History Film / AliceInWonderland

She finds herself in Underland, where the White Rabbit is confident that she's "the real Alice," while others aren't so sure. The Red Queen has taken over nearly all of Underland, but the ancient document called the Oraculum shows the Frabjous Day arriving, a day of battle on which it is foretold that Alice will slay the Jabberwocky.

* HerHeartWillGoOn: If you picked up on on the film's "romantic subtext," [[spoiler: Alice and Hatter get this. No, he doesn't die, but the look on his face as Alice's chooses to leave send him into near {{Woobie}} territory.]] It doesn't hurt that [[spoiler: Alice said she knew the way back, implying that they could easily meet again someday.]]

* IGotBetter: [[spoiler: The Bandersnatch's eye.]] Also Alice's infected arm [[spoiler: after the Bandersnatch cures it in return.]]

** Possibly an EnforcedTrope: [[spoiler: it probably made that [[UncannyValley futterwacken]] [[BigLippedAlligatorMoment thing]] easier to animate]].

* NightmareFuelUnleaded / NauseaFuel: Alice crossing the moat of heads; later, the White Queen's recipe for pishalver (shrinking potion) which includes "buttered fingers," horsefly urine, and spit.

--> '''Helena Bonham Carter''': "The Red Queen is just like a toddler, because she’s got a big head and she’s a tyrant. Toddlers have no sympathy for any living creature. That’s our toddler, Nell just bosses us around with no please or thank yous. It’s ‘Mummy, come here’, ‘Mummy, carry me’. It’s all about her, she never considers us."

-->'''The Mad Hatter,''' ''to 9-foot-tall Alice:'' Why is it you're always too small, or too tall?

** So it is written, so [[strike:shall]] WILL it be done. It was prophesied that Alice [[spoiler:would slay the Jabberwocky]] before Alice was even given a proper understanding of what was going on when she reached Underland. She did ''try'' to ScrewDestiny for a while, and even showed, eventually, that this was less GenreBlindness and more backbone (OffTheRails, as it were). But even ''that'' turned out to be part of the big prediction. Reminds one a little of [[TheLordOfTheRings Tolkien]], with his God character saying stuff like "You thought you were singing against me, but that was part of my musical masterpiece all along."

* [[TheUmbridge The]] [[JustForPun Umbridge]]: "Um, from Umbridge." {{Incredibly Lame Pun}}s aside, the Red Queen fits this trope.

* AdaptationDecay: YourMileageMayVary, though it isn't supposed to be the original story in the first place (more like an AdaptationExpansion). Some parts may also qualify for AdaptationDistillation.
** No, it's decay. In the original story, Alice is resourceful but definitely not a kick-ass heroine, and Carroll would have probably thought the whole "chosen one" stuff rather silly. It's as if they took the title and grafted a run-of-the-mill you-go-girl story.

* CallingYourAttacks: [[spoiler: Alice]] invokes OffWithHisHead by name (see CMOA).

* FreudWasRight: Given Alice's issues, at odds with society and daddy troubles, which Burton has done in other [[EdwardScissorHands films of his]] and [[WillyWonkaAndTheChocolateFactory different]] [[SleepyHollow movie]] [[{{Batman}} adaptions]], [[CreatorBreakdown one begins to wonder...]]

** Burton's usual suspects in their usual roles -- including his [[UglyGuyHotWife partner]] [[SweeneyTodd Mrs. Lovett]] as the [[AxeCrazy Red Queen]] and EdwardScissorhands as the Mad Hatter -- but also some new faces like [[ThePrincessDiaries Anne Hathaway]] as the White Queen, one of the ''LittleBritain'' actors as the Tweedle Twins, Alice's {{maiden aunt}} is Madam Maxime. [[DoctorWho Adelaide Brooke (from the Waters of Mars)]] is Alice's mother.
** [[BackToTheFuture George Mcfly]] plays the Knave of Hearts. [[LordOfTheRings Celeborn]] is Alice's dad and [[VForVendetta Peter Creedy]] is Lord Ascot.

* PerkyGoth: The White Queen - Anne Hathaway is clearly [[HamAndCheese having a ball]] floating around like a melodramatic crazy girl. Hathaway's own description of her character is "a punk-rock [[GranolaGirl vegan pacifist]]." One movie critic summed her up as "Morticia Addams's hippie cousin"

** And we can't forget Absolem, voiced by Mr. AudioErotica Incarnate, Alan Rickman.
** Please, shall we not forget StephenFry either? Just... Yummy. XD

* AMinorKidroduction: We first see Alice as a little girl.

* TheChosenZero: The denizens of Underland aren't sure that Alice is the prophesized champion, and the Dormouse is especially prone to proclaiming, "She's the wrong Alice!"

** Also, [[NiceJobBreakingItHero nice job getting your aunt locked in a]] [[BedlamHouse Victorian sanitarium,]] [[NiceJobBreakingItHero hero.]]

* ZeroPercentApprovalRating: The Red Queen. As the Knave of Hearts comments to her, and she later agrees, "It's better to be feared than to be loved." [[spoiler: The only reason ANYBODY followed her is because of her big dragon. After the thing is dead, they immediately turn on her.]]

* AudioErotica: When the Hatter gets serious or angry, his voice changes from a frantic tenor (most obvious when he starts babbling) to a smoother baritone not unlike [[PiratesOfTheCaribbean Captain Jack Sparrow's]] or [[{{Chocolat}} Roux's]] and often gains a Scottish accent. And the White Queen's voice is a deep, velvety version of Anne Hathaway's normal voice.

** Will she [[spoiler: open up trade to China as the British did historically, by getting the Chinese addicted to opium?]]

* DidNotDoTheResearch: While the exact date of the movie is unclear, based on the original work and setting it's probably the latter quarter of the 19th century. At which point the Qing and British Empires make up the largest economies on earth, with something like 1/2 the world's population between them, and centuries of strong trade under their belt. They'd even fought wars over, say, Britain's right to continue to sell drugs there.[[spoiler: Meaning Alice's daring plot to expand trade into China was somewhat less revolutionary than a modern-day character suggesting switching a fleet's ships to steam engine.]]

