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Top Critics (39)
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DVD (24)
Its single biggest failing -- an affront to Lewis Carroll and the charms of nonsense literature -- is the fact that it makes sense.
The true three-dimensionality here is the old-fashioned kind -- Wasikowska's fully rounded performance. Throughout the technical razzle-dazzle, we keep returning to the pallor of that face, the gravity in those eyes.
A visually imaginative fairy tale that suffers slightly from its predictable course but still manages to wow at all the crucial moments.
Burton and Disney have found a glorious way to interpret fairy tales and fantasies.
No knockouts here. No tkos, either.
A film adaptation should, of course, treat its source material as inspiration rather than dogma. But did Burton have to get the books so entirely wrong?
That Johnny Depp's take on the Mad Hatter is comparatively one of the more subdued performances tells you just how out there Tim Burton's film is.
Wobbles along as average entertainment garnered from a great book.
For all of the wild, 3D effects, eccentric characters and sly nods to its source material, the highlights ... are the performances of his two favorite actors--Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter.
Lewis Carroll is bent over a table, tears filling beneath his eyes. Something in your heart breaks. Your childhood, perhaps?
Burton's imagination never lets up ... and while those 3-D effects do seem to fade into the background, you can feed your head on his Wonderland for the entire trip.
...an endeavor that's big on spectacle yet small on plot...
More Disney than Tim Burton.
Despite stunning visuals and fine performances Alice in Wonderland never really goes anywhere. Or rather it goes somewhere we've all been before.
An endless series of tedious set pieces, flat characterization, lethargic visual effects, a waste of raw talent...
Even though Burton is unable to channel much suspense or awe, the film is a sumptuous visual delight. It all adds up to a mildly enjoyable adventure, sadly lacking in ambition.
The Tim Burton sensibility is a perfect match for bringing Lewis Carroll to life; unfortunately, when the screenplay gets around to creating a story to take place in this world, it becomes awkward and dull.
A bland adventure fantasy, Alice in Wonderland may be pretty to look at, yet offers nothing more than Tim Burton's now generic and uninspired brand of filmmaking.
The imposition of a fairytale quest structure turns the surrealist wanderings (and wonderings) of a free-associating dreamer into a brusque crash-zoom, as Alice hurtles towards her appointment on the good-versus-evil battlefield.
The Alice books gained fame for being totally unconventional, and you decide to make a totally conventional movie out of them?
Burton and Wonderland may sound on paper like a marriage made in heaven, but the result is disappointingly bland and half-baked.
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