Something that irks me is when directors and producers pick an old, yet amazing, story and change it just for the purpose of gaining fans. I once did a long newspaper article on this subject in high school using Disney as my biggest example. It’s such a Disney move to take a good, interesting, and well-written story and turn it into something that would send the creator (or creators in the case of The Brothers Grimm) spinning in their grave. My most recent pet peeve of this was Disney’s turning their beloved Pirates of the Caribbean theme park attraction (which isn’t exactly a story, but I’m going to use it anyway) into a film, only to change the attraction to match the film a short time later. I seriously cannot tell you how many times I wanted to backhand a child who said the ride was based on the film, but that’s off topic. What’s on topic is how my pet peeve has now changed to focus on Disney’s most recent film, Through the Looking-Glass…I mean, Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland.

The story takes place with a much older Alice (her age escapes me, but she’s old enough to be considered as a wife for one strange and butt-ugly ginger) who can be considered rebellious and free-spirited for the age she lives in. I want to say she lives in the Victorian era, but I could be wrong – don’t quote me on that. This much older than expected Alice is plagued by visions of talking flowers and smoking caterpillars, but blows them off as dreams and continues with her life. As the butt-ugly ginger finally proposes to Alice (in front of quite the crowd of socialites might I add), she runs away and follows a white rabbit who leads her into the magical world of Underland (or Wonderland if you’re going by the title of the movie and Alice’s later figured out ignorance) where the story actually starts.

Right now (to be positive), I will say that seeing this film in 3-D was awesome and whoever did the editing on this film needs to be hired by James Cameron because it was honestly breathtaking to behold. My one, and giant, problem with this film was that it wasn’t Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (Lewis Carroll’s book for which the original Disney movie was based). It wasn’t even Disney’s old Alice in Wonderland. Instead, this movie majorly resembled Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking-Glass, the sequel he wrote in 1871 to his original work of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.

Now, Tim Burton did put in the credits that the movie was based on both Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass. So he did fess up to the film barely resembling the Alice in Wonderland everyone was expecting, but it still irked me that he kept the title the same. ‘Cause, you know, fans totally wont flock to see the sequel alone. You really can’t just put Tim Burton in front of anything and see the hype rise. He couldn’t have made two separate movies (one the original and one the sequel) and watched the revenues flow to him. No, he had to butcher what was already butchered while simultaneously butchering another book that Disney has yet to put its greasy paws on. Until now of course, being as Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland is a Disney film.

My only review I can give to this version of Alice in Wonderland was that it sucked. Not because of the acting or the effects, but because it wasn’t Alice in Wonderland. As Through the Looking-Glass, this film was incredible. It’s not exactly the book in every way, but close enough for me to say it may be one of the best butcherings of a good book I’ve seen in a long time. I can admit I’m tired of seeing Helena Bonham Carter (no matter how well she did) and Johnny Depp in Tim Burton movies (he really needs to hire some new actors), but this movie was truly good. Mia Wasikowska, who played the part of Alice, did a good job and Crispin Glover just absolutely made me swoon. There were even times I hoped he and the Alice character would hook up and end the movie on a romantic note. That didn’t happen, but he still was quite possibly the most crush-worthy man in the film. The rest of the all-star cast (including Alan Rickman, Michael Sheen, Stephen Fry, Matt Lucas, and Anne Hathaway) just made the movie that much better and more enjoyable.

But please, Tim Burton – heck, please Hollywood, start creating original stories and stop ruining the ones us book lovers have grown to love. Inglourious Basterds was original and so was District 9. So, stop butchering already great things and start producing more masterpieces like those, okay? Much love, Jess. Psh, like Hollywood will ever change.

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