Disney has decided Alice needs a makeover and they’ve hired none other than Tim Burton to perform this herculean task.
Written by Louis Carroll and produced by Tim Burton, this version is being filmed in digital and IMAX-3D. And with Tim Burton’s penchant for special effects, that 3-D should really make this one magical film!
This story takes place 12 years after the originals, Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland and Through The Looking Glass. Alice is now 19 and is visiting a Victorian Estate when she finds out she’s about to be proposed to in front of hundreds of snooty society types. She runs off following the White Rabbit, goes down the rabbit hole and ends up back in Wonderland, a place she visited years before but doesn’t remember.
In this version, Alice Kinglsey, played by Mia Wasikowska, is older and wiser and she becomes more of a heroine than in previous presentations. Tim Burton has said that he never really liked the character of Alice. Audiences of Disney’s original production were not happy with her either. Burton will make Alice a more likable, approachable character, one that audiences, young and old, can identify with and relate to.
Burton also intends to try to piece together a more cohesive story, rather than having Alice simply leap from one fantastical character to another. The original Disney animated version involved 5 different directors all vying to make their segment the best and none of them really tied together. Burton plans to rectify this and create a smoother story line.
Next up, and perhaps the most anticipated and talked about character, is, of course, Johnny Depp as The Madd Hatter. What a great choice!
There is a place. Like no place on Earth. A land full of wonder, mystery, and danger! Some say to survive it: You need to be as mad as a hatter. Which, luckily, I am!
I can’t imagine any other actor having THAT line in THIS movie! 
This will be Depp’s seventh film with Burton.
- Edward Scissorhands (1990)
- Ed Wood (1994)
- Sleepy Hollow (1999)
- Charlie And The Chocolate Factory (2005)
- Corpse Bride (2005)
- Sweeney Todd (2007)
- Alice In Wonderland (2010)
One of the first characters Alice meets is the White Queen. Immortalized by Carol Channing in 1985, this time around she’s being portrayed by the beautiful Anne Hathaway (”Princess Diaries”, “The Devil Wears Prada”) Alice first meets the White Queen as she’s looking for her daughter, Lily. Alice helps by lifting the Queen from the floor to the table top doll house causing the silly little Queen to believe she’s been moved by a “Tornado”. And, if not a Tornado, then a “Cyclone. Or a Tornadone. Or a Cyclado.”
Helena Bonham Carter plays The Red Queen. The Red Queen is often confused with The Queen Of Hearts and in some versions, including this Burton remake, the two characters are combined. The Red Queen represented authority in Alice’s dreamworld, and had a mentoring role, originally. And her advice to Alice?
“Now, here, you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that!”.
I love the way they’re filming this production! The Red Queen’s head is being increased to 3 times it’s size, digitally, to give her this freaky look!
And in another character-confusing twist that’s been brought down through the years, Tweedle Dum And Tweedle Dee will also be in the movie. Originally, the pair wasn’t introduced until Through The Looking Glass. But people often confuse the characters of the two stories and now they’re included in almost every telling.
The actor protraying both characters, Tweedle Dum AND Tweedle Dee, is English comedian Matthew Lucas.
Now that we’ve seen the pics that are available of the characters, let’s take a look at some of the concept art that’s been posted. I don’t know about you, but I plan to go see this movie for the artwork and costumes, nevermind the actual story! Oh, and Johnny Depp, too! Of Course!
Concept Art For Tim Burton’s Alice In Wonderland
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