So much average

This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

Are there redeeming features here? Because I can't find them. This film is horrible on just so many levels.The set design is shoddy to the point that it looks like a high school performance for the most part (despite the assembly of a great cast of English character actors - Ian Holm, Steve Coogan, Kate Beckinsale as Alice - we know where the money went then).The cinematography is awful, constantly leaving the viewer second guessing the possible motivation for the camera changes - Blair Witch style hand-held becomes a staple for some reason, but why? Are we meant to be scared? I mean, hey, I was...but not for the right reasons.The script is not so bad, but then how could it fail, coming from such a magnificent text to begin with. Rather, the problem is the pacing and lack of action - how often do we need to sit, bored and restless, as the actors and camera sit statically in front of us, reading slab after slab of text? This is supposed to be a film, a dynamic movement - for the love of God give me some movement.There is just so much bad to be said about this film that it's not worth going on. Oh, in case you haven't quite figured it out yet, don't see this film. Go rent the Disney animated version of the original Alice instead, or, better yet - read the book.

A. The Jabberwock was terribly translated to screen. Granted none of it followed Tenniel, but the Jabberwock was poorly done and could have been scarier if it were somewhat like in the book.B. I was looking forward to a Lion and the Unicorn scene to make up for what the show lacked and was disappointed to see just a brief mention of it on a newspaper page. Instead they made up for the time to do the Wasp. To give some background on the Wasp for those that have seen it and don't understand, Tenniel gave his advice to Carroll to ditch that entire part. Tenniel couldn't translate him into a picture and said it was a waste of time. Though it is in a very old issue of The Smithsonian.So why did they replace the best part of Alice with that?Overall, I'm disappointed and though, yes, the colors and the scenery and even the film variations were well done, it was a terrible translation.

I only had a passing familiarity with the works of Lewis Carroll, (I had a children's book of Alice in Wonderland and gave a reading of Jabberwocky for my tenth grade English class) so I couldn't comment very authoritatively on the literary significance of this movie. I can say I thought some of the readings were very good...Humpty-Dumpty and the White Knight for instance. But I especially liked Kate Beckinsale's performance. She is very beautiful and talented, and by herself would make the picture worth watching.

I taped this for my four year old daughter, who is obsessed with the Disney version and was watching it twice a day if I let her. This was a charming, wonderful change. The actress playing Alice is fantastic, she is really like the character, even though she is an adult. I was shocked that she was also Darlene in "Brokedown Palace" ...she really can play a wide range. This movie is very aesthetically beautiful to watch. It's fun watching humans play the animals and picking out who is whom.