cards.  He remembers the ruling of the Red King and he feels great shame at letting his army down.  He often has conversations with the Red King's skeleton, revealing his insecurities as being the worst knight in the army and undeserving of being the sole-survivor.  In between his bouts of foolish madness, he has moments of clarity where he connects with Alice on a deeper level, giving her the wisdom and strength to push forward.  He eventually proves to be very worthy towards the end as he overcomes his fears of the past to help save the day.

Had the whole series been filled with characters like the White Knight, I think I would have warmed to it more as an Alice in Wonderland adaptation.  As it stands, it is just a fairly competent sci-fi story that gets a little jumbled at times, but has enough references to keep Alice fans interested.

3.5 out of 5 Stolen Emotions

Alice Through the Looking Glass (2016)

Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland made an absurd amount of money in the box-office, becoming one of the highest grossing films of all-time.  So, of course, Linda Woolverton set to work on another script based on the world she had created in the first film.  Burton declined to direct the sequel and instead, James Bobin of the recent Muppet movies stepped in.  As more of a Lewis Caroll fan than Burton, he wanted to help create and explore this new world.

Like the 2010 film, this is a reimagined Wonderland that carries more logic and structure and darkness.  And it is also very loosely based on the books, with some familiar elements sneaking their way into a brand new story.  This involves an expansion of the Hatter's backstory as Alice must confront Time himself to help save the Hatter's family.  Since this is such a new film I shall warn you that SPOILERS will be found in the Original Source Breakdown.

Original Source Breakdown
(I'll refrain from repeating the pre-existing elements from the 2010 film.  Basically, all the main characters from that one reappear in some form or another, even the Jabberwocky.)

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Chapter II: The Pool of Tears - MINOR REFERENCE
While there is not any explicit reference to this chapter, the film opens with Alice as a sea captain, which becomes a major element of her adventure as she navigates the Ocean of Time.

Chapter IV: The Rabbit Sends in a Little Bill - MINOR REFERENCE
As Alice travels to the past, we get to see Bayard the Bloodhound from the first film as a Puppy.

Chapter VI: Pig and Pepper - MINOR REFERENCE
In the real world, Alice meets with her ex-fiance Hamish from the first film and he is the proud father of a screaming baby boy, not unlike the Baby from this chapter.

Chapter VII: A Mad Tea Party - MAJOR REFERENCES
The whole plot is seemingly based on the Hatter's story about his quarrel with Time in this chapter.  Time is now a fully fleshed out character (which is a first for any film adaptation) and as Alice hops through the timeline of Underland, Time follows her and ends up in the exact position that the Hatter references in the story.  In the past, we see the Hatter, Hare, and Dormouse about to begin their tea party and when Time comes looking for Alice, the trio hold him back, trick him, and anger him, causing him to keep them in the Eternal Tea Party stasis until their guest Alice shows up (which she'll eventually do in the book).

Chapter XI: Who Stole the Tarts? - MAJOR REFERENCE
We finally learn about the Red Queen's obsession with people stealing her tarts as a stolen tart caused the rift between her and her sister, the White Queen.

Through the Looking-Glass
Chapter I: Looking-Glass House - MAJOR REFERENCES
Alice crosses into Underland this time through the mirror in Hamish's house.  The room she enters looks quite like the room from this chapter, with a smiling clock, moving pictures, and a living chess set (who don't seem to be the same characters as the Red and White Queen from this adaptation).  Also, we finally see the Slithy Toves in a brief moment later on as the animals leading the Tweedles chariot.

Chapter II: The Garden of Live Flowers - REMOVED

Chapter III: Looking-Glass Insects - MINOR REFERENCE
In the Red Queen's new haunt, she appears to employ many giant bugs, including Gnats.

Chapter IV: Tweedledum and Tweedledee - MINOR REFERENCE
The characters reappear again and when we see them as younger boys, they have a battle in similar fashion to the one from the book.

Chapter V: Wool and Water - MINOR REFERENCES
The same references from the first film reapppear, but now I want to clarify that we see the White Queen as a young girl in the past, so she is definitely not living backwards.  At least, she isn't aging backwards.

Chapter VI: Humpty Dumpty - MINOR REFERENCE

When Alice crosses through into the Looking-Glass House, Humpty Dumpty is on the chessboard and immediately falls off when Alice runs into him.

Chapter VII: The Lion and the Unicorn - MINOR REFERENCES

After Humpty falls, the White King from the chessboard orders all of his horses and men to put him back together again.  Also, during the past scene of the White and Red Princess's coronation, when the two have their falling out, there are Lion and Unicorn statues on either side of them during their fight.  And the outside of the building also sports a flag with the original Tenniel Lion and Unicorn illustrations on it.

Chapter VIII: "It's My Own Invention" - MINOR REFERENCE
When Alice first falls onto the chessboard in the Looking-Glass House, a Red Knight moves to attack her and a White Knight moves to defend her.

