Out of curiosity, I went to Burton's IMDb page to see what, if any good movies Burton had directed. Not counting short subjects, I'd rate Pee-wee's Big Adventure, Ed Wood, and Big Fish as his better films. Keep in mind, he did not direct nightmare Before Christmas. Even so, I find that film to be grotesquely overrated. In any case, he seems to work better if he is properly reigned but he needs to understand the material and be able to give it what it needs. This is why Planet of the Apes was so terrible. He didn't really get what the movie needed. That flick was shaping up to be Autobots vs. Decepticons (AvD), but never really got that far. Not that it would have been better if it had, but at least it would have went somewhere.
It seems like Hollywood always tries to find some kind of formula for film making or story writing. Understandable since they want their product to be successful. But formulas don't always work. Worse, formulas get stale. Hence why Bob noted that this is the formula Hollywood has been using lately. Now I won't be able to watch any new movie without wondering if it's another AvD, and likely finding it is.
As for this film, I let out a resounding "meh" when it was first announced. Not that a good film adaptation could not be done. Nor that Burton could not do it, even with Johny Depp in it (most overrated actor in the whole world). but I figured it wouldn't be good and lo and behold, apparently it isn't. Turning Wonderland into Narnia was something I didn't see coming. But that is most likely the worst idea in the whole world. Wonderland isn't Narnia and only a moron would try to make it so.
The problem with these epic wars in these overblown toy commercials is that they're homogeneous. You won't be able to tell one from another. Just wait. in a few years, you'll try to find that one scene you thought was nifty in those Narnia movies and you'll search, but not find it because it was in this movie.
Why do they hate giving movies an identity of their own? Why must everything be exactly the same? And didn't Burton already show he can't do epic with Planet of the Apes?