Alice in Wonderland.

In Linda Woolverton’s 2010 adaptation of one of Britain’s classic children’s stories, Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland, we are not allowed to escape into Alice’s normally imagined fantasy land. Along with the nineteen year old Alice Kingsleigh (convincingly played by the Australian actress Mia Wasikowska) we are dropped into a war zone and we form an alliance with a group of rebels led by the eccentric Mad Hatter (Johnny Depp). The ‘bad’ Red Queen (Helena Bonham Carter) and her army of red playing cards have to be deposed from their position of power and replaced with the ‘good’ White Queen. Alice wielding a large sword and dressed in a suit of armour slays the Jabberwocky to seal the rebels success! On her return to the real world (which does indecently mirror the ‘Underland’) Alice’s reward is to become a capitalist entrepreneur and sail into the distance to exploit yet another country in the name of British trade, China. Tim Burton’s quirky take on the original Alice stories, set thirteen years later, is a mix of live action characters and CGI images voiced by mainly British actors including Imelda Staunton, Barbara Windsor, Stephan Fry and Timothy Spall. Even in 2D, with its magic special effects it’s a visual and enjoyable treat for children of all ages!