'Alice' a 'Wonderland' of stunning visual effects

ALICE IN WONDERLAND — ★★★ — Mia Wasikowska, Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter; shown in both the 2D and 3D formats, and in the large-screen format; rated PG (violence, brief drugs, slurs, brief gore, mild vulgarity); in general release

The new, visually stunning movie version of "Alice in Wonderland" is definitely not Lewis Carroll's "Alice in Wonderland."

For better or worse, this is director Tim Burton's version of the beloved and much-filmed Carroll tales, and all that entails.

Like most of Burton's works, this fantasy is bizarre and even a bit zany. Here, Burton uses a combination of live-action, motion-capture technology and computer-generated imagery to bring Carroll's characters to life, while adding some more modernist and peculiar touches to the material.

Also, it should be mentioned that there is some upsetting imagery and content, which begs the question of whether the movie should have gotten a PG-13 rating from the MPAA, rather than the supposedly more family-friendly PG rating.

Still, the first two-thirds of this film are as good and are as enjoyable as anything Burton has done in his career — even going back to such earlier works as "Pee-wee's Big Adventure" (1985), "Beetle Juice" (1988) and "Edward Scissorhands" (1990). In many respects, this is the most crowd-pleasing Burton film in many years.

Burton's title character is Alice Kingsleigh, an imaginative and strong-willed teen — played by Mia Wasikowska, an up-and-coming actress who resembles both Claire Danes and Gwyneth Paltrow.

Alice is feeling pressure to conform and is being pursued, romantically, by a dull-as-dirt suitor, Hamish (Leo Bill). In a panic, she runs away from her engagement party and subsequently falls down a rabbit hole.

And that's where things — as they say in Carroll's books — get "curiouser and curiouser." The rabbit hole actually leads to Underland, a fantasy world that looks a lot like the place Alice has been dreaming of on a nightly basis.

While there, Alice has encounters with various members of what appears to be a "rebel army" consisting of a white rabbit in a waistcoat, a door mouse, a dodo, talking flowers, a caterpillar and a mischievous Cheshire cat.

She also befriends the Mad Hatter (Johnny Depp), who informs her that Underland is suffering under the yoke of the tyrannical Red Queen (the face and voice of Burton's off-screen partner, Helena Bonham Carter).