Underland?

``Underland, says Woolverton, ``is the same fantastical land that Alice visited as a child. But she misheard the word 'Underland' and thought they said 'Wonderland.' Now as a girl on the cusp of adulthood, Alice goes back and there she discovers that the real name of the world is Underland.

Part of what appealed to Burton about the script was that it centered on an Alice who, at 19, is substantially older than in Carroll's books, yet feels very real and identifiable. ``What I liked about this take on the story is Alice is at an age where you're between a kid and an adult, when you're crossing over as a person, he says. ``A lot of young people with old souls aren't so popular in their own culture and their own time. Alice is somebody who doesn't quite fit into that Victorian structure and society. She's more internal.

For Alice Kingsleigh, life is about to take a turn for the unexpected. Hamish, the worthy but dull son of Lord and Lady Ascot, proposes to Alice during a Victorian garden party thrown in their honor. She flees without giving an answer, heading off after a rabbit she's spotted running across the lawn; the rabbit, of course, is wearing a waistcoat and pocket watch.

Following the White Rabbit across a meadow, Alice watches as he disappears into a rabbit hole, suddenly finds herself falling down after him, tumbling through a strange, dreamlike passage before landing in a round hall with many doors. She discovers a bottle labeled DRINK ME; its contents shrink her, and a cake with the words EAT ME iced on top; it makes her grow. Alice eventually finds her way through a door into the wondrous and fantastical world called Underland-the same place she visited as a young girl-although she has no memory of her previous adventures there, except in her dreams.

``Underland is a part of the earth, says Woolverton, ``but it lies somewhere far beneath our world. The only way to get there is to fall down a rabbit hole.

There she meets a menagerie of colorful characters, including a swashbuckling Dormouse, an off-his-rocker Mad Hatter, a grinning Cheshire Cat, a wise caterpillar called Absolem, a beautiful White Queen and her spiteful older sister the Red Queen, who happens to be the petulant ruler of Underland.

According to Woolverton, Underland has come upon hard times since the malevolent Red Queen has taken over the throne. It is, however, a truly wonderful land, which might explain why the girl who mistook it for ``Wonderland has been called upon to help return it to its glory. But, says Woolverton, ``Underland has always been Underland since the Beginning, no matter who sits on the throne. It will remain Underland until the End.

``What Linda has done is fashion a story with an emotional context for the film's events to occur, says Bonham Carter. ``In this, there's a point to the whole story and a journey for Alice.

``In the beginning, Alice is very awkward and uncomfortable in her skin, Wasikowska says. ``So her experience in Underland is about reconnecting with herself and finding she has the strength to be more self-assured in figuring out what she wants.

``Tim Burton is, in his own way, a modern-day Walt Disney, says producer Suzanne Todd. ``There's no one else like him. And 'Alice' really spoke to Tim-that idea of Alice and her journey, going someplace else to find out who she really is.

For a fabulist filmmaker renowned for creating fantastical and breathtakingly elaborate worlds, Carroll's rich tapestry of characters and their magical world afforded Burton ample opportunity to run wild with his imagination, putting his own, indelible stamp on the material.

``The combination of the 135-year-old best seller, 'Alice in Wonderland,' Tim Burton, Johnny Depp, Disney and 3D make this an irresistible and 'must see' movie event, says producer Richard Zanuck.

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