Wonderland 2 ways

I've always been interested in viewing the same story from different viewpoints. I like to get a different take on things now and then and last week I was able to do that with the classic Alice in Wonderland.

I started out watching Syfy's rendition of the story - Alice, starring Caterina Scorsone as Alice and Andrew-Lee Potts as Hatter.






Then I watched Tim Burton's big screen adaptation of Alice in Wonderland with Mia Wasikowska as Alice and Johnny Depp as Mad Hatter.

I was very surprised to find I liked Syfy's version much better.

While I think Tim Burton tried to remain true to the original story, Syfy did one of their 'bold re-imaginings' which I normally don't enjoy. They made wonderland more of an alternate universe rather than a dream land. They gave it some science and ramped it up to the 21st Century. In addition, Syfy made their story a romance - by making Hatter the unlikely hero of the piece rather than just another bizarre character in a parade of bizarre characters.
While I'm not a Depp fan to begin with, I found that besides the wild makeup and merry-go-round of accents, his character didn't seem as invested in Alice as Potts's Hatter was. The growth of their relationship made the Syfy version a much more entertaining story, despite the relatively low budget when compared to Burton's visual smorgasbord.
If you've seen both movies, I'd love to know what you thought of them. In general do you like to compare versions of a story - or once you have a favorite do you prefer to stick to that?

Alice and Hatter from Syfy's Alice.