Film

Alice in Wonderland

Other titles called Alice in Wonderland: the 1951 film.

Tim Burton's maximalist take on Carroll, where a grown Alice returns to Wonderland to fight the Red Queen. It's a gorgeous, game-filled fantasy adventure that prioritizes spectacle and surreal production design over narrative logic. Perfect for viewers who love Burton's sensibility and don't mind plot taking a backseat to visual imagination.

TMDb rating3.3

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you love Tim Burton's crooked, candy-coloured take on a familiar story, where the visual invention matters more than tidy plot logic.

Skip it if you want Carroll's playful nonsense and wordplay intact, since this trades the original's dreamy looseness for a more conventional quest with a clear destiny to fulfil.

What it asks of you: Just under two hours, with a brisk middle and loud, busy stretches; it wants your eyes more than your patience, and moves at a sugary clip.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe2005

Another beloved literary fantasy with a young protagonist discovering a magical realm where she must find courage to confront tyranny. Strong ensemble cast, epic battles, and that same "return to childhood wonder as an adult" energy.

But Heavier on earnest drama and Christian allegory than whimsy. The pacing can feel sluggish compared to Burton's maximalism.

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe poster

Stardust2007

A fantasy adventure that matches Burton's visual invention with genuine charm and wit. Magical, romantic, funny, and beautifully designed—it trusts the audience to enjoy spectacle and story in equal measure.

But More straightforward narrative and less twisted sensibility. If you're craving Burton's darker edges, this skews sunnier.

Stardust poster

The NeverEnding Story1984

A fantasy about a boy escaping into a magical world that's being consumed by darkness. Iconic production design, creature work, and that bittersweet quality of returning to something you love and finding it changed.

But The pacing and effects feel distinctly 1980s. Some scenes move slowly; it's meditative rather than action-packed.

The NeverEnding Story poster

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Alice in Wonderland

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

The Secret of Kells2009

Both use spectacular visual design to create a fully realized fantasy world, but where Alice prioritizes astonishment, Kells uses that same artistry to earn genuine emotion and wonder.

An animated Irish fantasy about a boy protecting a magical manuscript. Visually it's a revelation—hand-painted, geometric, nothing like conventional animation. It has Wonderland's sense of stepping into another world, but with genuine emotional depth and folklore grounding it.

But It's animated but not a crowd-pleaser—the style is challenging and the pacing is contemplative. Less spectacle, more soul.

The Secret of Kells poster
More like this (8)

Labyrinth1986

Jim Henson's surreal fantasy where a girl navigates a magical maze filled with bizarre characters and impossible architecture. David Bowie, Muppets, and genuine strangeness—it's whimsy with genuine stakes and style.

But The story is fairly slight and some creature effects haven't aged perfectly. It's more about atmosphere and characters than plot momentum.

Labyrinth poster

Sleeping Beauty1959

Disney's darkest animated feature, with Maleficent as a genuinely malevolent force and a visual style that influenced Burton directly. It's evil magic and twisted design in a fairy tale, beautifully hand-drawn.

But It's short and moves quickly through its story. Less elaborate world-building than modern fantasy films, more focused on character.

Sleeping Beauty poster

The Shape of Water2017

Guillermo del Toro's romantic fantasy that uses magical realism to tell a genuinely moving story. Gorgeous cinematography, creature design, and a reminder that fantasy can be intimate as well as spectacular.

But Deliberately paced and melancholic. Less playful whimsy, more sensual and sometimes darkly erotic.

The Shape of Water poster

Spirited Away2001

Miyazaki's masterpiece about a girl entering a magical bathhouse. Endlessly inventive creature and environment design, a coming-of-age story disguised as adventure, and visual imagination that never stops surprising you.

But Subtitled and at moments genuinely unsettling. The pacing is deliberately slow; it rewards patience over constant action.

Spirited Away poster

Dark Shadows2012

Burton directing Johnny Depp again in a campy, Gothic soap opera adaptation. If you love Burton's maximalism and don't mind campness, it's endlessly entertaining and visually weird in the best way.

But Tonally confused—it can't decide if it's horror, comedy, or romance. The plot is thin and the film feels overstuffed.

Dark Shadows poster

Enchanted2007

A fairy tale princess transported to modern New York who slowly realizes her storybook world wasn't what she thought. Amy Adams is luminous, it's genuinely clever about fantasy tropes, and surprisingly touching about growing up.

But Shifts tone significantly in the second half. If you want consistent fantasy adventure, the real-world setting feels like a deflation.

Enchanted poster

Pan's Labyrinth2006

Both are fantasy worlds layered over reality, but Pan's Labyrinth asks whether escaping into fantasy is healthy, while Alice accepts it as necessary—they're opposite answers to the same question.

Guillermo del Toro's masterwork about a girl entering a dark labyrinth during the Spanish Civil War. Gorgeous practical creature design, genuinely unsettling mythology, and a story that uses fantasy as a lens for real suffering and resistance. It's fairy tale as survival.

But It's dark and violent in ways that matter thematically. Not a comfort fantasy; it's about trauma and loss. Some imagery is genuinely disturbing.

Pan's Labyrinth poster

The Tale of The Princess Kaguya2013

Both feature a girl navigating between two worlds she doesn't fully belong to, but Kaguya's focus is on the loneliness of that displacement, while Alice treats it as adventure—they're the internal and external versions of the same story.

Takahata's hand-drawn masterpiece about a mysterious girl raised by peasants who may be from another world. Painterly animation, a story about belonging and loss, and a completely different register from Burton—intimate, melancholic, and heartbreaking where Alice is spectacular.

But Paced for contemplation, not action. At 140 minutes, it's long and deliberately slow. Almost all dialogue; no spectacle as distraction.

The Tale of The Princess Kaguya poster

People

Cast

Directing

Writing

Production

Recommended by

Alice, Alice Through the Looking Glass