EDIT: *two new pics* A true first look at Tim Burton's "Alice in Wonderland" (2010)!!!

All I can say is: WOW. The animation looks gorgeous, and the renderings of Depp and Bonham Carter are spectacularly weird. However, I am slightly confused, because I thought that Michael Sheen was playing the Chesire cat, instead of the White Rabbit. Either way, I can't wait to see what this film looks like in motion...

Source: Slashfilm.com

Walt Disney Pictures has released the first promotional photos from Tim Burton’s 3D re-imagining of Alice in Wonderland. Above you can see the first official photos ofJohnny Depp as a freakish-looking Mad Hatter, Helena Bona Carter as the Red Queen (”Off With Their Heads”), and Anne Hathaway as The White Queen, looking very pale. After the jump we’ve included newly confirmed details about the film’s plot (did you know its a kind of a sequel?) and new concept art that shows the White Rabbit(Michael Sheen), the egg-shaped Tweedledee and Tweedledum (Matt Lucas) and more.

The USA Today article (where the images premiered) confirms our previous report that the movie is actually a sequel in some ways. The film begins at a party where Alice, now 17, finds out that she is about to be proposed to in front of hundreds of snooty high society types. She makes a run for it, and of course, ends up following a white rabbit down a hole, back to Wonderland — a place where she visited a decade prior. The White Rabbit is convinced that he has the right girl but Alice doesn’t remember her past visit to Wonderland. The creatures of Wonderland are ready to revolt and are hoping/waiting for Alice to help them, but will she? Can she?

Other details revealed in the article include: The Red Queen has “a moat filled with bobbing noggins”, The White Queen is beautiful but eccentric, and floats around instead of walking, and that Depp employs an accent for the Hatter that producer Richard Zanuck can only describe as “indescribable”.

I’ve seen most of this art before at previous Disney industry events, and as I’ve stated in the past, I’m loving the Burton-styled look. I know some people will complain that this film looks too dark, but I actually wish some of it was darker. I’m not sure what to think about Depp of Carter’s digitally enhanced appearances. It will be interesting to see what they look like in motion. Head on over to USA Today to see non-cropped, much higher resolution versions of the above concept art. Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland will hit theaters on March 5th 2010.