* FridgeHorror: Alice's idea at the end of the film is to get her father's company to open up trade to China. And how did the British do this, historically speaking? [[spoiler: Through the freaking OPIUM WARS!]]

* UnfortunateImplications:
** The end of the movie, set back in late 19th-century England, [[spoiler: has Alice leaving to China to begin a new era of global trade and kinship. [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boxer_Rebellion What could possibly go wrong?]] ]]
** A related idea is that it is a historical joke of ThisIsYourPremiseOnDrugs [[spoiler: Some people think Carroll wrote the book on opium, which the British exported to China in large quantities. While it was a policy prior to the setting of the movie, you could see an implication that this will be one of Alice's "bright ideas". So technically, she becomes the Victorian equivalent of Pablo Escobar.]]

* ActionGirl: Alice becomes this in the final battle.
* ActualPacifist: The White Queen - sort of. She's okay with people [[CombatByChampion fighting for her]], but refuses to fight herself because of having taken vows never cause physical harm to anyone. [[spoiler: CruelMercy, on the other hand...]] Or she can't lower her arms from their permanently raised position to hold a sword, one of the two.
* AdaptationalAttractiveness: In the books, the White Queen did not change much in appearance when she turned into a sheep. Here, she's played by Anne Hathaway. Helena Bonham Carter's Red Queen actually does look like the Red Queen from the novels, but like other adaptations, she's a CompositeCharacter of the Red Queen and Queen of Hearts, who is a {{Gonk}}, so she probably counts as well.
* AdaptationDecay: YourMileageMayVary, though it isn't supposed to be the original story in the first place (more like an AdaptationExpansion). Some parts may also qualify for AdaptationDistillation.
* AllJustADream: Averted, although Alice spends most of the film convinced that it is.
* AllUpToYou: Combine this with YouCantFightFate and BecauseDestinySaysSo for [[spoiler: a tension-less final battle.]]
* AlternateCharacterInterpretation:
** The Lord Ascot: [[spoiler: Did he sincerely believe Alice was her father's daughter? Or did he give her an internship to tighten his hold over her father's company now that she was not marrying his half-wit son? Oh, sure, he was [[AffablyEvil polite and gracious enough, but going along with his wife's plan of an arranged marriage without the consent and knowledge of the unsuspecting bride?]]]]
** Alice at the end: [[spoiler: Oh lordy this is fun... Did she leave her Wonderland because there's [[WizardOfOz no place like home,]] or because she realized Underland was just as restricted as Victorian England because DestinySaysSo, and home [[strike: might be]] is a little more free.]]
** Did she travel [[spoiler: to China to become a woman of the modern, career-driven feminist archetype? Or is she going to ditch the company first chance she gets and return to Underland? Hey, before she sailed off she'd pretty much wrapped up her life in England, canceled the engagement, set her brother-in-law straight, said goodbye to her mother and sister, and most importantly, ensured her father's dream reached beyond the limits of his life.]]
** Will she [[spoiler: open up trade to China as the British did historically, by getting the Chinese addicted to opium?]]
** When the Knave of Hearts is told [[spoiler: he will be chained to The Red Queen for the rest of their lives, he immediately draws a weapon before being disarmed. Was he about to kill her.... Or himself?]]
* AndYouWereThere: Set up, then averted.
* AMinorKidroduction: We first see Alice as a little girl.
* ArbitrarySkepticism: "I'm sorry, Aunt Imogen, but [[spoiler: there is no prince]]." Now, let me go play with my talking animal friends, this queen I met, and a Hatter who shrinks people and can turn his head about like a hundred owls. It ''would'' be HypocriticalHumor were it played for anything but drama.
** Also, [[NiceJobBreakingItHero nice job getting your aunt locked in a]] [[BedlamHouse Victorian sanitarium,]] [[NiceJobBreakingItHero hero.]]
* ArrangedMarriage: Well, practically -- for Alice to Hamish. Slightly subverted in that she's the only one who doesn't know about the arrangements until just before the proposal.
* AttemptedRape: At one point The Knave of Hearts pins Alice between him and wall in the hallway and rather seductively (and creepily) whispers to Alice how he [[FetishFuel "likes largeness."]]. However, Alice fends him off easily because of being nine feet tall at the moment (compared to the Knave's seven). If she had been her normal size... Well, actually, he would have left her alone.
* AttentionDeficitOohShiny: The Hare, in general.
* AwesomeMomentOfCrowning: After [[spoiler: Alice kills the Jabberwocky, the crown floats over to land on the White Queen's head (though, of course, the Chesire Cat was holding it).]]
* AudioErotica: When the Hatter gets serious or angry, his voice changes from a frantic tenor (most obvious when he starts babbling) to a smoother baritone not unlike [[PiratesOfTheCaribbean Captain Jack Sparrow's]] or [[{{Chocolat}} Roux's]] and often gains a Scottish accent. And the White Queen's voice is a deep, velvety version of Anne Hathaway's normal voice.
* BeautyIsNeverTarnished: Alice falls down a rabbit hole, gets shrunk, enlarged and stuffed in a teapot, then fights the Jabberwocky...all without a curl on her head getting tangled. Averted, however, in that even when she returns to her daily life, she still bears the scars from the Bandersnatch attack.
* BechdelTest: The protagonist is a girl, the main conflict she intervenes in is between two women, and her reward is to ''not'' marry ''anybody.''
* BerserkButton: The Hatter has a few. It's really not a good idea to do anything that could be perceived by him to be a threat against either Alice or the White Queen...and don't mention the Horunvendush Day. Just don't.
* BewareTheNiceOnes: Alice and the White Queen. The Hatter also lets slip a DoubleEntendre, though not of the usual sort:

