Tim Burton's 2010 adaptation of Lewis Carroll's children's book Alice In Wonderland can ultimately be described as that of an amalgamation of both the original author's tales of this young girl's fantastical dreams, and reinvigorated by the novel director's own taken artistic liberties imbued into the movie.
Naturally, Burton paints this version of the story with his own and typical darker flare that one knows him for; and in a way that is reminiscent of 1993 masterpiece The Nightmare Before Christmas. In that stop motion-captured theatrical Jack Skellington, the Pumpkin King, has grown weary of his role in leading the Halloween holiday and filled with a sense of inevitability in bored, hollow, repetition. Due to this Jack masterminds a takeover of Christmas after falling down a hole in a tree and discovering the joyous occasion. In spite of his maniacal efforts however, the escapade almost ends disastrous and in him spoiling all for the winter holiday, but he luckily manages to get old Sandy Claws back in his sleigh and saves the day; and accepts his status over that which had felt stagnating to him...
Going down the rabbit hole in this revision Alice is thirteen or so years older than she is in the events of Carroll's stories, though those are portrayed as nightmares in the starting scenes. Young Alice here is now 19 and faced with the expectation of fulfilling a preplanned path and accepting a marriage proposal planned in a very public affair. After running off to chase the sight of a rabbit rushing through the bushes and avoiding the popped question she isn't sure how to answer yet, falls down the hole yet again. After making her way then through the small door and consuming the DRINK ME bottle to shrink in order to do so, Alice is ultimately faced with yet another choice in the world of Underland (which was christened Wonderland by her younger-self's inability to pronounce Underland): she can either fulfil a prophecy and pick up a sword to slay the draconian Jabberwocky and save the fantastical land from the tyrannical rule of the Red Queen, or she can let the large headed woman with an army of playing cards remain the dominant power. The story ends with and, "off with the head," for the Jabberwocky and banishment for the Red Queen; where Alice then returns to the upper lands and nulls the proposal for marriage and sets sail to China to continue her late father's company.
There are many allusions to the original books, naturally; as well as additions from Burton's expertise. Being in the future to when Alice was but a 7 and a half year old the tale reworks many phrases and points; and Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter is a delightful portrayal. That said, the major idea behind this and the 1993 Burton film is the question of fate and agency. Jack Skellington can be likened to a godhead of his domain, and role being kept to a necessity; Alice in her impossibly characterised dream is a cog in a preconceived script, but with the agency of where she wants to turn in both saving Wonderland and getting married. One shows an acceptance and reinvigoration in his part to play; the latter details away from that determinism with Alice's dream serving as sublimation for her to realise where she would go in the real world.
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