That's what I miss most from Carroll in this Alice, and also from Tim Burton when he's at his macabre and freaky best: the surreality, the mindfucking, the paradoxical absurdities, and the creepy hilarity. When Alice goes through her hormonal "drink me" and "eat me" shrinkages and growth spurts, when Alice and the Hatter ponder the possibility that he's just a figment of her imagination, the film almost passes into a dimension well beyond 3-D. But not quite. "See you in another life," the Caterpillar (Alan Rickman) says when he's tired of blowing smoke in Alice's face. Too bad it isn't in another movie.