* {{BFS}}: The Hatter wields a claymore in the final battle. He uses it as a walking stick first.
* BilingualBonus: "I tower over ''everyone'' in Umbrage."
* BloodlessCarnage: Not much blood spilt throughout the movie, especially in the final battle, although that one gets a pass as most of the participants are metal cards and chess pieces. The Horunvendush Day scene in particular is ridiculously clean. When the Hatter returns after the disaster, there isn't a single body to be seen, and the only hat left is, [[ContrivedCoincidence conveniently]], his own.
* BloodKnight: Of all people, the Dormouse.
* BodyHorror: It's theorized by the White Queen that the Red Queen has some kind of tumor growing in her head.
* BrickJoke: Futterwacken.
* BrokenBird: The Hatter. As it gets explained to Alice via flashback (and is made more explicitly clear in supplemental material), his entire family was killed the day the Jabberwock assaulted Witzend and the White Queen lost her crown. The Hatter himself only survived the invasion because he rushed to get the White Queen to safety; he returned to the scene afterward and found everything burning and everyone dead. This is one of the two main reasons for his madness, the other being mercury poisoning (a common malady for Victorian milliners).
* ButterflyOfDeathAndRebirth
* CainAndAbel: The Queens.
* CallingYourAttacks: [[spoiler: Alice]] invokes OffWithHisHead by name (see CMOA).
* CaptainErsatz: The film's version of the Dormouse comes across as a thinly disguised [[{{Narnia}} Reepicheep]].
* CargoShip:
** The Cheshire Cat and the Mad Hatter's Hat. He brought it on himself.
** The White Queen can make ''furniture'' fall in love with her. Although that could be a reference to the fact that the role of most furniture is played by animals in the Red Queen's kingdom.
** The Jabberwock and the Vorpal Blade sure seem to have a lot of [[FoeYay history]].
* ChainmailBikini: Averted in a rare and thus notable case. To elaborate, [[spoiler: Alice is wearing full armor (with exception of her head) for the final battle]]. Which oddly draws attention to the fact that she's riding into battle without a helmet.
* ChekhovsGun: You'll be seeing that eye again. Also, the Hatter's various... [[BuffySpeak hatting...stuff.]] And the futterwacken.
* ChekhovsGunman: The Hatter. SEVERAL times.
* ChessMotif:
** The White Queen, her castle and soldiers.
** The Red Queen, at least in name.
** The battle (Red vs. White) takes place on a giant black-and-white checkered chessboard.
* TheChosenOne: Alice, of course
* ChuckCunninghamSyndrome: After the croquet game, the Dodo just disappears. There is no mention of him, he doesn't even show up during the final battle!!
* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: [[CaptainObvious The Mad Hatter and March Hare.]] Alice herself is this as far as other people in the real world are concerned.
* ClicheStorm: [[TropesAreNotBad Though not necessarily a bad thing.]]
* ColourCodedForYourConvenience
* CombatByChampion
* CombatPragmatist: The Mad Hatter.
* CompensatingForSomething: Red Queen surrounds herself with courtiers with abnormally large appendages. Except for [[spoiler: the Knave (who really is seven feet tall and possessing abnormally lengthy limbs), they're all wearing prosthetics, unbeknownst to her]]. Considering her head probably makes up a third of her body weight, she probably didn't like sticking out so much.
* CompleteMonster: The Red Queen reveals herself to be this. Bad enough that she orders one of her frog retainers executed when he ate her tarts because he was hungry. But then she sends one of her other servants to collect his children -- ''because she likes tadpoles on toast''!
* CompositeCharacter: The Red Queen comes off as a combination of the Red Queen from ''Through the Looking Glass'' and the Queen of Hearts.
* CoolBigSis: Alice's; her name is Margaret.
* CostumePorn: Alice's dresses are just the tip of the 'berg.
* CrackPairing: Alice/Mad Hatter gets in with a bit of {{UST}}.
** For some, Mad Hatter/White Queen is the preferred ship. Since neither one is precisely sane, it gives a new meaning to CrackPairing.
** Alice/Mad Hatter was originally intended to be canon, according to an early version of the script.
*** [[StrangledByTheRedString Strong hints]] remain in the film's novelization and one of the visual guides, which states that "Although Alice and Tarrant (The Mad Hatter) do care for each other, they are not compatible because she is always either too tall or too small."
* CrazyAwesome: What did you expect? This ''is'' JohnnyDepp playing one of the most legendary {{Cloud Cuckoolander}}s in the history of fiction.
* CrapsaccharineWorld
* CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass: The Hatter, so very much.

