The thing I like about Tim Burton movies, especially his movies made from books, is that he gives you 80% of what you're expecting, and 20% of something you're completely not, and somehow melds that into a really really good movie... and for the first half of this one, I'd thought I'd found an exception.

This movie is quite slow in the windup.  Thank God he assumes that we know most of the characters from the original book, for it saves us the tedium of all the introductions.