Alice in Wonderland is a 2010 American Gothic dark fantasy adventure film directed by Tim Burton from a screenplay written by Linda Woolverton and produced by Walt Disney Pictures. A live-action remake of Walt Disney's original 1951 animated feature of the same name, the film stars Mia Wasikowska in the live-action role, Johnny Depp, Anne Hathaway, Matt Lucas, Helena Bonham Carter, and Crispin Glover, and features the voices of Alan Rickman, Stephen Fry, Michael Sheen, Timothy Spall, Christopher Lee, Paul Whitehouse, Barbara Windsor and Michael Gough. A live-action adaptation and remake of Lewis Carroll's works, the film follows Alice Kingsleigh, a nineteen-year-old who falls down a rabbit hole by going back to Wonderland, and alongside the Mad Hatter helps restore the White Queen to her throne by fighting against the Red Queen and the Jabberwock, a evil dragon who endangers Wonderland's residents.

Alice in Wonderland began development in December 2007, when Burton was asked to direct two 3D films for Disney, including the remake of Frankenweenie. Production began in September 2008 concluding within three months, and was shot in the United Kingdom and the United States. It was followed by an extensive post-production and visual effects process where filming included live-action and motion-capture sequences. Burton's frequent collaborator, Danny Elfman, composed an original theme for the film, which premiered in London at the Odeon Leicester Square on February 25, 2010. It was released in the United Kingdom and the United States through the Disney Digital 3-D, RealD 3D, and IMAX 3D formats as well as in standard theaters on March 5.

The film generated over $1.025 billion in ticket sales and became the fifth highest-grossing film during its theatrical run, and it is also the second-highest-grossing film of 2010.Corliss, Richard (May 13, 2012). "The Avengers Storms the Billion Dollar Club — In Just 19 DaysP" . Time. Amongst Disney's live-action adaptations, the film is tied for third-most-expensive, alongside Mulan and the fourth-highest-grossing readaptation to date. It received three nominations at the 68th Golden Globe Awards including for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy. At the 83rd Academy Awards, it won Best Art Direction and Best Costume Design, and was nominated for Best Visual Effects. The film received numerous other accolades.

While not the first film in its genre, Alice in Wonderland is credited with starting a trend of live-action fairy tale and fantasy films being green-lit, particularly from Walt Disney Studios. A follow-up film, titled Alice Through the Looking Glass, was released on May 27, 2016.

Plot In 1871 London, 19-year-old Alice Kingsleigh, having mourned the recent loss of her father, is troubled by strange recurring dreams and the stifling expectations of the society in which she lives. After receiving an unwanted marriage proposal from Hamish Ascot at his father's British garden party, Alice spots a familiar white rabbit wearing a waistcoat and carrying a pocket watch. She follows it to a rabbit hole and falls in. She shrinks after drinking from a bottle labeled 'Drink Me' (called a Pishsalver), meaning she cannot reach a key on a table, and then eats a cake labeled 'Eat Me' (called an Upelkuchen), transforms into a big giantess. After drinking from the bottle again to fit through a tiny door, she enters the forest of a fantastical world called Underland. There, she is greeted by the White Rabbit, a Dormouse, a Dodo, Talking Flowers, and identical twins Tweedledum and Tweedledee, who all apparently know her.

Alice asserts that she is dreaming, but learns from Absolem the Caterpillar that she is destined to slay the Jabberwocky and end the tyranny of the Red Queen. The group is ambushed by the ravenous Bandersnatch and the Red Queen's knights, led by the Knave of Hearts. All are captured except Alice, who escapes, and the Dormouse, who takes one of the Bandersnatch's eyes. The Knave informs the Red Queen of Alice's return, and is ordered to find her immediately.

The Cheshire Cat guides Alice to the Mad Hatter, March Hare, and Dormouse's tea party. The Red Knights and the Knave of Hearts disrupt the party, but Alice manages to hide in a teapot. The Hatter then takes her to a safe place. He explains that the Red Queen took over Underland, usurping her sister, the White Queen. While in the woods, the Red Knights find the two, but the Hatter gives himself up so that Alice can escape. She is found by the Knave's Bloodhound, named Bayard, who is allied with the resistance. He takes Alice to the Red Queen's castle, where she becomes a giantess again after eating another Upelkuchen.

Infiltrating the palace as a courtier named "Um", Alice learns that the vorpal sword, the only weapon capable of killing the Jabberwocky, is locked inside the Bandersnatch's den. The Knave makes a pass at Alice, which she rebuffs, but the jealous Red Queen orders her beheading. Alice obtains the sword and returns the Bandersnatch's eye. He gratefully helps her escape the castle and delivers her to the White Queen, who gives Alice a potion that returns her to her normal size. The Cheshire Cat uses his shapeshifting powers to free the Mad Hatter, who incites rebellion amongst the Red Queen's subjects. Meanwhile, Absolem, who is turning into a pupa, finally gets Alice to remember that she visited Underland when she was a little girl, and called it "Wonderland". Just before his chrysalis closes, he advises her to fight the Jabberwocky, save Underland, and stop the Red Queen for good.

The Queens gather their armies on a chessboard-like battlefield and send Alice and the Jabberwocky to decide the battle in single combat. The battle ends when Alice beheads the Jabberwocky with the vorpal sword, and the red knights gratefully turn against their ruler. The White Queen banishes her sister and the Knave into exile together, then gives Alice a vial of the Jabberwocky's purple blood, which can fulfill one wish. Alice says farewell to her friends, then wishes to return home.

