"Narrative is linear, but action has breadth and depth as well as height and is solid."-Thomas Carlyle

The anticipation of Alice in Wonderland (Tim Burton, 2010) through the media and advertising was effective, however, may have been it's downfall setting the expectations of the film too high. In true Burton style the audience is hit with extreme visuals fulfilling the advertising hype, however, the story-line is far from successful. It seems when trying to produce a sequel for the long time classic story of Alice in Wonderland the the story-line was written for the sole purpose of producing a sequel. It lacks cleverness, meaning and, apart from the characters, familiarity. It would have been a lot more effective if they had simply remade the well known story of Alice in Wonderland.

On the other hand the CGI, characters and set are magnificent. The whole film is undoubtedly in Tim Burton style; dark, bizarre, detailed and textured. The feel of the film depicted by Burton's sets, characters and costumes is fantastic, eerie yet intriguing and attractive. The different costumes are creative and imaginative and blend well with the sense of the film. The familiar characters are comforting to see and are portrayed excellently in the films style carried by so some great acting. Of course Johnny Depp delivers Burton's adaption of the Mad Hatter exceptionally, as does Helena Bonham Carter as the Red Queen. The casting is pleasantly surprising having Crispin Glover as the Knave of Hearts, an unusual character for Glover, however fulfilling the role well. Stephen Fry as the voice of the Caterpillar also deserves praise. Conversely, Mia Wasikowska in her lead role as Alice doesn't excel and is merely sufficient. The audience doesn't have a chance to feel affection or passion for her character.

The CGI is spectacular leading the audience in feeling these are real characters in this bizarre world. Todays graphics and special effects keep exceeding and with the new aspect of 3D introduced continues to amaze. The aesthetics of the film, including special effects, character development, set and costume, are it's strongest points, however not strong enough to carry the weak and dull story-line that seems to be written to show case the rest.