Chapter IX: Queen Alice - MINOR REFERENCE?
There are some new minor characters in this film in the form of fruit-and-vegetable people.  The best guess I can make is that these creatures represented the Living Food that Alice meets from this chapter, but its a stretch.

Return to Oz (1985) - MAJOR REFERENCES?

In Time's castle, he employs several clockwork creatures that reminded me of TikTok.  Also, at one point, Alice ends up in a sadistic mental asylum, much like Dorothy did in this film.

Review:

Right off the bat, this film suffers from a lot of what plagued the 2010 film.  An inconsistent tone, a cliched and predictable story, an over-reliance on CGI, and a script that could have used a bit more tweaking.  The morals and messages are really hammered in and obvious and they take away from the film as a whole.  And we get all of the same unrecognizable and less interesting characters again.

But that being said...

I found myself enjoying this film far more than I did the first one.  In fact, if you didn't need to have the first one to establish who all of these characters are, I'd say this was a much better reimagining as a whole and you could do just fine with this film alone.  For one thing, I liked that it went The Godfather II route of telling this new story across time, working as both a prequel and a seqeul.  It did not just retread the same story either.  When Alice begin her time-travelling journey to the past, I was afraid she would just revisit scenes we've seen before or reset characters to the way they were in the first film.

But no, this movie goes beyond all that.  We get to see the Hatter before he went mad during his eternal Tea Party.  We get to see the Red Queen before she became selfish and big-headed.  Some critics may be sick of this whole "origin story" slog of fantasy films, but I felt it was necessary for this franchise.  My main issue with the first film was that I never got to meet these new interpretations of characters.  We just had to ccept them as they were.  These origins allow Depp and Bonham-Cater to draw upon new emotions and tones to give their characters subtlety and it helps tie this reimagining closer to the original stories.

You read that right.  For as little as this film had to do with the Alice stories on a literary level, it does a great job of building off of them on a lore level (that isn't just a Lord of the Rings clone).  This film is to the original books as Wicked was to The Wizard of Oz.  It does out of its way to explain why things were the way they were or to add a new perspective on events.  A lot of the original books has to do with accepting these radical characters at face value, but this movie allows us to learn about the Hatter and the Queens in a more fully realized way.

The scene with Time at the tea party was perfect for me.  I was afraid that Woolverton/Bobin would just use that minor story as an excuse to make a run-off-the-mill villian without any connection to the original story, but no.  In a cool Back-to-the-Future/Primer time travel twist, we see that Alice's interference in the past history of Wonderland/Underland helps set up the events that we see both in the books and the 2010 film.  We see why Time and Hatter quarrel in this altered timeline, and it fits in the story and the whole canon.

Time, by the way, is a lot of fun.  He's played by Sacha Baron Cohen and Bobin admitted that the character's dialogue was written with him in mind.  While I do wish the film handled him a bit more consistently, it was always fun to watch him and see what he would say.  He's not an evil villain, as the marketing would have you believe.  But he is the antagonist and he is actually a worthier foe for Alice than the Red Queen was in the first film.

And, speaking of the Queens, I like that their subplot was important to the flow of the story, but it wasn't the whole of the story.  This time, we actually get to see the Red and White Queen play off of each other and it's more fun pitting them as rivals rather than putting Alice in the middle of them.

I went into this film knowing that it wasn't going to be the best Alice film, but I made sure to keep an open-mind to stay positive.  A time-travelling/fantasy/sci-fi plot can be very hit or miss.  But I found a lot that I actually liked and appreciated from this new chapter of the Burton-Wonderland.  Do we need more stories from this version?  No, but it's nice to see an alternative take on the story made by people who actually care about the originals.

3.5 out of 5 Chronospheres

Alice in Wonderland (2010)

After lying relatively dormant for a decade, Alice in Wonderland came back in a big way with Disney's live-action adaptation, with director Tim Burton at the helm.  His signature style and Lewis Caroll's imaginative world seemed like a collaboration that would be a long time coming.  However, despite having his name attached, this film was not Burton's dream story to tell.

Disney screenwriter Linda Woolverton is the main driving force behind the reason for this film's existence.  Yes, Burton added his impressive visual flair and his favorite cast of actors to bring the script to life, but the story was all Woolverton.  She was the name behinds such Disney classics as Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King as well as the hit broadway musicals Aida and the Beauty and the Beast theatrical adaptation.  She played a role in other big Disney projects as well, so after building this clout, she submitted a personal project that she had been developing for years.  In 2007, she produced a script that focused on an older Alice's return to Wonderland.  The story would borrow elements from the original books and not so much the original Disney film to craft an epic film akin to Lord of the Rings.  Known for her strong female protagonists, she wanted Alice to become the hero that children looked up to, especially young girls.

Burton was attached to the script at Disney's request and he stated in interviews that he never had a personal connection to the original story.  He appreciated the more conventional narrative of Woolverton's script, rather than the randomness of the Carroll books.  The result is a Wonderland that had never been seen before and, for better or worse, it's popularity at the box office has made it the current reference point for new fans of Alice.

