Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland trailer.

Obviously, per usual, this Tim Burton adaptation looks absolutely stunning. It appears that he is attempting to create a live-action version of his stop-motion films. It's no secret that I'm a little tired of Tim Burton simply adapting other famous fantasy works to his own fancy, but I can't deny that this looks like an absolutely spellbinding piece of art. I'd still prefer to see Burton try something completely out of his own head, but I suppose we have other people who do that. Alice in Wonderland is a pretty obvious outlet for his standard 'outsider struggling to fit in' template. Having said that, I'm a bit turned off by the severe Johnny Depp-centric angle. Barely a glimpse of the Red Queen (Helena Bonham Carter) or the White Queen (Anne Hathaway), and no audio from anyone except The Mad Hatter (Depp of course). I get the idea of selling the most recognizable characters (Alice and the Hatter), and there is no reason not to highlight the biggest star. But the way that Depp dominates the second half of the trailer, with several out of context shots of Depp basically mugging for the camera, is almost a bit cynical and slightly off-putting. Oh well, that's far more a judgment of the trailer than (I presume) the film itself.

Scott Mendelson