By Chelsea Sanchez
Staff Writer

Who hasn’t wanted to leap down the rabbit hole? Or attend a maddening tea party? Play a game of royally wacked up croquet?

Ever since Lewis Carroll published the fantastic story of a young girl’s journey in a strange place called Wonderland, this story has inspired dozens upon dozens of spin-off films, TV series, and other novels with the same idea. Yet the event that inspired Carroll to write the original novel is surprising in and of itself.

Carroll was a man who stumbled on his words when in the presence of other adults. Yet when asked to tell a story  filled with nonsense by the young girl, Alice Liddell, the stutter vanished and he immediately began to tell Alice and her three sisters about a girl that fell down the rabbit hole.

Today we associate Alice in Wonderland with the 2010 Disney movie by Tim Burton. New faces, old faces and a blend of characters and plot. One common flaw in plot is the assumption that the Red Queen and the Queen of Hearts are the same people. Just to set things straight, they’re not. But the new film has a much more realistic image of Wonderland. Well, compared to the other versions, this one actually looks as real as Wonderland possibly could. Which isn’t saying much anyway, but the effects are spectacular and the characters are developed, given pasts and a deeper personality.

The audience meets Alice thirteen years after the first Disney movie, which was released in 1951. She has experienced the same dream countless times since she was a child, which includes a dodo bird, a rabbit in a waistcoat and a grinning cat. Her family expects her to marry an extremely boring lord. So when Alice spots a rabbit as he proposes, she quickly excuses herself and quickly chases the Easter icon down. She soon finds herself in Wonderland, and is expected to slay the Jabberwocky, a pet of the Red Queen’s which is the most dangerous weapon in her arsenal. Did I mention that the Red Queen has conquered Wonderland (which is actually named Underland), having stolen the crown from her sister?

During the next few days, Alice meets old friends and enemies and makes some new ones (cue the creepy one-eyed Knave of Hearts, who tries to seduce Alice because of her largeness), all the while changing sizes. But on the opposite side of the spectrum she also meets some very strong willed women, a murderous “Bloody Red Queen” and a docile White Queen, her sister. I won’t say anymore otherwise I’ll spoil the ending. But this is a raving must see, five stars!