Original Source Breakdown
(Because this is a complete new story, I'll just cite the major references I found to the originals.)

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Chapter I: Down the Rabbit Hole - MAJOR REFERENCES
Alice starts the story with a public marriage proposal at a garden party event hosted by the fiance-to-be.  Her discomfort with the Victorian lifestyle causes her to run from the proposal and instead follow the White Rabbit whom she had been seeing around the party.  She falls down the Rabbit Hole and ends up in the Hall of Doors where she undergoes the same actions as she did during her original trip (keys, bottles, cakes, growing and shrinking).  This time, she acknowledges that she is having a dream.

Chapter II: The Pool of Tears - MINOR REFERENCES
Alice does not cry this time and manages to get through the door successfully.  Mallymkun the Dormouse is one of the first characters she meets as she passes through the door and her personality seems to be based on the Mouse from this chapter instead of the actual Dormouse, as she is more prone to action and adventure and disagreement.

Chapter III: The Caucus-Race and a Long Tale - MINOR REFERENCES
Uilleam the Dodo appears as one of the other characters that Alice first encounters.  He is helpful to Alice but quickly captured by the Red Queen's soldiers.

Chapter IV: The Rabbit Sends in a Little Bill - MINOR REFERENCES
The character of Bayard the Bloohound, who Alice first encounters when she is tiny, seems intended to be a grown up version of the Puppy from this chapter, as he is aware of who Alice is.

Chapter V: Advice from a Caterpillar - MAJOR REFERENCES
Absolem the Caterpillar takes on the role of Alice's mentor and the central wise figure of Wonderland (excuse me, Underland), appearing to Alice at key moments of the story to dispense advice, often asking if Alice has figured out who she is yet.

Chapter VI: Pig and Pepper - MAJOR REFERENCES
The Cheshire Cat appears to aid Alice as well, directing Alice to the Hatter and Hare's  tea party.  Also, the Red Queen's appearance draws inspiration from the Duchess's design with an overly large head and small body, as well as her mood swings towards others.  Her court is also staffed with Frog and Fish Footman and she has at least one Pig in her possession who acts as her footstool.  Finally, the March Hare appears to have adopted the Cook's affinity for throwing dishes as he does so during the tea party and then later own when he seeks refuge in the White Queen's kitchen.

Chapter VII: A Mad Tea Party - MAJOR REFERENCES
Alice meets with Tarrant Hightopp (the Hatter) and Thackery Earwicket (the March Hare) at their perpetual tea party where they have been waiting for Alice to help lead the resistance against the Red Queen.  The Dormouse is also present, but again, she acts nothing like the Dormouse of the story.  The Hatter becomes a leading character in this film helping Alice every step of the way, and much of his story is based on being a performer (he leads the trio in "Twinkle, Twinkle" when the Queen's soldiers arrive).  He also asks the famous "raven/writing desk" question several times during the film and also borrows the original Dormouse's focus on "muchness" to become his own personal philosophy about the strength of one's character (that is passed on to Alice).

Chapter VIII: The Queen's Croquet-Ground - MAJOR REFERENCES
After the Hatter is captured, Alice infiltrates the Red Queen's castle where she and her guests are having a croquet-game like the one found in the book.  Alice also recalls painting her roses red from her first visit (and even mentions this in the real world garden party).  The Red Queen is mostly based on the Queen of Hearts with her heart-themed decor as well as her penchance for cutting off people's heads.  The Card Soldiers appear as the Queen's army and the Knave of Hearts serves as her right hand man (and he is much more intelligent in this version, but every bit as deceitful and unloyal as he was in the book).  The King is implied to have been beheaded by the Queen's orders.  Also, when the Hatter is to be executed, the Cheshire Cat takes his place, putting to rest the Executioner's query about whether you can behead something that has no body.

Chapter IX: The Mock Turtle's Story - REMOVED
The original script shows that the Mock Turtle and Gryphon were slated to appear in a brief opening montage/flashback to Alice's original visit.

Chapter X: The Lobster-Quadrille - MINOR REFERENCE
At the garden party, Alice dances in a quadrille with her fiance-to-be, Hamish.  She's not fond of it.

Chapter XI: Who Stole the Tarts? - MINOR REFERENCE
The Red Queen is introduced looking for the culprit of her missing tarts.  One of the Frogs ate them.

Chapter XII: Alice's Evidence - REMOVED
The trial plays out as it should (with some additional dialogue) with Alice using this as her opportunity to get over her stage fright. The creatures of Wonderland feel that it is time for her to wake up and she returns to her family's party. She gets up to sing for her guests and instead chooses to sing the Lobster-Quadrille, much to the audience's enjoyment.

