What was Tim Burton like as a child I wonder? I imagine him waking up every morning and tossing talc on his face, robbing his Mums rouge and heading out for a game of footy with the neighbourhood lads.

Burton has brought us macabre movies such as Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands and The Nightmare Before Christmas. A preview of his new movie – a 3D reworking of Alice in Wonderland – has just been released and I have to say I’m excited.

The movie features a star-studded and somewhat mentally unhinged cast – Alan Rickman (the caterpillar), Stephen Fry (the Cheshire Cat), Christopher Lee (the Jabberwock), Anne Hathaway (the White Queen), Johnny Depp (the Mad Hatter) and Helena Bonham Carter (the Red Queen).

Frankly Helena Bonham Carter could throw her mad head into three seconds of a movie and I’d pay to see it.

For those of you who love the original Alice in Wonderland story be aware that the plot of this movie is slightly different – come on you’d have to expect it would be with Burton pulling the strings!

Alice is actually 17 and discovers she is about to be proposed to in front of the society la-di-dahs and so makes a run for it and ends up following the white rabbit down a hole. Alice doesn’t remember that she has visited Wonderland ten years earlier but the White Rabbit remembers her. Wonderland has changed since Alice’s last visit. The evil Red Queen has overthrown the pure, and very pale, White Queen played by Anne Hathaway and the creatures of Wonderland and preparing to revolt. The creatures hope that Alice will remember her previous visit and help them defeat the Red Queen.

Helena Bonham Carter as the Red Queen

The movie may be CGI’d to within an inch of it’s life but Burton’s dark and brilliant touch is everywhere -  The Cheshire Cat, for example, looks like a rabid tabby and could, no doubt, open a tin of beans with those razor-like teeth. Johnny Depp’s version of the Mad Hatter is less like the mad party-loving drunk uncle character of the traditional movie and more like a junkie in need of a blood transfusion.

Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter

The trailer was leaked earlier today but was quickly whipped down by Walt Disney studios. You can still watch the preview here over at Gawker if Disney haven’t shut that down too! I’m off to dig out the old movie to swot up!