Linda Woolverton's script for Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland (2010) retained a basic connection with the book even though it made Alice a grown-up who slipped into Wonderland, re-named Underland – in the course of running away from an unwanted marriage. But in the sequel, Woolverton and director James Bobin have kept only Carroll's characters while adding a few more of their own. Their most flamboyant creation is the Lord of Time – played by Bobin's Ali Gi Show collaborator, Sacha Baron Cohen – who's out to stop Alice from travelling back in time to examine a memory which is making Johnny Depp's Mad Hatter madder than ever.

Johnny Depp tries hard, but it's all a bit bloodless. Credit:Peter Mountain/Disney

Played again by Australian actress Mia Wasikowska, Alice is an intrepid traveller. The film's opening finds her aboard ship in the midst of an angry ocean. She's skippering the vessel once sailed by her father, now dead, and she would happily settle on a life at sea except that her vengeful ex-fiance, who happens to own the ship, has vetoed the idea.

To escape the dreary existence he has mapped out for her, she slides through a handy looking-glass and there they all are – Tweedledee and Tweedledum (Matt Lucas), The White Rabbit (Michael Sheen) and the still demure White Queen (Anne Hathaway), and they're all worried about the Hatter, who's looking red-eyed and scrawny and is more distrait than usual. What's more, they all expect Alice to do something about it.