Burton has still not decided to drop his winning combination of his wife, Helena Bonham Carter and Mr Jonathan Depp, and why would he? They were the key ingredients in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory; made Sweeney Todd a feast; and I didn't see The Corpse Bride but I'm sure they managed to help sell a 3d cartoon about a graveyard.Depp is unrecognisable as the Mad Hatter. Yellow eyes, white skin and Chuckie-esque hair render him both terrifying and laughable. The Mad Hatter is seen in the book and the 1951 cartoon (as that is the only actually successful film version out of 23) as quite lovable; dozy, insane and slightly sinister, like an uncle who has been shunted into a care home, but Depp will take this character to a whole new level.
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland was first published in 1865 by Lewis Carroll, and I cannot recall a children's book that has acheived such longevity. You would think what with Victorian morals and standards, children being seen but not heard, that the successing generations of children would have lost all interest and discarded Alice under Harry Potter and Bob the Builder. But over time Alice has captivated adults as well, not in a sinewy, sweet way, but in its alleged hidden meaning littered throughout the book: that it's based on the hallucinatory effects of drugs and alcohol.
The caterpillar openly smokes a hookah; the Mad Hatter seems to get madder and madder as he carries on drinking, celebrating his Un-birthday 364 days a year. The Queen of hearts and her subjects could be literally taken as a personified pack of cards - the universal symbol of gambling - especially considering how violent they are and so intent on not letting Alice leave. On top of these, various mind-boggling visions and distortions occur when Alice (always voluntarily) drinks unmarked bottles and eats little cakes.
We must remember, however, that there were no drugs laws at the time Carroll wrote the book, so any light-hearted references would not have been considered inappropriate at the time. Opium, cocaine, and laudanum (a painkiller that contained opium) were used for medicinal purposes, and could be obtained from a pharmacist.
I think Burton will explore this side of Alice in Wonderland, which is certainly not for children at all. Obviously this will go over their heads, but it will make a very interesting, and not at all childish, film that will probably make a lot of money and ergo a prostitution of Alice merchandise, which will obviously be the best thing ever.
