Anxious teenagers don't have to wait much longer for "Alice in Wonderland."
The anticipation for this film has been building among local youngsters since last summer when director Tim Burton and actor Johnny Depp surprised attendees in Hall H where the movie trailer debuted at Comic-Con in San Diego. However, discussions about the tight grip this motion picture has had on eager adolescents, including ours, have been going down the rabbit hole faster than Alice herself.
"Johnny Depp is my age. He's old enough to be your father!" remarks the over-protective dad to his little girl.
"Yeah, but he's way cooler and cute," replies the entranced youngster who won't relent on her zeal for all things Depp.
It looks like the Disney-Burton collaboration has once again been able to captivate the pubescent moviegoing set with innovative formulas to please this finicky age group. For some fathers, it's probably unclear what a 14-year-old could possibly see in a middle-aged actor.
Still, making the prickly chat between father and daughter about the "over-the-hill" star less likely to quickly fade away is the fact that Disney-Burton-Depp endorsed movies seem to have an enigmatic harmless-yet-edgy appeal with teens. Depp's keen ability to adopt an infantile-like demeanor in his roles along with his mature and virile charm is an irresistible combination further fueling teen fantasies.
Bring together this versatile actor's talent with the innocence of a Lewis Carroll story brought to the big screen by the inimitable Tim Burton, and Disney has bottled the magic potion needed to bridge the generation gap — thus hexing brooding teens looking for burrows to disappear through in their angst-filled lives. 
To entice potential "Alice" moviegoers and die-hard Depp fans, the film's surreal sets and magnificent costumes were put on view during a traveling exhibit at the 2009 comic book convention in a specially adapted venue (it happened to be a vacant restaurant within walking distance of the convention center which belonged to friends of ours who had sold it). Conventioneers were invited to a unique Tea Party via cryptic Tweets, a novel use of this social media mode of communication. (You can follow it on Twitter @importantdate)
Once you picked-up a key with a pre-assigned appointment tag, you could walk through the "Alice in Wonderland" experience and see: Depp's orange wig, Ann Hathaway's opulent White Queen gown, Helena Bonham Carter's red and black Queen of Hearts costume and diminutive shoes and Alice's whimsical frock displayed among delicate mechanical breathing and blinking flowers as well as other ornate movie props. 
Each room held special set-scenes, which were said to be supervised by Burton himself, and mounted in accordance with the movie's plot line; the rabbit hole greeted visitors with an array of jars big and small; scattered about the forest were delicate props and custom head wear displayed in cases; the Tea Party's mismatched place settings were positioned exactly as they appear on screen.
Although we were treated to this behind-the-scenes visual extravaganza almost nine months before the movie's premier, I'm in favor of the studio's inventiveness to draw in the public into this pretend world early on. And, with Tim Burton's emo-juvenile cinematic blueprint on track to keep young people coming back for more, will further lure young guests to go watch "Alice" in search of limitless underground fantasies to fulfill their escapism needs.
Meanwhile, regarding teenage girls' watchful fathers, if it's any consolation just remind yourselves these flights of imagination remain in movies. Teen crushes with Hollywood leading men are nothing new (I remember loyally watching Andy Williams' show as a teenager, and not for the entertainment line-up), and fortunately, teenyboppers grow out of these improbable romantic thoughts sooner or later.
Just don't tell that to my daughter and her over-enthusiastic friends who just last night squealed, "Watching the ['Alice'] trailers make us jump up and down inside."
