In a phone interview with the LA Times about his upcoming appearance as the 2008 Scream Awards, Tim Burton talked about the motivation behind his upcoming live-action/performance-capture 3D adaptation of Alice in Wonderland:

“It’s a funny project. The story is obviously a classic with iconic images and ideas and thoughts. But with all the movie versions, well, I’ve just never seen one that really had any impact to me. It’s always just a series of weird events. Every character is strange and she’s just kind of wandering through all of the encounters as just a sort of observer. The goal is to try to make it an engaging movie where you get some of the psychology and kind of bring a freshness but also keep the classic nature of ‘Alice.’ And, you know, getting to do it in 3-D fits the material quite well. So I’m excited about making it a new version but also have the elements that people expect when they think of the material.”

But how do you make the classic story into a more engaging movie? Aren’t the strange characters and fantastical visuals enough to engage an audience? Lets hope that Burton doesn’t force a new unneeded narrative into the film.