Through the Looking-Glass
Chapter I: Looking-Glass House - MAJOR REFERENCES
The Jabberwock (here called the Jabberwocky) is a major plot point in this story as Alice is the hero destined to slay him on the "Frabjous Day."  The prophecy scrolls as based on John Tenniel's original illustration of the Jabberwock.  Here, it appears as one of the monstrous creatures under the Red Queen's control, along with the Bandersnatch and the Jubjub Bird.  Other references to the poem include a Mome Rath that runs past Alice when she enters Underland (the original script also called for Slithy Toves and Borogoves to also appear), and the Hatter recites a few of the poems verses to Alice, and he later shouts "Callooh, Callay" when she is victorious.

Chapter II: The Garden of Live Flowers - MINOR REFERENCES
The Talking Flowers appear when Alice first enters Underland.  The Red Queen borrows her name from the Red Queen, but very little of her personality.  The final battle takes place on a giant chessboard, much like the one that is established in this chapter.

Chapter III: Looking-Glass Insects - MINOR REFERENCES
A Rocking-Horse Fly and a Snap-Dragon Fly battle it out as Alice enters Underland.  The Gnat was also supposed to make an appearance in the original script.

Chapter IV: Tweedledum and Tweedledee - MAJOR REFERENCES
Dee and Dum appear in supporting roles and they speak in a manor very similar to their speech patterns in the books.  Also, Alice's awareness of being in a dream and the destruction of Underland once she wakes up is very similar to the thoughts on the sleeping Red King from this chapter.

Chapter V: Wool and Water - MINOR REFERENCES

The White Queen appears as the opposing good force against the Red Queen (and as her sister).  The White Queen is very unlike the version in the book, although the fact that she is portrayed as being much younger may be a reference to the fact that the White Queen supposedly "lives backwards."  Alice also references her father's habit of believing "six impossible things before breakfast" and she uses this to strengthen her resolve during the final fight against the Jabberwock(y).  In the book, this was one of the White Queen's quotes.

Chapter VIII: "It's My Own Invention" - MINOR REFERENCE

Except for the Chess Knights in the White Queen's army, there is no specific implication that any are the White Knight from this chapter.

Chapter IX: Queen Alice - MINOR REFERENCE

Alice "captures" the Red Queen at the end of the battle and the Red Queen's crown goes to...the White Queen.

Review:

I had extremely high hopes when I first heard that this movie was coming out.  Just the phrase "Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland" felt like a dream come true!  When I heard it would be live-action and not stop-motion, I was a little disappointed, but then the first images of Alice, the Hatter, and the Red Queen came out, and I was intrigued.  Alice (Mia Wasikowska) was pictured as a deliberately older version of the character, holding a white rabbit, the Hatter (Johnny Depp) was pictured as a colorful clown holding a brown hare, the Red Queen (Helena Bonham-Carter) was pictured as a normal-headed regal villain holding a pig, and the White Queen (Anne Hathaway) was a sensitive goddess admiring a mouse.  I liked the fact that this was going to be going in a different direction with these characters as the main focus.  These promo images stood out to me and I was growing more and more curious as to what the film would be like.

But as the film drew nearer, I would discover more and more reasons to lower my hope.  The trailers while visually interesting were a huge departure from Burton's usual style.  And when an early version of the script leaked on line, I was disappointed to learn that it wouldn't be following the story's plot at all and was even adding a romantic subplot with the Hatter (which was mostly removed in the final version).  Still, I didn't want to judge it before I saw it.

I knew that the film would be a darker reimagining which had seen some success with the book series The Looking-Glass Wars and the American McGee's Alice video game.  It may not have been the Burton Wonderland I had been hoping for, but it could be its own cool thing.

I think it was about the time that Alice left the Hall of Doors that I realized that the film had lost me.  Now, I know I shouldn't let my expectations spoil the story that the filmmakers were trying to tell, but the first 10 minutes led me to believe that we'd be following a retread of the original story with major alterations.  But then we get the Dodo, the White Rabbit, the Dormouse, Tweedledee and Tweedledum, and the Talking Flowers all showing up at once to take Alice to the Caterpillar.  That was a lot to dump on us at this point of the film.

See, the first issue that I had with this "reimagining" was that it felt like a sequel to a story we hadn't seen.  All the characters had different names (and some had different personalities) that we were just supposed to accept as if it had always been the norm.  It was hard to tell what Alice was supposed to be familiar with and what was supposed to be new to her because all of this was new to us.  It sort of felt as if this movie was made for people who had never seen or read any version of the story before and were only familiar with the general attributes.

Now, Disney has done this ever since they've begun making films.  All of their fairy tale adaptations take great strides in distancing themselves from the originals outside of the bare essentials.  But Wonderland doesn't quite fit with those changes.  It is cool to see a Wicked-style take on the darker side of this familiar world, but there needs to be a learning curve for the audience to get used to this new world.  Even something as simple as having Alice share in our confusion would have helped matters.  The reason Alice works as a hero is that the audience can instantly sympathize with her and see themselves in her shoes.  This Alice was a bit too accepting of this brand new world.

