For those of us who grew up watching animated Disney movies, today is a very important date. Tim Burton’s highly-anticipated “Alice in Wonderland” opens today — but unlike the White Rabbit, there’s no need to worry about being late. Feel free to take time to say your hellos and goodbyes.

The film, visually stunning and wildly colorful, is a mixed bag. Burton has remade several classics — “James and the Giant Peach,” “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” the Batman series, the list goes on. And with each new version of these well-known stories, Burton hasn’t been shy about sprinkling in eccentricity with a touch of darkness, topped with his power-duo, Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter.

Aside from experimenting with 3-D animation, “Alice in Wonderland” doesn’t seem like a new challenge to Burton; he’s followed a similar formula for a long time, and he’s shown us he can follow it well.

But Burton lingers on the safe side for a story that invites him to push his cinematic boundaries. The film is based on Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland and the less well-known sequel Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There, and Burton insists it’s his take on Carroll’s tales, not a remake.

Carroll is known for his style of literary nonsense, and he loves to just have fun with writing through fantasy and word play — basically an invitation for Burton to go to town and let his creativity run amok.

“Alice in Wonderland” takes place in Victorian London, the setting for Carroll’s books. Alice Kingsley — fictional surname — is an imaginative child who has a recurring nightmare starring a rabbit, a cat and a blue caterpillar, and she is convinced that she’s gone “bonkers.” But her father calms her down, telling her the greatest people are a little mad — which becomes one of the central themes in the movie, and no doubt a shoutout to the Cheshire Cat’s iconic line in the original Alice in Wonderland: “We’re all mad here. I’m mad. You’re mad.”

Fast forward to a 19-year-old Alice (Mia Wasikowska, “Amélie”), who retains her childlike imagination that sets her apart from the conforming Victorian aristocracy. Her family secretly plans an engagement party in a pastel-colored garden area reminiscent of the Garden of Versailles, where she spots the White Rabbit hurriedly running into a hole. While contemplating an answer to the man kneeling before her, she excuses herself to chase the rabbit into Underland (which Alice calls Wonderland). And so the story begins.

Underland is initially a splash of bright colors and blue-green hues, where animals and plants speak and where it’s perpetually tea hour. But most of Underland is barren and dark; after being attacked by a giant dog-like creature named Bandersnatch and the Red Queen’s (Helena Bonham Carter) army of cards, Alice learns that Underland took a turn for the worse when the Red Queen usurped the throne from her younger sister, the White Queen (Anne Hathaway). And according to an oracle, Alice was to return to Underland, retrieve the Vorpal sword (which the Bandersnatch guards) and slay the Red Queen’s prized dragon, the Jabberwocky, on Frabjous Day.

It’s a story we’ve heard and watched many, many times before: the unsuspecting hero who is destined for greatness tries to deny his or her said greatness, somehow makes all the right decisions and ends up saving the day — all accompanied by Danny Elfman’s ominous score. (Sorry to ruin the quite-obvious ending.) And in this story, the hero's main challenge is to regain her childhood moxie — or as the Mad Hatter calls it, her "muchness" — to fulfill her prophecy.

The visuals are fantastic, and the 3-D effects complement the fast-paced action. The film is well-cast; Bonham Carter’s expressionless yet frightening bellow of “Off with his head!” is priceless and Hathaway’s dramatic gestures intended to portray her as a foil to her evil sister are hilarious. Depp, an orange-haired Scot with oversized, piercing green eyes, doesn’t bring the peculiarity that he did to Willy Wonka. The Mad Hatter is personable and almost vulnerable, and there is a precious moment in his conversation with Alice where he realizes he may only be a figment of Alice’s imagination. In a close-up shot, Depp digests his nonexistent existence and his expression has a hint of fear and confusion. It’s a subtle but complex emotional performance that leaves you wanting more.

“Alice in Wonderland” is a brave attempt to retell a 145-year-old tale. But Burton relies on age-old tricks, and his version is disappointing because he’s shown us he can do better. A story like Alice’s screams Burton’s name, based on his body of work, but the film doesn’t live up to the anticipation. Perhaps Burton has lost his “muchness” too.

— Contact Michelle Ye Hee Lee.