When I heard that Disney was producing a live-action version of Alice in Wonderland I was both nervous and excited. I was never a fan of the animated “classic” and I felt it missed the point of the books entirely. So the new version offered a chance to either fix the mistakes of the earlier version (a la 2003’s Peter Pan), or a chance to fail again. Then when I heard it would be a Tim Burton/ Johnny Depp collaboration, my heart sank. The last time they did a remake/adaptation we were left with the absolutely horrible Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. But I still had faith in the duo, with their many previous successes and their tremendous pool of talent to draw from. As the cast filled out better than I had hoped, and the images and trailers began emerging I allowed myself to hope that this time I wouldn’t be disappointed. When I found out that it was based on an original take of Alice’s story, rather than a direct translation, my excitement reached its peak. But I never, ever would have guessed what we were in store for. Continue reading →