Watching it again this time, I knew to expect all of the changes, so I figured that I should just accept the story for what it is and focus on the new one that is trying to be told.  And that would be fine if the new story wasn't so cliched and boring, especially towards the end.  Many reviewers have pointed out that this is your standard mythic hero's journey that has been popularized through films during the 2000s such as Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, and Narnia.  And it's fine if that's the Wonderland story you want to tell.  But nothing new is brought to the table.  There are no surprises.  Every character now slides into a stock role.  There is no tension during the final act because we know, of course, that Alice will defeat the Jabberwock.  If they want to go for a grim, epic, fantasy, actually give us characters and stakes to care about.

When Alice returns home from her adventure, she goes on this strange rant where she deals with each of her issues with every family member, supposedly based on what she learned while in Underland.  But none of these revelations feel as if they were earned in the story and some of them seem to go against the point of the film (like when she calls out her "crazy" aunt for not seeking help for her delusions).  Despite being such a cookie cutter storyline, the motivations of characters a truly all over the place.

My final verdict is that this is not Alice in Wonderland in any sense of the word.  I appreciate what Woolverton was going for with making Alice our next big fantasy heroine, but her script could have used a bit more fine tuning to make for a more cohesive story.  And I appreciate Burton trying to craft a quirky absurd world around a more streamlined plot, but his lack of passion in the source material comes through very strongly.  It looks amazing, but lacks any real substance and internal logic.

The sequel comes out tomorrow, and I'm already hearing news that I should be expecting more of the same. (Woolverton also wrote this script, but James Bobbin has taken over as the director, and I'm a fan of his.)  I'm hoping that maybe they listened to their critics to at least make a more satisfying journey for this Alice to go on.  I want to like this film series, I truly do.  So much of it I adore in theory.  But references alone aren't going to cut it.  It needs more muchness.

2.5 out of 5 Mad Hatter Dance Sequences

Alice in Wonderland (1999)

Following the success of the 1998 Merlin miniseries, NBC picked up visual artist Nick Willing to direct a three-hour Alice in Wonderland television special that would be the first filmed adaptation to incorporate computer effects and imagery in a major way.  As with most live-action versions, several recognizable stars were cast in the supporting roles and with the three-hour runtime (with commercials), a majority of the books would finally be fully realized in a new technological way.

The special won several Primetime Emmy Awards, though it was met with mixed reviews from critics and fan alike.  Nevertheless, it so far remains to be the last major studio adaptation with live actors that is not a reimagining or continuation of the original stories.  Jim Henson's Creature Shop provided animatronics and puppetry for several of the creatures, eliminating the need for goofy animal costumes for the actors.

Original Source Breakdown

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Chapter I: Down the Rabbit Hole - MOSTLY INTACT/ALTERED
A new framing storyline is added to Alice's character.  Her parents are hosting a party with many of their upper-class friends, and have requested that Alice sing a song for their entertainment.  Alice suffers from stage fright, having to sing in front of all these strangers.  She finds a quiet spot in the garden to escape and notices an apple falling strangely.  At this point, the White Rabbit runs past her and the story follows as usual.

Chapter II: The Pool of Tears - MOSTLY INTACT/ALTERED
When Alice grows large, she cries because she gets stuck in the hall.  The Rabbit attempts to help her, but leaves before he can.  The fan and gloves magically transport to Alice's hands and the pool of tears leads her to a sewer.  She does not unintentionally insult the Mouse, and he is quite civil to her as he takes her to his chambers to get dry.

Chapter III: The Caucus-Race and a Long Tale - MOSTLY INTACT/ALTERED
The Mouse touts himself as an English professor on his way to deliver a dry lecture.  He sings a song about it to help Alice with her fear of performing.  The other birds appear out of books in his library, and they all fall asleep during his lesson.  They hold the Caucus Race afterwards and once the prizes are handed out, the animals all leave to rest, instead of Alice insulting them again.

Chapter IV: The Rabbit Sends in a Little Bill - INTACT
The whole chapter is kept in, including the giant Puppy!

Chapter V: Advice from a Caterpillar - MOSTLY INTACT/ALTERED
The Caterpillar is presented as "Major Caterpillar" and takes a very militaristic attitude during his conversation with Alice.  Much of his hostility is removed and it actually seems as if he wants to help Alice with her troubles.  Alice only recites the first verse of "Father William."  The Caterpillar turns into a butterfly during a sudden moment of enlightenment as he tells Alice about the mushroom.  The Pigeon once again does not make it into the story.

Chapter VI: Pig and Pepper - INTACT
Another fully intact chapter.  The Duchess is presented as much less of a shouter in this version, with the Cook providing all of the ruckus.  The Cheshire Cat's conversation is a bit out of order as it too tries to help Alice with her fears.

