I'm only familiar with Alice through the 1951 Disney animation and I've never read Lewis Carroll's original books, so I didn't really have an idea of what to expect, although I knew the story wasn't just a straight adaptation. Burton makes his Alice a 19 year old on the verge of marriage and adult-hood, who is plagued by dreams of a strange fantasy world. After falling down a rabbit hole, Alice finds herself back in Wonderland - a bit like Return to Oz I suppose (though I'm guessing as I've not watched that, yet) - and all the usual suspects remember her, but she doesn't remember them, although she needs to so that she can slay the Jabberwocky and save Underland (as it's actually called - Alice misremembered it as Wonderland) from the evil Red Queen. 
The movie is full of fantastic characters and surprising actors, along with lots of laughs and heart. Mia Wasikowska's Alice is somewhat jaded and a little cold, but she plays the role just right, with only the occasional scene where she seems a bit flat. As the movie opens in the 'real' world, I was name-checking the actors (including the amazing Lindsay Duncan) and, once in Underland, the voice-actors, so I'd completely forgotten that Johnny Depp was even in the thing! Despite bearing an uncanny resemblance to Madonna that only me and Andrew seem to have noticed (it's the gap in his teeth!), Depp's Mad Hatter is a hilarious creation, backed up by a whole host of imaginative and well-voiced collection of supporting characters such as the dormouse (Barbara friggin' Windsor!), Cheshire Cat (Sir Stephen Fry), and the caterpillar (only Alan Rickman!), plus Matt Lucas in a dual role as Tweedles Dee and Dum, who stole every scene he was in. Twice. Talking of scene stealers, Helena Bonham Carter's Red Queen is easily the best character in the whole film. A close cousin of Blackadder II's Queenie, judging by the delivery, the Red Queen and her castle featured so many great lines and sight gags, it'll take a second viewing to catch them all. As the ethereal White Queen, Anne Hathaway had a less showy part, but she imbued the potentially-irritating wholesome good queen with enough mannerisms and off-beat charm that she completely fit into this weird, weird world.
In 3D the film looked fantastic, and I expect it would look the same in 2D - there wasn't the level of immersion in the movie as in Avatar, but it certainly didn't detract from the experience. Alice had a brighter palate for a Tim Burton film, in keeping with a more family-friendly tone, although there were some rather scary scenes, mostly involving the hideous, slavering Bandersnatch creature. Going into the film with no (or low) expectations meant that I had few preconceptions and as a result I think I enjoyed the film more than I thought I would. In fact I liked everything about it. What a frabjous day!
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