Alice in Wonderland is Tim Burton’s delightfully quirky take on Lewis Carroll’s books Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass. The plot centers around the ventures of 19-year-old Alice, played by Mia Wasikowska, who has just the right balance of naivete and tenacity. In the opening scene, she is put on the spot with a marriage proposal from the mundane Hamish Ascot, which she can either accept (as is expected of her), or refuse, presumably to follow in her late father’s adventurous footsteps. Under the pressure, the easily-distracted Alice flees the scene and chases a rabbit down a hole, ending up in Wonderland.

The dark and foreboding nature of Wonderland, which we later learn is really called Underland, stands in stark contrast to the bright and cheerful, albeit trite, garden party going on in the real world. The characters are eerie-looking and the music is chilling, resulting in a haunting ambience that reminds us that this is less a children’s movie than a nightmarish version for adults.

In Underland, Alice comes across many forgettable characters but a few memorable ones, including the Mad Hatter (Johnny Depp), the Red Queen (Helena Bonham Carter), and the White Queen (Anne Hathaway). Depp stands out as he channels a Willy Wonka-like eccentricity while still managing to give the Hatter an endearing touch. The two queens are feuding sisters, and Alice must ultimately help the White Queen defeat the Red Queen’s monstrous Jabberwocky.

The plot flows in the darkly whimsical manner that is typical of Burton films. The dream team of Burton, Depp, Carter, and Danny Elfman (on the musical score) never fails to delight, and Alice is no exception. Things begin to waver only at the very end, when Alice battles the Jabberwocky. The battle scene is unimpressive and entirely predictable. One might have hoped for a more unique, fresh take on the archetypal slaying-of-the-monster scene, but the movie unfortunately falls flat in this regard.

The characters are all rather odd and have something not-quite-right about them: the Red Queen has a comically oversized head, the Mad Hatter is prominently gap-toothed and has disturbingly vibrant eyes behind thick white eyelashes, and the Red Queen’s right-hand man, Stayne (Crispin Glover), has strangely elongated limbs. Most of the other characters are CGI-generated creatures, and they fail to make a lasting impression. The visuals are certainly rich and engaging, but this is one movie where the human-based characters have a certain air about them that the purely-CGI creatures simply cannot channel.

The sharp division between good and evil, between love and fear, lacks any nuance. Rare moments that invite sympathy for the snubbed Red Queen, jealous of her favored sister, are rare, shallow, and extremely short-lived. They do little to change the impression that she is a tyrant and that the White Queen is perfect, always gentle and kind. This black-and-white distinction creates an overly-simplistic world in which we would probably be better off enjoying the pretty pictures and odd characters than dwelling too much on the plot.

While the visual effects are great, the 3-D version adds nothing to the film. This movie is not on the graphical order of something like Avatar, where 3-D makes all the difference in creating an encompassing, engrossing visual experience. Alice would be just as appealing, perhaps even more so, without the 3-D; it simply feels clunky and unnecessary in an otherwise captivating film.