* CruelMercy: White Queen, proving that [[LightIsNotGood Light is not always Good]].
* CreepyTwins: Subverted with Dee and Dum, who are more [[TheWoobie woobie]] then anything else. The (female) twins at the party are a bit creepier.
* CurtainClothing: When Alice grows out of her dress in the Red Queen's garden the Queen demands she be given new clothes and tells her servants to "Use the curtains if you have to." When we later see her clothed, she has a belt that looks suspiciously like a tie for a curtain, hinting that it's exactly what they did.
* DancePartyEnding: Well, almost, with the Mad Hatter.
* DeadlyDecadentCourt: The Red Queen's.
* DeadpanSnarker: Absolem the Caterpillar...not that it's any real surprise considering AlanRickman is its voice actor.
* DeathbringerTheAdorable: As it turns out, [[spoiler: the Bandersnatch]].
* DeceasedParentsAreTheBest: Alice's deceased father, Charles Kingsleigh, while he was alive, would comfort Alice after having a nightmare and encourage her unconventional thought patterns. Alice would eventually follow in her father's footsteps and take up his old business ventures.
* DownTheRabbitHole: Duh.
* DracoInLeatherPants: While most people seem to be doing this to the Knave of Hearts, others were more sympathetic to the Red Queen. [[spoiler: Especially when it turns out that he didn't love her as he had been leading on.]]
* TheDragon: The Red Queen has one literal (the Jabberwocky) and one figurative (the Knave). It could be said that the Hatter fills this position to the White Queen.
* DullSurprise: A common criticism of Alice. Pretty much all her dialogue is delivered in a flat, monotone manner - regardless of what's actually happening at the time. Possibly deliberate (she ''is'' a young [[StiffUpperLip British lady]] who believes for most of the film that it is AllJustADream) to contrast with her surroundings, but still pretty hard to take seriously.
* ElmuhFuddSyndwome: The Red Queen.
* [[EverythingsBetterWithPrincesses Everything's Better With Queens]]
* EvilCounterpart: The final battle presents the Knave as being this to the Hatter.
* EvilRedHead: The Red Queen.
* EyeScream:
** [[TookALevelInBadass The Dormouse]] has a habit of inflicting this on other creatures.
** [[spoiler: The Hatter]] also gets one in on [[spoiler: the Knave]] during the final battle. However, it doesn't seem to affect [[spoiler: the Knave]] much afterward.
** ''Alice In Wonderland'', as a movie, has an abundance of eye tropes. Nearly every character, including Alice, has exaggerated or unique eyes. Even the Dormouse gets a close up of its eyes. And the Hatter's eyes are part of a very subtle scene transition.
** While it isn't a direct use of this trope, one of the Hatter's pupils is visibly more dilated than the other--a sign of ''severe'' head trauma. [[FridgeBrilliance A concussion would certainly explain his erratic emotions and babbling.]] WordOfGod has confirmed this.
* EyepatchOfPower: The Knave of Hearts. Interestingly, his patch is often red when in the Queen's presence, but black at any other moment.
* FacelessGoons: Both the Red and White soldiers.
* FakeBrit: Johnny Depp, Crispin Glover, Anne Hathaway, and Mia Wasikowska. Averted with the rest of the cast.
* FanNickname: Some fans have taken to nicknaming The Dormouse, whose name is Mallymkin, Boo. Mainly so we can shout [[BaldursGate "GO FOR THE EYES BOO! GO FOR THE EYES!"]]
* FanPreferredCouple: Alice/Hatter within the fandom and in the movieverse as well.
* FateWorseThanDeath: The White Queen [[spoiler: decrees that the Red Queen is to be ignored until the end of time, banished to outer Underland with the Knave of Hearts as her only companion]]. Considering, that [[spoiler: the only reason anyone -- ''including even faceless card {{Mook}}s'' -- hung around the Red Queen was fear of Jabberwocky]] it's a clear case of LaserGuidedKarma.
* FeatheredFiend: The Jub-Jub Bird.
* TheFettered: The White Queen.
* FetishFuel: Growing, Shrinking, Victorian clothing, WhiteHairedPrettyGirl, Women in Armor, ...Johnny Depp...
* FisherKing: "Underland" was definitely brighter under the White Queen compared to its look under the Red Queen, and when the latter is defeated, the sky immediately gets a bit brighter. Also, watch how the scenery changes during the credits.
* FoeYay:
** Between Alice and the Knave. He has it bad for her owing to her large size.
** [[ShippingGoggles The Mad Hatter, and the Knave of Hearts.]] [[YourMilageMayVary YMMV]] though.
* FriendToAllLivingThings: The White Queen, whose "vows" include not harming any living creature. Of course, the vows say nothing about getting other people to do the harming for her.
* FridgeHorror: Alice's idea at the end of the film is to get her father's company to open up trade to China. And how did the British do this, historically speaking? [[spoiler: Through the freaking OPIUM WARS!]]
* FridgeLogic: I know, I know, this is Wonderland, but you still gotta wonder. Apparently the Vorpal Sword is the only means to slay the Jabberwock(y) - "if it ain't the Vorpal Sword, it's not dead". But ironically, to know this for sure, the only way would be to actually slay him. And ''de facto'' the dragon appears to have had at least an encounter with the blade, possibly more, but there he was standing in front of Alice, very much alive. So how would the denizens of Dreamland know the Vorpal Blade can kill him?
** Unless that is no other weapon can even pierce his skin anyways.
** Or unless he has in fact been killed but has regenerated through his own power or the Red Queen's - if he has that possibility, this would mean Alice's efforts were moot anyways.
* FreudWasRight: Given Alice's issues, at odds with society and daddy troubles, which Burton has done in other [[EdwardScissorHands films of his]] and [[WillyWonkaAndTheChocolateFactory different]] [[SleepyHollow movie]] [[{{Batman}} adaptions]], [[CreatorBreakdown one begins to wonder...]]
* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: "I shall futterwacken... ''vigorously''."
** A mild example, various characters referring to Red Queen as "Bloody big head"
** The Knave of Hearts is implied to be a macrophile.
** Each of the Red Queen's courtiers had a comically huge body part, and if one were to look hard enough, there are glimpses of one with GagBoobs. [[spoiler: When it is later revealed that the body parts are all fake, there's a very quick background shot of one of the courtiers tearing the fake breasts away from the woman's chest, though no actual naughty bits are shown.]]
* GildedCage: The White Queen is stuck in her palace after the Red Queen's takeover.
