Wonderland: It's worth the trip

After all the hype, it's difficult to feel fully satisfied after watching Tim Burton's "Alice in Wonderland." Based somewhat loosely on Lewis Carroll's novels, the film doesn't really give us a sequel to the legendary Disney film so much as a visually stunning interpretive extension.

Undoubtedly, it quenches our thirst for majestic 3-D visuals with bewitching scenery and sets, vividly glimmering make-up, extraordinary costumes and captivating colors. Burton pulls us down the rabbit hole at full speed, immersing us in the re-envisioned fantasy setting.

And yet, he falls short of providing any novelties. He doesn't add his usual gothic twist. After we grow big and small with Alice and crawl through the tiny wooden door, there are no freakish surprises. Everything is candidly predictable and a bit too comfortable.

Still, even though Burton's "Wonderland" is pretty much an extension of its trailer, it's nonetheless a place worth visiting. The fanciful talking animals in their tailcoats and top hats, the battling playing cards and chess pieces, the creative intricacies of the heart-shaped architecture of the Red Queen's castle — they're all undeniably worth experiencing.

Burton's cast is another aspect that indisputably makes the film amusingly enchanting.

Each actor provided a distinctive blossoming twist on their character, allowing for the imaginative creatures to be almost realistic. Helena Bonham Carter is the absolute perfect embodiment of the querulous, tyrannical Red Queen, and Stephen Fry as the witty, beguiling Cheshire Cat keeps you on your toes, anxiously waiting for his hypnotizing head to pop back into the scene. And if Alan Rickman isn't the hookah-smoking caterpillar himself, then no one is. Burton's special effects allow creature and actor to beautifully fuse into one entity, but he does not give these creations enough screen time.

Johnny Depp deviates from the crazy, euphoric Mad Hatter we know so well and gives us a slightly different interpretation. When Alice returns to Wonderland in this film, she does not find everything exactly the same way she left it. There is war and oppression, rather than happy singing tea parties. The now depressed, not-so-fun Mad Hatter is still nonetheless entertainingly mad, with some compassionate humor and a bit too much of the too-familiar Jack Sparrow persona. Depp presents us with a satisfactory blend. But he put me off a bit with a somewhat embarrassing jittery Irish-like dance to cheesy unfitting music.

Burton overplays some things, handing us the story oh-so easily. Yet his dark-tinted, visually dazzling three-dimensional CGI effects and glistening scenery lock your eyes to the screen. Even though "Alice in Wonderland" does not incorporate an engaging storyline into this visually enchanting and fascinatingly ornate world, it is still vibrantly entertaining and definitely worth visiting in 3-D.