Chapter VII: A Mad Tea Party - INTACT/ALTERED
The full scene is left in with a lot of additional banter between the Hatter and Hare, including an extra song performance before "Twinkle, Twinkle," because when you cast Martin Short as your Mad Hatter, you're going to get as much as you can out of him.  He too helps Alice with her stage fright, since he enjoys being a performer.

Chapter VIII: The Queen's Croquet-Ground - INTACT/ALTERED
Nearly everything from this chapter is kept in.  The only cards that appear (besides the Spade Gardeners) are Hearts and the Kings and Queens of other suits, which is an interesting choice.  The Knave and Queen get additional lines as well (again, due to the comedic actors portraying them).

Chapter IX: The Mock Turtle's Story - MOSTLY INTACT/ALTERED
The conversation between Alice and the Duchess is once again cut short.  The Queen chats with Alice a bit about getting her back home but is then distracted by the croquet game.  Alice navigates the hedge maze and finds the Gryphon on her own who is perched in a statuary.  He introduces her to the small Mock Turtle who sits on a pedestal in front of him.  The Mock Turtle's story is also cut short.

Chapter X: The Lobster-Quadrille - MOSTLY INTACT/ALTERED
The Turtle and Gryphon sing the Lobster-Quadrille with animated sea animals dancing to it.  Alice then recites "'Tis the Voice of the Lobster" and the Turtle gives her more advice about confronting her fears.  He then sings "Beautiful Soup" in full as the Gryphon reveals the soup in the pedestal.  Alice leaves as she plans to return home, but ends up crossing into "the other book."

Chapter XI: Who Stole the Tarts? - INTACT/ALTERED
The entire jury is made up of guinea pigs now.  And Alice sits with the Duchess, who takes over the Gryphon's lines.  Everything else is as it is in the book, with the usual additional dialogue.

Chapter XII: Alice's Evidence - MOSTLY INTACT/ALTERED
The trial plays out as it should (with some additional dialogue) with Alice using this as her opportunity to get over her stage fright.  The creatures of Wonderland feel that it is time for her to wake up and she returns to her family's party.  She gets up to sing for her guests and instead chooses to sing the Lobster-Quadrille, much to the audience's enjoyment.

Through the Looking-Glass

Chapter I: Looking-Glass House - REFERENCED

There are a couple mirror moments, such as in the Rabbit's house and, more explicitly as Alice walks into the Queen's garden from the Hall of Doors, as she must walk through her own reflection.  When Alice enters the Looking-Glass part of the story, however, she walks through a giant book.

Chapter II: The Garden of Live Flowers - MOSTLY REMOVED

After meeting the White Knight, Alice encounters a patch of ground with the Talking Flowers.  She has her conversation with them from the books, minus references to the Red Queen who is not in this version.  She asks for help in finding her way home as she leaves them.

Chapter IV: Tweedledum and Tweedledee - INTACT/ALTERED

The full chapter remains intact, even the sleeping Red King is featured.  Dum and Dee have more dialogue and they present "The Walrus and the Carpenter" like a little puppet theater show (with live miniature actors).

Chapter VII: The Lion and the Unicorn - REFERENCED

Alice guesses that the Queen of Hearts's password is "Lions and Unicorns."

Chapter VIII: "It's My Own Invention" - MOSTLY INTACT/ALTERED

Alice encounters the fighting Knights as soon as she enters the book.  The scene plays out though the White Knight's conversation is shorter and doesn't involve his "Aged Man" poem.  He does teach Alice one more time to be brave as he rides away on his horse.

Review:

1999 was the first year that I actually sat down and read the complete Alice in Wonderland books.  So I was fully prepared to see this adaptation.  I had grown up on the Disney version only, and I wanted to see what a more intact and accurate version could be like.  So, unlike many critics, this became my second favorite version.  I really enjoyed and appreciated it.

Seeing it again now after so many versions, I must say that it mostly holds up.  Some of the special effects are a little cheesy and the humor is a little corny, but there is a lot of authenticity and fun to be found in this version.  This version doesn't feel like it's a hokey dress-up party.  Every actor is giving their all and bringing their signature routines to their characters.  I know Martin Short's schtick isn't for everyone, and Miranda Richardson's Queenie character is irritating on purpose, and Whoopi Goldberg as the Cheshire Cat just sounds like a joke, but I thoroughly enjoyed all of their takes on these characters.

My favorite scene may just be the Mock Turtle scene because, at the time I first read the book, I was surprised that there were these two funny characters that were completely foreign to me.  Alice meets a Gryphon and a Mock Turtle?!  I want to see that.  The Gryphon is a Henson creation, but the Mock Turtle is Gene Wilder in an awkwardly designed turtle suit.  And he really owns that character.  It's Gene Wilder being Gene Wilder of course, playing everything with a sly wink as to how absurd he's being, but it adds a genuine layer of humility to the scene and the movie as a whole.