* GirlsNeedRoleModels: According to some critics, Alice is a good one [[RealWomenNeverWearDresses because "she is not girlie"]].
* GodSaveUsFromTheQueen: Played straight with the Red Queen, averted with the White.
* GoodIsImpotent: While this is what often happens to [[ActualPacifist Actual Pacifists]] and [[FriendToAllLivingThings Friends To All Living Things]] in [[{{Grimmification}} Grimmified]] versions of fairy tales, both the White Queen and Alice avert this completely. The White Queen is a genuinely decent (if creepy) person, but if she tries to give you a LastSecondChance, '''you better take it'''. Otherwise, see FateWorseThanDeath above. And Alice [[TookALevelInBadAss takes about 20 levels in Badass]] over the course of the movie - ''without'' going DarkerAndEdgier.
* GoodIsNotNice: The White Queen demonstrates this in the end.
* GothSpirals: ''Whole forests'' of 'em! Well it ''is'' Tim Burton.
* GranolaGirl: PlayedForLaughs with The White Queen.
* HairOfGold: Alice
* HalfDressedCartoonAnimal: Several of the {{Talking Animal}}s including the White Rabbit and the frogs in the Red Queen's court. (though justified, because [[spoiler: the red queen gives her servents red garments or markings.]]
* HappyDance: The futterwacken, the Mad Hatter's oft-mentioned dance of joy, finally seen after the Red Queen's defeat.
* HairRaisingHare: The March Hare is ragged, twitchy, spouts {{Madness Mantra}}s, and likes to throw things. "YOU'RE LATE FOR TEA!" * flings teacup*
* HairTriggerTemper: The Red Queen
* TheHighQueen: The White Queen is an exaggerated version.
* HeelFaceTurn: [[spoiler: The Bandersnatch]] once [[spoiler: Alice gives its eye back]].
* HerHeartWillGoOn: If you picked up on on the film's "romantic subtext," [[spoiler: Alice and Hatter get this. No, he doesn't die, but the look on his face as Alice's chooses to leave send him into near {{Woobie}} territory.]] It doesn't hurt that [[spoiler: Alice said she knew the way back, implying that they could easily meet again someday.]]
* [[HeyItsThatGuy Hey, It's That Guy]] / AllStarCast:
** Burton's usual suspects in their usual roles -- including his [[UglyGuyHotWife partner]] [[SweeneyTodd Mrs. Lovett]] as the [[AxeCrazy Red Queen]] and EdwardScissorhands as the Mad Hatter -- but also some new faces like [[ThePrincessDiaries Anne Hathaway]] as the White Queen, one of the ''LittleBritain'' actors as the Tweedle Twins, Alice's {{maiden aunt}} is Madam Maxime. [[DoctorWho Adelaide Brooke (from the Waters of Mars)]] is Alice's mother.
** [[BackToTheFuture George Mcfly]] plays the Knave of Hearts. [[LordOfTheRings Celeborn]] is Alice's dad and [[VForVendetta Peter Creedy]] is Lord Ascot.
* HeyItsThatVoice: [[HarryPotter Snape]] is the Caterpillar. [[LordOfTheRings Saruman]] is the Jabberwock.
** [[{{Underworld}} Lucian]] [[{{Twilight}} Aro]] is the White Rabbit, and StephenFry is the Cheshire Cat.
** [[HarryPotter Wormtail]] is Bayard the Bloodhound, [[{{Film/Batman}} Alfred]] [[BatmanReturns Pennyworth]] is the Dodo, and [[EastEnders Peggy Mitchell]] is the Dormouse.
** Don't forget Dolores Umbridge as the flowers when Alice meets up with the White Rabbit and the Tweedles.
** If you're wondering, this leaves five members of the cast. Of the five, one has an OBE for her acting, one was in ''TheIllusionist'', one was in ''28 Days Later'', and one graduated from Oxford Drama School. Only one member of the cast is not ''at least'' recognizable or otherwise awesome.
* IAmNotShazam: Jabberwocky is the name of the poem; the creature is the Jabberwock. Nevertheless, the two are frequently used interchangeably.
* IControlMyMinionsThrough: Fear and Sovereignty.
* IFellForHours: The rabbit hole in the film's original script and novelization. Not as long-lasting or drastic in the film itself, Alice speeds down the rabbit hole, whams into a bookcase and a piano ''and'' a bed, before finally crashing through the floor of the Hall of Doors and lands on the ceiling. All within 45 seconds.
* IGotBetter: [[spoiler: The Bandersnatch's eye.]] Also Alice's infected arm [[spoiler: after the Bandersnatch cures it in return.]]
* InNameOnly:
** Despite being named for the shortened-version of the first book, the movie is actually a sequel of sorts.
** The Red Queen shares only her title with the chess piece from ''Through the Looking Glass'', and is in every other respect based on the Queen of Hearts from ''Alice in Wonderland''.
* InterspeciesRomance: Supplemental material verifies what's only hinted at in the film -- Mallymkin the Dormouse is secretly in love with the Hatter.
* ItsComplicated: The movie takes several characters from ''Through the Looking Glass'' (a MirrorWorld of Wonderland) and combines them with their counterparts from the first book, as well as taking incidental characters from the poems (the Jabberwocky and Bandersnatch) and making them major players. People only familiar with the Disney cartoon will be very confused by all this.
* KickTheDog:
** After the White Queen sentences her to AFateWorseThanDeath, the Red Queen takes comfort in knowing that the only person who loved her, the Knave of Hearts, will still be by her side... he is so horrified at the prospect that he tries to kill her, and then begs for his own death when he doesn't succeed.
** The Red Queen herself kicks the dog when she has a talking frog decapitated just for stealing her food.
* LaResistance
* LadyOfWar: The Dormouse.
* LargeHam: Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter. And it's AWESOME.
* LesYay: Alice and the White Queen seem to become very close. Also, the Red Queen bemoans that her sister can make anyone (man or ''woman'') love her.
** The Red Queen seemed mighty fond of Alice there for awhile...
* {{Lickspittle}}: The Red Queen's court. The Mad Hatter actually ''calls'' them this.
* LightIsGood: White is associated with the good guys, namely the forces of the White Queen.
* LikeBrotherAndSister: According to an interview with JohnnyDepp, this is how he views the Hatter's relationship with Alice. ... But, of course, this won't stop the fans from ''shipping'' them.
* LineOfSightName: Alice picks up the name "Um of Umbrage" after growing fifteen feet tall at the Red Castle to fool the Red Queen. Counts as Line of Sight because the White Rabbit uttered it in hesitation and the Red Queen took it as an actual name. Results in TooDumbToLive below. Hilariously lampshaded later in the movie:
-->-- '''Red Queen''': "Hello, Um."
