So Joan of Arc is back for her first big screen depiction this century…did I say Joan of Arc? I meant Alice of Wonderland, but you’d never know from the third act of Disney’s effort with director Tim Burton where the once 2-D animated character now wields a sword against a dragon in her dreamland. This isn’t the 1951 “Alice in Wonderland” nor its other incarnations, but a live-action remake, reboot or sequel that keeps the psychedelics just as high and proves that CGI is the new animation.

Back in her youth, Alice took a journey into her dreamscape, meeting such memorable characters as the Mad Hatter, the Cheshire Cat, Tweedledee, Tweedledum, the White Rabbit and the evil Queen of Hearts. But she doesn’t remember that adventure, only reliving scattered moments in nightmares. Now, 19-year-old Alice (Mia Wasikowska) is at a turning point in her life, and the imaginative powers that be decide it’s high time she re-enter the cerebral unknown in order to learn more about her destiny in dreamland and reality. But the Wonderlandians are shocked when this reunion feels more like an introduction for poor, confused Alice. She roams this world, trying to learn how to wake up. However, her temporal amnesia doesn’t dampen her intrigue or her connection to those around her. Alice must navigate her blocked nostalgia, trying to determine her role in saving this Freudian world from the Queen of Hearts (Helena Bonham Carter) and her main henchman Stayne, the Knave of Hearts (Crispin Glover). With the help of the Mad Hatter (Johnny Depp) and the White Queen (Anne Hathaway), she’ll have to decide if she will save the world – or her dream – or just remain the wrong Alice these fantastical creatures presume she is.

It’s also nice to know that while pipe smoking no longer remains a popular cinematic choice, the Blue Caterpillar (Alan Rickman) still lights up while he offers Alice some words of wisdom. “Alice in Wonderland” may garner a PG rating but the content is far more mature than the marketed demographic implies. The Queen of Hearts’ minions, her deck of playing cards turned soldiers, aren’t the comical depictions of the ‘50s version but appear more mechanical, ready to draw blood. Death lurks around every colorful corner in this Wonderland. In shrunken form, Alice even has to cross a poisonous moat riddled with rotting corpses. And get ready for innocent Alice to grow up a little as the third act transforms into an epic battle with our heroine brandishing a long sword to fight a dragon.

What this CGI wonder lacks in story, it makes up in visual splendor and charming performances. It’s hard to look at Johnny Depp’s eyes, insane portals to the soul of a character who is simultaneously brilliant and lost. But Depp doesn’t provide the spotlight performance. Stephen Fry voices the Cheshire Cat with cryptic and winning lines and a comic fascination with the Hatter’s hat. And then there’s the Blue Caterpillar, coming to life with the voice talents of Severus Snape himself, Rickman. With each exhale of hookah smoke, he lays on the dry wit and sarcasm as thick as each puff.

Tim Burton has made some amazing movies  (“Edward Scissorhands” and “Sweeney Todd”) and some mediocre ones (“Mars Attacks!” and “Corpse Bride”), but his latest attempt at adapting someone else’s obscure vision fairs much better than his last try, “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”. With “Wonderland”, crazy and bizarre works all too well. Vivid colors with just enough Dr. Seussian backdrop prove that Burton is the perfect choice for this romp, so perfect that the spectacle trumps the shallow storyline.

“Alice in Wonderland” was a tough sell more than 50 years ago, eventually finding a place among college culture alongside hallucinogens. The latest “Alice in Wonderland” is box office gold, perhaps proving that the viewing public just might enjoy the obscure. Don’t expect an amazing storyline, but a visual story that’s got enough juice to keep your eyes on the screen until Alice wakes up.