Tim Burton's Alice In Wonderland.

Here's a special preview of Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland, one of the greatest children's stories ever written. Apparently the film is actually a sequel to the original story, and follows Alice, now 17 years old, as she escapes from a snooty party and follows a white rabbit down a hole, back to Wonderland. The White Rabbit is convinced that he has the right girl, the one who had visited the magical land ten years prior. But Alice doesn’t remember her past visit to Wonderland. The creatures of Wonderland are ready to revolt and are hoping/waiting for Alice to help them, but will she? Can she?

Here is some of the concept art for the film-(the three colour images are huge and if you double click on them you'll really see the detail!)

Visionary filmmaker Tim Burton will put his distinctive touch on the combination live-action and performance capture version of Lewis Carroll’s classic tale “Alice in Wonderland.” The all-star cast includes Mia Wasikowska (Alice), Johnny Depp (Mad Hatter), Matt Lucas (Tweedledee/Tweedledum), Anne Hathaway (The White Queen), Helena Bonham Carter(The Red Queen), Crispin Glover (Knave of Hearts), Alan Rickman (Caterpillar), Michael Sheen, Stephen Fry (The Cheshire Cat), Christopher Lee, and Eleanor Romlinson (Fiona Chataway).

The Words.

Linda Woolverton’s screenplay for Tim Burton’s new Alice in Wonderland has very successfully been kept under lock and key. This has led to a certain amount of confusion or even misinformation springing up and circling reports of the film. But according to reliable sources:

"The big surprise for most people, I think, will be that this is at once an adaptation of and sequel to the Lewis Carroll books. This is thanks to a plot wrangle at least as clever as that in Abrams’ Star Trek. Essentially, Wonderland is both a real place and a recurring dream of Alice’s. In this film she’s dreaming of it at a somewhat later part of her life than in the books, so certain things are different. This is just one clever element of a truly charming and surprising screenplay that I’m now really very sure will become a true humdinger of a movie."

To fully understand the script immediately one would need a glossary of terms. Thankfully, Woolverton prepared one and it was circulated to cast and crew.

Here in alphabetical order are the various terms you’d need to fully understand the screenplay. (While a handful come from the books, most of them appear to be brand new.)

Bandersnatch, The: evil creature under the control of the Red Queen.
Brillig: 4 o’clock in the afternoon. When one begins broiling things for dinner.
Crims: The central area of Underland.
Downal wyth Bluddy Behg Hid: Down with the Red Queen, the slogan of the Resistance.
Ezel: High, go higher, go up.
Fairfarren: Farewell. May you travel far under fair skies.
Frabjous day: The day Alice slays the Jabberwocky and frees Underland from the oppression of the Red Queen.
Frumious: Dirty and smelly.
Futterwacken: The Underlanders’ dance of unbridled joy.
Gallymoggers: Crazy.
Gribling: The day Alice will return to Underland.
Guddler’s scut: Thief’s butt.
Gummer Slough: Dangerous swamp of thick viscous mud.
Horunvendush Day: The day the Red Queen took control of Underland.
Jabberwocky: A deadly creature employed as the Red Queen’s ultimate weapon.
Jubjub Bird: A Bird under the control of the Red Queen.
Kiotchyn: ‘Heads’ up or ‘pay attention’.
Naught for usal: It’s no use trying.
Noge: Go low down.
Nunz: Wait or ‘Don’t go, not now’.
Oraculum: The Calender of all the days of Ulnderland. Each day has its own title and illustration.
Orgal: To the left.
Outlands: The untamed land to the west of Witzend.
Outlandish: The old language spoken only in the Outlands and used by the Underland resistance as a secret code in the revolution against the Red Queen.
Pishsalver: A potion that makes one shrink.
Queast: A land to the east, but ‘not in the least’.
Quillian: The following day after Alice returns.
Saganistute: A wise person of poetry and vision.
Salazen Grum: A port city where the Red Queen lives.
Shukrn: Faeces.
Sloth: Slowly
Stang: To the right.
Slurvish: Selfish or self-centered.
Snud: A region in the south of Underland.
Tulgey Wood: Where Alice meets the Jabberwocky.
Underland: The real name for the place Alice calls Wonderland.
Upelkuchen: A cake that makes one grow.
Slurking urpal slackush scrum: rude or dirty words of the most foul meaning.
Witzend: The western land where the Mad Hatter and March Hare were born.
Yadder: Far away. Way yadder beyond the Crossling in Snud.
Zounder: A warning to ‘look out behind you!’

(quote from Posted on Friday, May 8th, 2009 by Brendon Connelly)

So we all have to be patient because this will be released on March 5, 2010.
(Keep watching this space for more updates)