Paul Celano (chelano)
Nick Willing did do a version of Alice In Wonderland that was pretty decent. Then he decided to make a newer version. One that takes place a lot longer in the future. Plus the fact that Wonderland is very different. Imagine Wonderland not being so beautiful but more of an updated poor trashy industrial feel. All the characters are human; including the white rabbit and the caterpillar. Yes he does have a nice all star cast, but he also made the Cheshire Cat show up for a split second and added a serial killer with a porcelain rabbit head. Also did I mention that Alice knows karate. Anyways, it was an interesting take on the story, but the movie was just too boring at parts. Kathy Bates did make a great Red Queen and I really enjoyed Andrew Lee Potts as the Hatter. But everyone else was just up to par. Caterina Scorsone plays Alice and she was OK, but to me, she didn't really seem girly enough. The whole story of this film really seemed pretty interesting and I wanted it to work, but like I said, it was just too boring at parts.
neonboy619
Following the success of Tin Man, their modern day adaptation of the Oz books, the creators of such mini-series like 10th Kingdom, Merlin and the 1999 star studded TV movie Alice in Wonderland, comes Alice, a modern day adaptation of Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. Alice follows the adventures of an adult Alice (played here by Caterina Scorsone, who is every bit as kick ass as Zooey Deschanel in Tin Man if not more so) who follows a White Rabbit into a secret place called Wonderland. Wonderland has been taken over completely by The Queen of Hearts (Kathy Bates) and The King of Hearts (Colm Meaney) who use Oysters (people from our world) to harvest emotions out of and sell to the people of Wonderland as Tea. In her journeys, Alice must find her kidnapped boyfriend, Jack Chase, befriend a Hatter (Andrew-Lee Potts) and find her missing father. She also meets Tim Curry as Dodo in one scene. Just one scene.This is a very impressive production with awesome pacing. The story keeps moving along and never drags, an element that plagues most movie versions of the books. The look of the movie is also worth a mention. Alice and her friends are in a forest for the most part, but The Queen's Castle and Casino seem right out of a spy movie. The Duchess' look in this version recalls Emma Peel from The Avengers. Sadly her character is a little under developed. This version of Alice seems to have more in common with sci-fi action films, but there is definitely an element of fantasy and a love for the source material. Almost all of the characters in Wonderland appear in one form or another and they are definitely recognizable. Most importantly, the character of Alice in this version really commands your attention. I also think she really commanded my attention because she looks like my friend Chelsea. Aside from that though, her acting was very top notch for TV standards. I highly recommend this for fans of kick ass female shows and movies. Pretty much if you like Charlie's Angels, Buffy and heck even Tru Calling, you'll want to take a gander at this mini-series on Blu Ray.http://neonboy619.blogspot.com
TheLittleSongbird
I will say right now, I wasn't expecting this to be perfect, because to me perfection is a rarity. Was it perfect? No. Is it worth watching? Absolutely! This mini-series does have its flaws, but as a 17 year old female, who grew up on animation and likes her fair share of classic film, I really liked it, after seeing it on YouTube today. I respect everybody's opinion, but there is some of the harsh negativity that I don't get. This is not an adaptation, this is like what happens many years later hence the contemporary feel to it. I haven't seen Tin Man, so I can't compare.For one thing, I liked how it was filmed. The sets are picturesque looking and the costumes are wonderful, Mad Hatter's was a delight, but I particularly loved Dodo's, it made Tim Curry look suave and debonair. The special effects for a mini series are not that bad at all(I have seen a lot worse in films like Addams Family Reunion that make the film itself look cheap). In fact, in terms of effects, the only disappointment was the Jabberwock, somehow I was expecting it to be more scary looking, despite looking exactly as he is described in the books. The music was above decent, with some eerie sound effects and a contemporary sound that worked for this.The story is fast paced in general, and is exciting enough. Of course it has a couple of holes, like how did Hatter get the boat back. I did like the references to the original books, which I adore, while putting its own contemporary spin on it. The script has its weak spots too, Alice saying something about getting a black belt in karate or something or other was a tad random, but there are some nice witty exchanges particularly between Alice and Hatter that really did sparkle. There are some effective scenes too, like Alice's reconciliation with the man who turns out to be her long-lost father.That just leaves the acting. Well there were one or two disappointments, not because the actors gave terrible performances or anything like that, but it was all to do with screen time. Harry Dean Stanton as the Caterpillar just didn't get enough screen time to shine. Tim Curry as Dodo was better, as I've said already I loved his costume and he is a truly wonderful actor, plus there is a really cool fight between him, Hatter and Alice in her attempt to escape. But then afterwards, you don't see him again after that, the character of the Dodo just disappeared just like that without explanation. And while he was better in the second half, as the White Knight, at times I felt Matt Frewer overacted, but there were also parts when he was indeed entertaining.That said though, I really liked Caterina Scorsone as Alice. I liked the fact Alice was spunky, determined, pretty and headstrong. These are qualities that I love in heroines, and qualities that I myself would strive for. Kathy Bates is deliciously frosty and icy as the Queen of Hearts, and Phillip Winchester was good and very low-key as Jack. But my favourite performance in the whole mini-series, and do forgive me if I repeat what others have said, was indeed Andrew Lee Potts as Hatter. He was funny, he was charming, he was witty, he was handsome, he was perfect. He and Scorsone had great chemistry, and the look on his face when Alice went with Jack instead of him made me feel ever so sorry for him.All in all, this mini-series is not perfect, but it is well above average and if given the chance it is worth the watch. If you don't like it that's fine, as people have different opinions on everything, so long as you don't go thinking it's only your opinion that matters. 7.5/10 Bethany Cox
kill-the-boxtrolls
This was an absolute total rip-off garbage of the classic books. Alice was NOT suggested to play an adult which she was supposed to play a teenager not an overacted drama queen adult. I thought this was one of my worst movies of the year far worst than bedtime stories, spiderwick, and bolt those were some of the movies that came out over a year now and those that I kinda disliked but this film was worst than these movies. It was boring, slow, garbage-like, lame, and weak that I had to turn around and watch War of the worlds now I can't understand how much people like this movie and others don't but if it were me, I would lower the rating. I expected this movie to be a charming movie with a girl that looked like a child in the ad but I knew it was a grown up but only cared about the script and the film, they were both lame. Alice in Wonderland is not my choice fairy tale but quite charming, this Alice was terrible, it made me turn around to change the channel and never expect to watch it again not even as a grandmother. I hope they don't put this trash on TV ever again unless they're going to do it every once in a while.