The aspect of this version that never really worked for me was Tina Majorino as Alice.  She's about 14-years-old, but she doesn't act her age.  I think what works against her is that her main character impetus is to "get over stage fright," which is a hard character motivation to maintain for over two hours.  I like the whole getting over one's fears thing in theory, but this is not a particularly frightening Wonderland.

This is the friendliest version of Wonderland I've seen.  Every character pauses to help Alice along at some point, toning down their hostile rudeness from the books.  There is still nonsense and logic battles, but it just feels like a bunch of friendly cartoon characters have come to help out their friend.  It's a sweet ending and a fine change, but it takes away a lot of the driving force behind the story.

That being said, I do like the little touches that gives this version its own voice.  Like The Wizard of Oz, we see the real-life counterparts of all the Wonderland characters at the Liddell garden party.  It doesn't overstay its point and it works much better than other versions I've seen.  I also enjoy a lot of the extra dialogue.  The jokes feel very Carollian with some modern aspects.  During the trial, the Knave remarks that he hasn't spoken for "several pages" which is an excellent observation (the Knave barely speaks in the book, which is a real shame).

While this version may no longer be my second favorite, I do greatly appreciate it still, and I think it may be the best straight-forward live-action adaptation that we are likely to see in this post-Burton world.

4 out of 5 Henson Creatures

Něco z Alenky (1988)

Czech director Jan Švankmajer had always been fond of the works of Lewis Carroll.  After making short stop-motion films based on "Jabberwocky" and similar topics, Švankmajer tried hid hand at a feature film that would combine live-action and stop-motion.  He said his aim with this adaptation was to take away the common fairy tale elements that most other directors embrace in the story.  He wanted his film to feel like a dream, an actual dream without reason, logic, or morals holding back the dreamer.

"While a fairy tale has got an educational aspect – it works with the moral of the lifted forefinger (good overcomes evil), dream, as an expression of our unconscious, uncompromisingly pursues the realisation of our most secret wishes without considering rational and moral inhibitions, because it is driven by the principle of pleasure. My Alice is a realised dream." - Švankmajer, 2011

The result is an effectively creepy yet interestingly clever take on the alice story.  There is very little dialogue, with Švankmajer choosing to rely on his visuals to retell the story.  Wonderland itself is presented as Alice's house, so many of the scenes take place in different bare rooms in a large house.

Original Source Breakdown

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Chapter I: Down the Rabbit Hole - MOSTLY INTACT/ALTERED
Alice starts outside with her sister by the river bank s her sister reads.  Alice informs the audience that the following story is best experienced with their eyes closed and the scene transitions to inside an attic where Alice is surrounded by knick knacks and household items.  The White Rabbit appears as a stuffed rabbit in a glass case who comes to life and leads Alice into a wasteland with a small desk drawer.  Alice travels through the drawer to find the Rabbit eating.  The Rabbit escapes and Alice, trying to find him, travels down a hole that is more like an elevator shaft.  She passes the Orange Marmalade along the way and finds herself in a room at the bottom (where an altered version of the key and door scene plays out).

Chapter II: The Pool of Tears - MOSTLY INTACT/ALTERED
When Alice cannot get through the door, she cries and fills up the room with water.  The Mouse floats by and tries to set up camp on her head, but Alice sneezes him off.  The Rabbit rows by with some shrinking cakes and Alice eats one and manages to follow the current of the pool outside where she is attacked by birds.

Chapter III: The Caucus-Race and a Long Tale - REMOVED

Chapter IV: The Rabbit Sends in a Little Bill - MOSTLY INTACT/ALTERED
Alice meets up with the White Rabbit who sends her into his house.  After she grows and engages with a battle with the Rabbit, he summons other animals to flush Alice out.  Bill is sent down the chimney and kicked out.  After Alice shrinks and makes her escape, the animals all take revenge on her.  They chase her about Wonderland and succeed in catching her in a pot of milk that causes her to grow and become trapped in a life-size doll.  They lock her in a pantry where she breaks out of her plaster encasing.  She searches the odd foods in the pantry until she finds a key that allows her to escape.

Chapter V: Advice from a Caterpillar - MOSTLY INTACT/ALTERED
Alice discovers a room filled with Caterpillars (made out of socks).  One of them dons eyes and a mouth and fashions a mushroom and the two have their usual conversation (minus the poetry).  Alice cuts off two pieces of the mushroom and leaves the Caterpillars room.  She tests out the mushroom pieces in a room with trees (that shrink or grow, depending on which piece she eats).

Chapter VI: Pig and Pepper - MOSTLY REMOVED/ALTERED
Alice finds another room with a tiny house and a baby's screams and crashing sounds coming from within.  Alice gets a little closer in size to the house as she observes the Frog and Fish Footmen exchange the invitation.  When she peers into the house, the White Rabbit has taken over the roles of the Cook and Duchess, both feeding the baby and throwing dishes around.  The Rabbit throws Alice the Baby, who turns into a pig and runs out of the room.  There is no Cheshire Cat.

