Another Success for Tim Burton?

Though I know this will disappoint some who know me, I am not actually that big of a Tim Burton fan. True, I have loved many of the movies he has produced or directed (namely The Nightmare Before Christmas, Corpse Bride, and Big Fish), but he has also produced/directed movies that I simply didn't like (namely Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and Sweeney Todd).

So suffice it to say when it was announced that Tim Burton was directing a new version of Alice in Wonderland I was slightly upset. Alice is one of the greatest stories ever written, and it has been remade SO MANY TIMES. Despite friends and family being very excited for his new Alice, I remained skeptical and bitter.

Then today I watched the new trailer for Burton's Alice, and my opinion changed completely. It seems odd to me that the very things I was worried about ruining the movie are actually the things that make me want to see it. I was worried that it would be nothing but flashy Burtonesque special effects, and according to this new trailer, it pretty much is. Those effects, however, look amazing, and I can't wait to see them. I was worried Burton would put his own spin on the Alice storyline and change too many things. It turns out that he's changing pretty much everything, and making it more of a "return" to wonderland, rather than just a replaying of the story EVERYONE already knows.

I'm finding myself increasingly welcoming of loose adaptations. One of the complaints I find most annoying when people complain about movies is "It was changed too much from the book. They didn't include *this* or *that*, so it just wasn't any good." Loyalty to the book should NEVER be the main criteria for film critique. The challenge of film adaptation is to produce a work that can stand on its own, separate from the book it came from. I can't help but find myself intrigued by this new adaptation of Alice in Wonderland, and I can hardly wait to see it. I hope it is just as good as this trailer makes it seem.