WONDER BLAND
Burton does just enough to impress
ALICE IN WONDERLAND (PG) 
THE STARS: Mia Wasikowska, Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Anne Hathaway.
THE STORY: After being subjected to an unwanted marriage proposal, 19-year-old Alice (Wasikowska) tumbles into a mysterious underground Wonderland, where a variety of odd characters, including The Mad Hatter and the Cheshire Cat, are convinced they've met her before...
ON PAPER, Tim Burton is the ideal character to bring Lewis Carroll's dark adventures of a girl called Alice to life.
A filmmaker who likes to hit every branch of the wacky tree, the man who brought us Beetlejuice and Edward Scissorhands likes nothing more than indulging his quirky side - perfect for a story where the characters include a White Rabbit and a goodie and baddie queen.
While Burton captures Alice's fantastical world with some impressive visual effects (all the better seen in 3D), as a story there are problems here.
It looks great and it's enjoyable, yet the movie is rarely truly engaging, and it doesn't quite capture the spark and magic of the much-loved books.
Depp's been getting the plaudits for his portrayal of The Mad Hatter but really he's just playing a version of his Willy Wonka persona in a bad suit.
Terrific
Thank heavens, then, for Wasikowska's always watchable Alice, and Helena Bonham Carter, who's terrific as the villain of the flick.
A mix of Carroll's two novels, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, the movie tells the story of a teenage Alice who is being pushed into a marriage with a suitor she has no feelings for. While doing a runner, she falls into a cavern beneath a tree trunk and finds herself in a zany other world.
The characters she meets there - Tweedledum and Tweedledee, the Caterpillar and the Cheshire Cat - all want to know if she's the real Alice, even though she has no recollection of them from a previous adventure in her childhood.
But when she learns that the Red Queen (Bonham Carter) has unleashed a reign of terror in this other world after seizing power from her sister (Hathaway), Alice gradually realises she has a terrifying destiny to fulfil.
Audiences who've been lured back to 3D by films like Up and Avatar may find themselves shocked by the number of flying teacups and rocks they'll have to duck as they appear to zoom towards you out of the screen. But kids will thoroughly enjoy the novelty.
Battle
Flamingos and hedgehogs are used for games of croquet, there's a battle on a giant chess board, and while some of the books' riddles and quirks are lost, there's enough darkness here to appeal to devotees, and possibly to spook younger children.
A busy film, then, and one that's packed with attractive visual detail. Yet as a story it feels surprisingly flat on occasion. We never really feel Alice's sense of peril as she embarks on her journey, and at times it's difficult to engage with her predicament or that of her pals.
Depp's just fine as The Mad Hatter, but he's done so many offbeat characters lately that there's a sense of déjà vu. It's Helena Bonham Carter who steals the show with an enjoyably-crackpot performance as a proper fairytale baddie.
THE VERDICT:
A movie that's impressive rather than really magical, Alice in Wonderland is nevertheless colourful and energetic enough to entertain family audiences. See it in 3D
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JORDAN NETS A CATCH IN AWESOME YOUNG ALISON
ONDINE (12A)
THE STARS: Colin Farrell, Alicja Bachleda, Alison Barry, Stephen Rea.
THE STORY: A down-on-his-luck fisherman (Farrell) is stunned when he catches a mysterious woman in his nets. As his fortunes turn for the better, his seriously-ill daughter (Barry) becomes convinced that she's a selkie, a sea creature transformed into a woman
"ANYTHING STRANGE or wonderful?"
Colin Farrell's character asks his little girl in one of Ondine's early scenes. They're two words that sum up Neil Jordan's flawed-but-enchanting modern-day fairytale, shot in West Cork's Beara Peninsula.
While Jordan's mix of fantasy and harsh reality doesn't always blend seamlessly, this movie gives us plenty of strange and wonderful characters to root for.
Syracuse (beautifully played by Farrell) is a fisherman who's managed to remain playful and optimistic despite many knocks in life.
A recovering alcoholic who turns to his local priest (Rea) in the absence of an AA meeting, he's estranged from his wife, concerned about his ill daughter, and treated as the village joker because of his heavy-drinking past.
His ex wife (Dervla Kirwan) still looms large in his life and her continued fondness for alcohol is a menace to him and their daughter.
He's a man without self pity but badly in need of some luck - and that comes when a woman becomes washed up in his nets.
Her desire not to be seen in public arouses suspicion (perhaps too early for the audience) and when Syracuse spins a yarn about this seal-woman to his 10-year-old girl, she becomes convinced that the creature is real and decides to do a little detective work.
There are some beautifully-judged scenes, some of them involving Syracuse and his reluctant counsellor, the parish priest. Bachleda brings an ethereal quality to the title character.
But it's Alison Barry who's the revelation here. The Cork girl - who has never acted before - brings a deadpan delivery to some of the film's best lines.
THE VERDICT:
Jordan doesn't always negotiate the tricky line between fairytale and darkness, and the movie strives too hard for resolution in the final half hour.
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