* TheMadHatter: "You're entirely bonkers...but all the best people are." The March Hare also thanks the Knave for the compliment of calling him mad. The Hatter himself tends to shake off that there's something "wrong with him" with a vigorous "I'm fine." Interestingly, the original script had the Hatter as an extremely lucid character.
* MaidenAunt: Alice's, played by Frances De La Tour. Apparently thinks she's [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wallis,_Duchess_of_Windsor Wallis Simpson]]. ("I'm waiting for my fiance. He's a prince, but alas, he cannot marry me unless he renounces his throne.") [[spoiler: When Alice returns, she gently tells her aunt she has to let go of her fantasy.]]
** What do you mean, ''[[GoodIsNotNice gently?]]''
* ManInAKilt: The Hatter wears one for the final battle. [[RuleOfCool No explanation is offered.]]
** Possibly an EnforcedTrope: [[spoiler: it probably made that [[UncannyValley futterwacken]] [[BigLippedAlligatorMoment thing]] easier to animate]].
* ManipulativeBitch: The Red Queen thinks her sister the White Queen is this.
--> '''Red Queen''': Mirana can make anyone fall in love with her. Men... [[EvenTheGirlsWantHer Women...]] [[FriendToAllLivingThings Animals...]] Even [[CargoShip the furniture]]."
--> (later) "I know what you're doing. You think you can blink those pretty little eyes and I'll melt, just like Mummy and Daddy did. ''It is MY crown! I am the eldest!''
* MeaningfulName:
** The Knave's real name is Stayne (Stain), and he certainly is one on Underland.
** The Red Queen's real name is Iracebeth, a play on the word ''irascible'', which she very much is. Contrast that with her sister -- the White Queen's real name is Mirana, which is [[http://www.thinkbabynames.com/meaning/0/Mirana a variant of Mira]], which means "peace."
** Also, the Hatter's real name is Tarrant Hightopp, with the last name being a reference to the top hats favored by his family.
*** ...Or a brand of shoes...
* MercyKill: [[spoiler: The Knave begs the White Queen for this when she has him shackled to the Red Queen "from this day until the end of Underland." Of course she denies him.]]
* MissedMomentOfAwesome: Hands up if you thought one of the heads was going to talk and/or bite Alice when she crossed them on the moat.
** One of them did, technically. She got her foot caught in the mouth of one.
** Another example: The original script made the Horunvendush Day scene more interesting. Instead of grabbing the White Queen's frightened horse's reins and leading it away on foot, the Hatter was originally supposed to ''vault into the saddle behind her and gallop away''.
** Muting the Jabberwock less than a minute into the battle. You had CHRISTOPHER FRICKIN' LEE doing the voice!
** Did anyone expect when Alice got something thrown at her in the White Queen's kitchen that we'd be seeing the the Duchess?
* MoreTeethThanTheOsmondFamily: The Cheshire Cat and the Bandersnatch.
* NiceHat: The Hatter has one (and makes a bunch more for the Red Queen at one point) - it even serves as a ChekhovsGun. And a ''[[CrazyAwesome mode of transport]]''.
* NightmareFetishist: The White Queen, as illustrated by the cheerful way in which she puts the disgusting ingredients in the potion she makes for Alice. As explained by her actress Hathaway, the White Queen has the same craziness InTheBlood as does her sister, the Red Queen, and so she tries to act very good and pure to compensate, but is still kind of odd - you could think of her as a PerkyGoth who happens to wear all white.
* NightmareFuelUnleaded / NauseaFuel: Alice crossing the moat of heads; later, the White Queen's recipe for pishalver (shrinking potion) which includes "buttered fingers," horsefly urine, and spit.
* NoNameGiven: Averted in that almost every resident of Underland has a "real" name, despite almost none of them being given one in the original stories. The Cheshire Cat is Chessur, the March Hare is Thackery, and the White Rabbit is [=McTwisp=], just for starters.
* NoodleIncident: One that, when mentioned, immediately prompts the Hatter to fly into a furious tirade.
--> '''Cheshire Cat:''' What happened that day wasn't my fault.
* ObfuscatingStupidity: The Hatter plays up his insanity to the Knave of Hearts, but is secretly [[CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass quite the badass]]. The March Hare, however, definitely isn't pretending.
* OfCorsetsSexy: Averted in that Alice refuses to wear one. Played straight in that Alice touches upon its symbolical value as an item of female restriction. [[ClicheStorm Yes, that old chestnut]].
* OffWithHisHead: Alice to [[spoiler: the Jabberwock]] and of course The Red Queen. Unlike the book and the Disney film, the Red Queen actually goes through with it [[spoiler: even against her own husband!]]
* OlderThanTheyThink: People have been lauding it for being a DarkerAndEdgier sequel to the ''Alice'' books (based on the trailers and information available). Burton personally preferred it when it was [[AmericanMcgeesAlice interactive]]. Interestingly, it might count as a subversion of the (now fairly cliched) Dark Alice idea, given that it's tone is cheerfully eccentric rather than depressing [[spoiler: and the later reveal that when younger, Alice had the lighter adventures of the novels; things are darker in her second trip because of the Red Queen taking over]]
* OneSceneWonder: ''Christopher Lee'' as the Jabberwocky, who only manages to deliver a couple of brief yet powerful lines before [[spoiler: Alice slices his tongue off.]]
* OohMeAccentsSlipping: Johnny Depp is... rather inconsistent about which part of the United Kingdom the Hatter is from (either because he's, well, mad, or... see WhatDoYouMeanItsNotPolitical below).
* PerkyGoth: The White Queen - Anne Hathaway is clearly [[HamAndCheese having a ball]] floating around like a melodramatic crazy girl. Hathaway's own description of her character is "a punk-rock [[GranolaGirl vegan pacifist]]." One movie critic summed her up as "Morticia Addams's hippie cousin"
* PragmaticAdaptation: YourMileageMayVary.
* PimpedOutDress: The Queens and their courtiers. Also, Alice gets several over the course of the movie to match her ever-changing size.
* PoliticallyCorrectHistory: Alice would ''not'' go on a journey to China after telling off all those people and talking nonsense, she would be sent to a ''sanitorium''. She's nothing but a young woman in Victorian England, after all. A fabulously wealthy young woman in Victorian England, so she can do more than most. Just go with it!
* [[PsychopathicManChild Psychopathic Woman Child]]: The Red Queen according to her actress, who evidently took inspiration from her young daughter, Nell.