Chapter VII: A Mad Tea Party - ALTERED
Alice encounters another room with the Hatter and Hare who are a string puppet and wind-up toy respectively.  The Hatter keeps the conversation going (nd at one point, pulls the White Rabbit out of his hat who leaves the room) while the Hare attempts to fix his watch.  Eventually, their actions begin to repeat as the Hatter drinks more and more tea, the Hare fixes more and more watches, and the two move around the table.  When every tea cup has been used, a mink fur (the Dormouse?) appears from a teapot, licks clean all the cups, and the whole cycle begins again, with the same dialogue.  Alice leaves, but checks in one last time as the White Rabbit is pulled out of the hat again, and Alice follows him this time to the Court of Cards.

Chapter VIII: The Queen's Croquet-Ground - ALTERED
When Alice enters the court, two Knaves are having a swordfight.  The Queen orders their execution, and the White Rabbit cuts off their heads with scissors (the bodies keep fighting).  Elsewhere in the court, the Hatter and Hare reappear, playing a card game.  The Queen orders their heads off as well, and the Rabbit follows suit.  The two creatures switch heads.  Finally, the cards play croquet and Alice finds that when she attempts to play, the equipment becomes actual living animals (chickens and hedgehogs).

Chapter IX: The Mock Turtle's Story - REMOVED
Chapter X: The Lobster-Quadrille - REMOVED

Chapter XI: Who Stole the Tarts? - MOSTLY REMOVED/ALTERED
Alice is immediately called to the stand for stealing the tarts.

Chapter XII: Alice's Evidence - ALTERED
Alice pleads that she is innocent, but during the course of the trial, she ends up eating all of the tarts.  The cards and creatures turn hostile and Alice wakes up back in the attic.  However, she notices that the stuffed White Rabbit is still missing from his case.  So she grabs the Rabbit's scissors and ponders over whether or not she should behead the Rabbit when she catches him...

Review:

I had seen this version of the film about four years ago when it was on Netflix and I thought it would be worth checking out.  The first time through, I had no idea what to expect.  I thought it was deeply unsettling, it moved too slow, and it made too many alterations to the story.  Revisiting the film has made me love it 10 times more.

Maybe it's the fact that I've sat through so many versions of Alice that are basically crbon copies of each other, but this dark and disturbing adaptation was a breath of fresh air.  My synopsis of each chapter doesn't even come close to conveying how fully realized and altered each chapter truly is.  The film begins with a sense that something is not right.  Alice is sitting with her sister, but we can't see her sister's head in the frame and her sister never even moves, even though it's a person playing the part.  Later, in the attic, we see doll versions of Alice and her sister, sitting in the exact same pose, implying that the two scenes were one and the same.

Also, after Alice instructs the audience to close their eyes, I noticed that the sounds of Alice in the attic are really sharp and unnerving.  For a few minutes, we keep hearing a "plop" of something in liquid, but the camera pan around the room and never shows us what could be making that sound.  It's an interesting technique to get the audience used to questioning what they see.  The stop-motion also allows for clever effects, such as Alice becoming the doll version of herself whenever she shrinks, which helps the audience tell what size Alice is supposed to be at any given time.

As the director stated, this is a very dreamlike Wonderland, in that you can imagine Alice having this nightmare based on the weird things found around her house.  The fact that Wonderland itself is her own house makes things even creepier, as she really has no place to escape to to feel safe.  That being said, Alice herself never seems too upset or off put by the weird events around her.  She's in the dream and just accepts things like the White Rabbit eating his own sawdust that is always falling out of its chest.  There are also humorous moments, like every time Alice encounters the desk drawer (which is always popping up), she always manages to accidentally pull the knob off before opening it.  This repetition and lack of success really makes the "dream" sensation come alive.

Speaking of the White Rabbit, he essentially becomes the villainous bogeyman of this whole story.  He is a lot more involved in every scene, and he is often violent towards Alice.  He carries a pair of scissors around with him during the whole movie, which pays off during the final scenes at the court where we see him take the role of executioner.

I remember the first time I saw this film, I disliked the Mad Tea Party, as the fun dialogue was no longer intact.  But this time, we get to literally see the effects of the trio being trapped in a perpetual tea time without the Hatter having to explain it to us.  The whole film is filled with these cool bits of suggestion that shows the real horrors that lie beneath Wonderland, and it all relies on the visuals.  Another cool bit of set-up and pay off is that in the attic, we see a mousetrap that is set and much later on as Alice passes from one room to the next, she passes by the Mouse from Chapter II dead in a trap.  It's this tragic little tale that plays out within the larger story.

Knowing what to expect this time around, this movie becomes an easy recommendation.  It doesn't feel like it's deliberately trying to be a scary film, as everything happens so matter of fact.  But the sense of dream logic is strong and it's only after you watch it that you realize how creepy everything truly was.  If you like your Wonderland to be as close to a nightmare as you can get in a kid's film, this is the version for you.

4.5 out of 5 Animal Skulls