DVD review: Alice in Wonderland ***

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Stars: Johnny Depp, Helena

Bonham Carter, Mia Wasikowska

Director: Tim Burton

Rated: PG

Runtime: 108 minutes

Adventure/fantasy

Visionary filmmaker Tim Burton serves up a very loose adaptation of Lewis Carroll’s much-loved 1865 novel — a disappointing style over substance fantasy driven by characters and cinematography rather than narrative.

The story sees a 19-year-old Alice (Mia Wasikowska) returning to the magical world she visited as a child — although she does not remember it or its weird inhabitants — and learns it is her destiny to slay the Jabberwocky and save the land from the wicked Red Queen (Helena Bonham Carter). Wonderland is the dark and quirky landscape you would expect from Burton, who helmed The Nightmare Before Christmas.

Like all of his films, the movie has a gothic, dark look and may scare young children.

A few scenes are particularly disturbing, notably a spike being driven through eyeballs. But there is no denying the visual richness and flawless detail in Burton’s Wonderland — it’s just debateable whether it can make up for the deficiencies in plot and dialogue, where wacky accents often take the place of actual jokes.

Johnny Depp once again shows off his chameleon-like acting skills to become the eccentric and ghoulish Mad Hatter.

He is barely recognisable as with his orange hair, over-sized eyes and ghostly pallor, all topped off with lurid Victorian dress. But like his Scottish accent, his likeability comes and goes.

The rest of the cast is a who’s who of famous voices, including Stephen Fry as the Cheshire Cat and Alan Rickman as the smoking caterpillar.

Sadly, newcomer Wasikowska fails to give Alice any depth — our heroine is dull and unengaging.

Watch if you liked: Disney’s Alice In Wonderland.