* PublicDomainCharacter: But of course.
* PuritySue: The White Queen when we first meet her. Everyone loves her, she won't hurt a living thing, and her [[LethalChef lethal cooking]] turns into a save-the-day cure. [[spoiler: Subverted hard when she [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome delivers a bout]] of CruelMercy to her sister and the Knave.]] There IS a reason Hathaway's performance is more memorable than our leading lady's. According to the actress, her over-the-top "princess" mannerisms are the character overcompensating for fear of becoming evil. Note how much more naturally she behaves in the scene with the dog after her courtiers have left.
* RedHeadedHero: The Hatter.
* RedEyesTakeWarning: The Hatter's eyes go from neon-green to fiery-red when he gets angry.
* RelationshipWritingFumble: Alice and the Mad Hatter have a sweet and subtle dynamic that brings to mind [[HarryPotter Harry Potter and Luna Lovegood's interaction]].
* SceneryPorn / SceneryGorn: It ''is'' a TimBurton movie, after all. A visual feast is practically expected. Even the bombed-out ruins of the White Queen's party look impressive.
* ShoutOut:
** The real name of Wonderland is Underland. The original name Lewis Carroll gave ''Alice in Wonderland'' was ''Alice's Adventures Underground''.
** Alice's father's name is Charles; Lewis Carroll's real name was Charles Dodgeson.
** Charles Kingsley, author of ''The Water Babies'', was the name of another famous Victorian children's author whose work influenced Lewis Carroll.
** The twisted tree near the entry door to Wonderland is very similar to the one in ''SleepyHollow''.
** The Hatter using [[spoiler: scissors to make Alice a new dress in record time and as a weapon to thwart the Knave's attempt on the Red Queen's life]] may be a reference to ''Edward Scissorhands''.
** There seem to be a few for ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings'': The balcony scene with Alice and the White Queen is similar to one with Gandalf and Pippin in the third movie (Alice's PJ's even look like appropriate for Middle Earth); the Mad Hatter uses a sword similar to Strider's; the Red Queen's goons use a catapult full of rubble against the good guys; Alice [[spoiler: chops off the Jabberwock's head with one strike like Eowyn.]]
** While the Gryphon from the books is absent as a character in the events of the film, [[http://aliceinwonderland.wikia.com/wiki/File:2010-jabberwock-gryphon.jpg he is referred to in the Red Queen's castle.]] The [[http://aliceinwonderland.wikia.com/wiki/File:Knaveofhearts.jpg Mock Turtle]] and Walrus also appear as portraits.
** The Knave's comment to the Red Queen, "Is it not better to be feared than loved?" is in fact a shout out to Macchiavelli's ''The Prince''.
* ShutUpHannibal: Alice: "Enough chatting!" [[spoiler: -- She slices off the Jabberwock's tongue.]]
* SiblingYinYang: The Red Queen and the White Queen.
* SlasherSmile: The Cheshire Cat, and virtually everyone else who smiles in Underland.
* SmokingIsCool: Absolem, of course.
* SplitPersonality: The Hatter seems to have one - he lapses into a Scottish brogue and his eyes even change color as an indicator on occasion. It's been said that the brogue is common to those who speak Outlandish, the language from the portion of Wonderland which includes the Hatter's home village of Witzend.
* SpotlightStealingSquad: The Mad Hatter claims center stage on both the DVD and Blu-ray covers (and on the standard edition Blu-ray cover, he's the only character featured!).
* StepfordSmiler: The White Queen, when she's not being a PuritySue.
* StrangledByTheRedString: [[spoiler: Some fans seem to feel this way about the [[RomanticPlotTumor relationship between the Hatter and Alice]].]]
* {{Squick}}:
** You really don't want to know what's in all of those drinks/food items you've been consuming, Alice.
** Adding a "butterfinger" gets squicky when you see it's an ''actual'' finger.
* TaintedByThePreview: Plenty of people completely wrote the film off because of this ([[YourMileageMayVary perhaps]] [[CrazyAwesome prematurely]]).
* TakeThat: [[spoiler: Alice's dance near the end of the movie; ''* GASP! She's not wearing stockings!* '' doubles as a CrowningMomentOfAwesome.]]
* {{Talking Animal}}s: Non-talking (well, not on camera anyway) animals are the aforementioned "furniture".
* TalkingToHimself: The Tweedles are played by the same actor.
* TheChosenZero: The denizens of Underland aren't sure that Alice is the prophesized champion, and the Dormouse is especially prone to proclaiming, "She's the wrong Alice!"
* ThrowingYourSwordAlwaysWorks: The Dormouse again. After the final battle, [[spoiler: the Hatter throws his scissors right into the Knave's wrist, just as he is about to murder the Red Queen (to whom he was forcibly handcuffed [[CruelMercy as punishment]]).]]
* TomeOfProphecy: The Oraculum.
* TookALevelInBadass: Arguably, the entire cast. Specifically [[LittleMissBadass Alice]], [[LadyOfWar the Dormouse]], and [[spoiler: the Hatter]]. Even the White Queen seems to take one when she gets the crown back.
* {{Trickster}}: The Cheshire Cat. In true Trickster fashion, it's even implied this whole mess started because of him.
* TroubledBackstoryFlashback: The Hatter.
* {{Tsundere}}: The Red Queen. Dere Dere when it comes to the Knave, Tsun Tsun about everything else.
* UglyCute: [[CutenessProximity Oos a cuddwy widdle]] Bandersnatch?
* [[TheUmbridge The]] [[JustForPun Umbridge]]: "Um, from Umbridge." {{Incredibly Lame Pun}}s aside, the Red Queen fits this trope.
* UncannyValley: Aside from Alice, every single character, even the ones that are supposed to be neutral or the good guys, look unsettling as hell. To put in perspective, the Cheshire Cat with his perma-grin looks the least scary.
* TheUnfavorite: The Red Queen. This is her FreudianExcuse for being such a psycho.
* UnfortunateImplications:
** The end of the movie, set back in late 19th-century England, [[spoiler: has Alice leaving to China to begin a new era of global trade and kinship. [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boxer_Rebellion What could possibly go wrong?]] ]]
** A related idea is that it is a historical joke of ThisIsYourPremiseOnDrugs [[spoiler: Some people think Carroll wrote the book on opium, which the British exported to China in large quantities. While it was a policy prior to the setting of the movie, you could see an implication that this will be one of Alice's "bright ideas". So technically, she becomes the Victorian equivalent of Pablo Escobar.]]
* UnintentionallySympathetic:
** The Red Queen, [[YourMileageMayVary to an extent]]. Probably counts as DracoInLeatherPants...except what she does isn't forgivable.
** The Jabberwocky [[AffablyEvil seemed like a pretty cool guy]]. You probably could have made a deal with him to leave the field if you'd just given him the stupid sword, Alice. Given that the Jabberwock is the only one who stuck with the Red Queen by his own free will (all others were just afraid of the Jabberwock) instead of just toasting the wench, it is probably safe to assume he is really her loyal pet, or a kind of construct at her service, or simply an immensely evil being amused by the sight of Wonderland suffering the tyranny of the Queen.
* UnresolvedSexualTension: Alice and the Mad Hatter, although this is a strange example because they're probably not intended to give off such vibes to viewers, but it's not quite WillTheyOrWontThey because they never really hint at anything too obviously. The original script included two passionate kisses between them, and there is a rumor that one of them was actually filmed.
--> '''The Mad Hatter,''' ''to 9-foot-tall Alice:'' Why is it you're always too small, or too tall?
** "You're terribly late, you know...''naughty''."
* UnusualEuphemism:
** "shukrn"
** "slurking urpal slackush scrum": No literal translation was given, but rather simply "words of the foulest meaning".
* UnusualEyebrows: The Mad Hatter.
* UpperClassTwit: Hamish, Alice's would-be fiancé, could be the poster child for this trope.
* ViolentGlaswegian: The March Hare is always muttering to himself or shouting in Scottish accented gibberish, and he's certainly violent.
* [[TheSevenBasicPlots Voyage And Return]]: Yep, painfully as obvious as [[TheHerosJourney Alice's adventure]], but inverted at the end when [[spoiler: Alice leaves Wonderland but vows to return, and once in her own world sails off to China, implying she has one more voyage before coming home.]]
* WeirdMoon: Once the Cheshire Cat gets hold of it.
* WhiteHairedPrettyGirl: The White Queen.
* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotPolitical: The movie is arguably a result of Burton running with the theory that ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' was at least in part political commentary of the WarsOfTheRoses, with the Queen of Hearts being combined with the Red Queen of ''Through the Looking Glass'' (thus taking the possible symbol of "painting the roses red" -- possibly an allegory for Lancaster aggression against the house of York, which was symbolized by white roses--and combining it with the imagery of Red (Lancaster) and White (York) Queens going to war). Evidence for this interpretation includes Johnny Depp's deliberate switches to a ridiculously over-the-top Scottish accent whenever he talks about rising up against the queen.
* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic: Sometimes a [[ButterflyOfDeathAndRebirth Blue Butterfly]] comes from a Blue Caterpillar.
* WhosOnFirst : The Knave has some trouble with the name "Um".
* WildMassGuessing: Depp's take on the Mad Hatter is a historical one: [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mad_hatter_disease Hatters went mad]] due to working with mercury (which can turn hair and eyes red while bleaching skin and cause anxiety, hallucinations and possibly schizophrenia), and the Mad Hatter has had mercury poisoning for a ''very'' long time. He also went with the Edgar Allan Poe angle to the Raven/writing desk riddle.
* TheWoobie: The March Hare, who comes [[BreakTheCutie pre-broken]] (and to get this out of the way, arguably, the Hatter in his less subversive moods).
--> '''The Hare:''' ...[[TearJerker cup]]?
* XMeetsY: This movie has been awkwardly compared to ''{{Labyrinth}}'', a teenage girl ventures to a dream land in which serves as a metaphorical journey from sheltered girl into an experienced young lady, guided/challenged by a parental/mentor figure that gives off WAY too much squicky subtext, with clues from the "real world" the dream land is little more than in her head, and the ''ChroniclesOfNarnia'' film: a human girl is transported to a magical land inhabited by talking animals where a false ruler - an evil queen has taken over, where she learns she is arbitrarily the "Chosen One" who will defeat the evil queen and restore a benevolent ruler to the magical land.
* {{Yangire}}: The White Queen is strongly hinted to be this.
* YouCantFightFate:
** So it is written, so [[strike:shall]] WILL it be done. It was prophesied that Alice [[spoiler:would slay the Jabberwocky]] before Alice was even given a proper understanding of what was going on when she reached Underland. She did ''try'' to ScrewDestiny for a while, and even showed, eventually, that this was less GenreBlindness and more backbone (OffTheRails, as it were). But even ''that'' turned out to be part of the big prediction. Reminds one a little of [[TheLordOfTheRings Tolkien]], with his God character saying stuff like "You thought you were singing against me, but that was part of my musical masterpiece all along."
** There is an interesting zigzagging of this trope in the movie, what with Alice fleeing a forced marriage into Wonderland where she runs into another forced destiny, tries to screw it but still plays by it, carries out her destiny in Wonderland, but still manages to ScrewDestiny in England!
* YouGottaHaveBlueHair: Fur for the Cheshire Cat, feathers for the Dodo.
* ZeroPercentApprovalRating: The Red Queen. As the Knave of Hearts comments to her, and she later agrees, "It's better to be feared than to be loved." [[spoiler: The only reason ANYBODY followed her is because of her big dragon. After the thing is dead, they immediately turn on her.]]

* ActualPacifist: The White Queen - sort of. She's okay with people [[CombatByChampion fighting for her]], but refuses to fight herself because of having taken vows never cause physical harm to anyone. [[spoiler: CruelMercy, on the other hand...]] Or she can't lower her arms from their permanently raised position to hold a sword, one of the two

[[StrangledByTheRedString Strong hints]] remain in the film's novelization and one of the visual guides, which states that "Although Alice and Tarrant (The Mad Hatter) do care for each other, they are not compatible because she is always either too tall or too small."

[[HarryPotter Wormtail]] is Bayard the Bloodhound, [[{{Film/Batman}} Alfred]] [[BatmanReturns Pennyworth]] is the Dodo, and [[EastEnders Peggy Mitchell]] is the Dormouse.

** Also, [[NiceJobBreakingItHero nice job getting your aunt locked in a]] [[BedlamHouse Victorian sanitarium,]] [[NiceJobBreakingItHero hero.]