Alice awakens in the rabbit hole. When she returns to the gazebo at the garden party, she rejects Hamish's proposal and impresses Lord Ascot with her idea of establishing trade routes to Hong Kong, her father's original idea, which inspires him to take her on as his apprentice. As Alice prepares to set off on a trading ship, Absolem, in his new butterfly form, lands on her shoulder.

Cast

Johnny Depp as Tarrant Hightopp / Mad Hatter: Wasikowska said that the characters "both feel like outsiders and feel alone in their separate worlds, and have a special bond and friendship." Burton explained that Depp "tried to find a grounding to the character… as opposed to just being mad." Burton also said that "[i]n a lot of versions it's a very one-note kind of character and you know [Depp's] goal was to try and bring out a human side to the strangeness of the character." The orange hair is an allusion to the mercury poisoning suffered by hatters who used mercury to cure felt; Depp believes that the character "was poisoned … and it was coming out through his hair, through his fingernails and eyes". Depp and Burton decided that the Hatter's clothes, skin, hair, personality and accent would change throughout the film to reflect his emotions. In an interview with Depp, the character was paralleled to "a mood ring, [as] his emotions are very close to the surface". The Hatter is "made up of different people and their extreme sides", with a gentle voice much like the character's creator Lewis Carroll reflecting the lighter personality and with a Scottish Glaswegian accent (which Depp modeled after Gregor Fisher's Rab C. Nesbitt character) reflecting a darker, more dangerous personality. Illusionary dancer David "Elsewhere" Bernal doubled for Depp during the "Futterwacken" sequence near the end of the film. Mia Wasikowska as Alice Kingsleigh: When creating the character, screenwriter Linda Woolverton researched how young women were expected to behave in the Victorian era and then made her the opposite. Wasikowska read Carroll's books as a child and re-read them to prepare for her role. She also watched Jan Švankmajer's Alice. She said, "When we were kids, my mum would pop it in the VCR player. We would be disturbed, and wouldn't really understand it, but we couldn't look away because it was too intriguing. So I had kept that feeling about Alice, a kind of haunting feeling." Although facing pressures to conform to society's expectations, Alice grows into a stronger-willed and empowered heroine who chooses her own path; Independent columnist Liz Hoggard praised Alice as a role model for girls, describing the character as "stubborn, brave, [and] non-girlie". Mairi Ella Challen portrayed Alice as a six-year-old girl.

Helena Bonham Carter as Iracebeth / Red Queen: She is an amalgamation of two Carroll characters: the Red Queen and the Queen of Hearts. Her first name is a play on the word irascible because she is easily irritated, obstreperous, impatient, and quick to anger. Bonham Carter's head was digitally increased to three times its original size on-screen. The character hates animals, and chooses to use them as servants and furniture. It is implied that the Red Queen beheaded her former husband, the King. The actress took inspiration from her young daughter Nell, a toddler, saying that, "The Red Queen is just like a toddler, because she's got a big head and she's a tyrant." Anne Hathaway as Mirana / White Queen: She was one of few characters that did not require digital manipulation. Hathaway summed up her character with a caption on a magnet of Happy Bunny holding a knife; "Cute but psycho. Things even out." According to Hathaway, "She comes from the same gene pool as the Red Queen. She really likes the dark side, but she's so scared of going too far into it that she's made everything appear very light and happy. But she's living in that place out of fear that she won't be able to control herself." Hathaway described her interpretation of the White Queen as "a punk-rock vegan pacifist", with inspiration drawn from Debbie Harry, Greta Garbo, and the artwork of Dan Flavin. Burton said that the White Queen's appearance was inspired by Nigella Lawson. Crispin Glover as Ilosovic Stayne / Knave of Hearts: The Knave of Hearts is arrogant and tricky. While he follows the Red Queen's every order, he is the only one capable of calming her dramatic mood swings. Glover said, "The Red Queen has a fair amount of short-tempered reactions to things that people do, and so [the Knave] has to be quite diplomatic." The Red Queen believes that the Knave of Hearts is her lover, but this proves to be false. Matt Lucas as Tweedledum / Tweedledee: Burton commented on the mixture of animation and Lucas, saying that "It's a weird mixture of things which gives his characters the disturbing quality that they so richly deserve." The characters are portrayed through a combination of CGI and live-action, with Lucas's face digitally composited to a full animated body. While performing the character, Lucas had to wear a teardrop-shaped motion capture suit and walk on stilts. To play both characters, Lucas was doubled by Ethan Cohn. Frances de la Tour as Imogene: Alice's aunt. She is suffering from severe delusions and is constantly awaiting her fictional fiancé, whom she believes to be a prince. Leo Bill as Hamish Ascot: Alice's would-be fiancé.

Marton Csokas makes a cameo appearance as Alice's deceased father in the film's opening scene and Alice's mother is portrayed by Lindsay Duncan. Lord and Lady Ascot are portrayed by Tim Pigott-Smith and Geraldine James. Eleanor Tomlinson and Eleanor Gecks portray the Chattaway sisters, Fiona and Faith, who bear a strong resemblance to Tweedledum and Tweedledee. Jemma Powell appears as Alice's sister Margaret, while Margaret's unfaithful husband Lowell is portrayed by John Hopkins.

Voice cast