Did we really expect a version of Alice in Wondeland directed by Tim Burton to be anything less than trippy?

The above image, taken from some amazing panoramic shots over at USA Today, is the first official in-film shot we’ve seen from the March 2011 film.  While I at first thought this was going to be a retelling of the original tale, it turns out it is more a sequel to the story we know.  At age 17, Alice runs away from a Victorian party where she is about to be proposed to in front of people she doesn’t care for.  As she runs, she sees a white rabbit and follows him down the hole… I know, it sounds familiar, but this is where the twist comes in.  It seems that Alice visited Wonderland 10 years ago, but she has no recollection of it.  However, the residents of this whimsical world certainly remember her.

While I am always up for a Tim Burton film, this reminds me a bit too much of the box office failure, Hook.  For those who don’t remember the 1991 film, it was the story of what happened to Peter Pan after he left Neverland and grew up.  He gets sucked back in to his old him as an adult man after his two children end up there as prisoners of Captain Hook.  While I enjoyed the movie, it never was very well received.  This “sequel” of Burton’s has a bit of the same story vibe to it, so I’m a bit concerned about how the public will react to it.

All that being said, it does have an amazing cast:

• Mia Wasikowska – Alice Kingsley
• Johnny Depp – The Mad Hatter
• Anne Hathaway – The White Queen
• Helena Bonham Carter – The Red Queen
• Alan Rickman – The Caterpillar
• Christopher Lee – The Jabberwock
• Stephen Fry – The Cheshire Cat
• Crispin Glover – The Knave of Hearts
• Matt Lucas – Tweedledee / Tweedledum

Amazing cast, although it does feature some of Tim Burton’s usual rogue’s gallery.  Here are some of the first official character shots.

Johnny Depp as The Mad Hatter.  As soon as this project was announced I knew this would be Depp’s role.  This marks the seventh film the two have worked on together.

Seeing as Helena Bonham Carter is Burton’s wife, you knew she’d be in this also.  The over-sized head is supposed to fit in the The Red Queen’s “off with their head” saying.

Anne Hathaway enters the world of Burton for the first time as The White Queen.

Seeing as this film is also going to be 3D… you know, I’ve never taken an illegal drug in my life, but somehow I think I’m going to get a feeling for the sensation after seeing this in the theater.

UPDATE 06/24/09

The first picture of Matt Lucas as Tweedledee and Tweedledum has now been released.

UPDATE 07/15/09:You can see a second batch of images here.