By Jerry Cutler

Written nearly a century and a half ago, Alice has come to us over the years as an adorable young girl who meets up with some of the strangest characters in Wonderland. Then, Tim Burton came and made her 13 years older in the person of Mia Wasikowska, and with the addition of 3D, has Burton-ized Lewis Carroll’s classic into a darker and very exciting movie.

From the opening credits and ample use of 3D to the end, you will be enthralled with the story and the zany characters led by the maddest of Hatters, a gap toothed, Marty Allen hairdo dude, psychotically challenged Johnny Depp.  I asked myself, “Why does Depp always take on off-beat maniacal characters?” I answered myself, “Because he must be a big kid at heart and no one I can think of plays eccentricity like this brilliant multi-talented actor.”

The story unfolds as Alice, taking leave of a stuffy suitor on what is to be her engagement day, follows a rabbit, as she had in her dreams as a child, down a hole. When she meets up with the rabbit (voiced by Michael Sheen), Cheshire Cat (voice by Stephen Fry) and Blue Caterpillar (Alan Rickman's voice), they do not believe she is the right Alice. This doesn’t bode well for them because who then will end the reign of the wicked Red Queen played outstandingly by Helen Bonham Carter.  No one shrieks “Off with their heads” as convincingly and terrifyingly as she.

It is The Mad Hatter who teams up with Alice to try and bring Wonderland to its original luster and turn the mantle over the good White Queen’s rule played by Anne Hathaway. They meet many obstacles and nefarious creatures along the way. Burton brings out live trees and their ominous branches that reach out menacingly and roads that are filled with colorful talking flowers, towers that elicit danger and the most wicked dragon you have ever seen.  

Rabbit, Cheshire Cat and Blue Caterpillar delightfully keep the action moving when Alice and Hatter aren’t on screen.

To bolster their efforts in doing away with Red Queen, are Tweedledee and Tweedledum, and my favorite, Bayard the Bloodhound (voiced by Timothy Spall). They all join in to help Alice (think of a young Mia Farrow) who, thanks to the madness of the Hatter, change from an innocent girl to a determined woman, not unlike Joan of Arc, who faces the dreaded dragon in a showdown. Hooray for women’s lib and Alice’s fearless courage.

Alice In Wonderland is not for the kiddies but if you are a kid at heart, you’re gonna have a good time.

A solid 3 bagels out of 4