Marwa Ezzat
*** Spoiler Alert ***We follow Alice,Cyrus,Knave,The red Queen and Jafar into wonderland. Alice now all old and grown up with childhood experience that have made her grow into a tough young lady, Cyrus, a genie alive for 100 of years serving under the pleasure of masters too many to count and Alice's love, The red queen and knave whose lifes is ambiguous until later in the series and Jafar the villain ,a threat to all. But the whole focal point in here isn't really 100% on Alice. The authors put huge effort into making each character contribute vastly to the series and alter the motion of events and the direction the plot is heading towards. This isn't one of those series in which the side stories are just SIDE ones. Each character is given lots of attention, their own experiences, past, secrets and intentions which are to be revealed along the way. Each one has a story, just as important as Alice's is.The story at the beginning sounds like a cliché rescue mission and the characters actions in the first few episodes seem to be out of the blue, that's only because the story and the intentions of the characters unfold as we go along, so bare the very first few episodes. The plot twists are hard to figure out and are unpredictable, again it is because the intentions and the character stories unfold later in the story that those twits are hard to figure out.The conversion of 4 worlds was incredible to watch, if your in love with fantasy this is your place, the authors has managed to make a homogeneous shake of wonderland, Agrabah, Victorian England, and a touch of storybrook, that all in addition to moving through a timeline of 100 of years, and i tell you it did not feel enforced AT ALL , and did not miss the "too much" mark.The actors were all new faces to me, but are all very talented. Sophie Lowe in the role of Alice, besides to being a screen fit, has a lot of talent, charisma, and you can tell her career will have a future. Peter Gadiot plays Cyrus, Alice's love, A genie, with a lot of wisdom, character and chraisma that he gained through his years of serving different kinds of people.The actor besides being really attractive, delivers those qualities exactly as prescribed. Michael socha, playing will/the knave of hearts is a complete surprise, it sometimes feels like he steals the lights from cyrus. The red queen (Emma rigby) and jafar (Naveen Andrews) characters and actors hit the lights too, and the white rabbit(John lithgow) is a good spice up, brilliant actually.The Relationship between Alice and Cyrus steals the lights almost the entire show, The chemistry between the actors is the best i have seen between two actors in a very long time. Their relationship is beyond description, it feels real, it grows, its tested, and the lines/conversations are well written and smooth.However its the Friendship between Alice and the Knave of hearts that really stands out. I think this is due to the fact that Their relationship gets a lot of screen time compared to Alice and Cyrus, but its a good trick, leaves the audience wanting more of the couple.The parent-child relationships are touched around a number of times with many characters all throughout the series. Not just in a scene or two, but as a part of the characters story as a whole.The character development for all the actors is average, i rank it as quiet good, with the exception of Alice, where the directors focus more on showing us how the experience shaped her personality, allowing her character to apply what she has learned all throughout her childhood journeys in wonderland. The back and forth movement along the timeline of the characters reveal a great deal of character development and growth too.In a personal tribute, I would like to congratulate the writers and directors who managed to make the girl the HERO who saves the day without dimming the light of her loved one, raising the bar for both lovers to be at equivalent strength, to move away from the stereotype of the girl always being the weak and fragile, the one to be rescued. Both of the couples learned from each other, taught each other and taught us.A down point to this series is the bad graphics, and the too much green screen, but by the 3rd episode they will start decreasing vastly, and you will start getting used to it.So if you are into that sort of atmosphere, the magical wonderland, the old vintage England, the enchanting Agrabah, relationships with many many dimensions, and life lessons that you actually learn from, this mesmerizing surroundings will take you away for good.I actually wanted to have a second season of this, but i am glad that by the end of the season a complete story is told with no lose ties left to tangle.Its a great series, one of the most underrated productions i have ever came across actually, and with lots of potential, good acting, cast and stories to be seen and told. Don't judge it based on the bad graphics and the few first episodes.
lobke887
To begin I'd like to point out that the trailer is definitely more exciting than the series is. It's a nice idea, the crossover kind of works. But it also does not for several reasons. Some actors are either really bad, or their characters are unintentionally very annoying. Like Alice for example. Throughout the storyline she is just too perky, too determined and too optimistic. Her fighting skills also are not well staged. The red queen has too much botox and a whiny voice. But her character becomes more likable throughout the story line. The truth of the matter is that the flashbacks are more interesting than the actual story. The show becomes better when it progresses and has some surprisingly interesting ideas. The genie story seems to work out slightly better than the wonderland story. But in the genie story, the characters are unrealistic in the sense that mother and sons seem to have an age difference of less than 10 years and some of them look more European-Arabic, which slightly annoyed me. The show does have some very good scenes, some great actors and very nicely placed characters like the white rabbit and the jabberwocky. The actors have chemistry and the show flows nicely with some scenes better than the others. Which makes it worth watching.
zerogirl42
Once Upon a Time in Wonderland is the story of Alice, but later on in her life. This is nothing like the Tim Burton interpretation. This is the spirited, little girl that we loved as Alice in books but all grown up. She's now a clever, young woman with determination.Wonderland takes on a life of it's own, incorporating parts of the original story like the mock turtle and chess game, but serving them up in a whole new way.There are references to Once Upon a Time, there's no need to watch this before Wonderland. Wonderland stands on its own as an interesting tale.It's VERY creative and the story begins quickly. I suggest watching through to at least the 3rd episode then deciding if you want to stick with it. The 3rd, 4th and 5th episode are all great character studies, while the 1st and 2nd set the stage.Strong female AND male characters lead characters are a nice touch. It's very balanced. The story isn't spoon-fed to the watcher either which adds to the unpredictability. Anything that seems out of place (like the phony Queen and the presence of Jafer) are there for a reason is all I have to say.It's great to see an extremely creative, fantasy show on TV. Being a fan of shows like Pushing Daisies, Wonderfalls, White Dwarf (I wish that made it past the pilot), and others, I really hope this show's given a chance.A lot of sci-fi or vampire shows seem to make into several seasons, but fantasy seems to have more of a challenge.This is definitely one of the better ones, but I fear it may suffer a similar fate to Stargate Universe (which starred Robert Carlyle AKA Rumplestilskin), where viewers expect it to be like the previous incarnation.It's wonderful to see Michael Socha (The Knave of Hearts) play the underdog who struggles to do the right thing. (He was also in the ill- fated fantasy/horror "Being Human" UK version which ended too soon).Wonderland is focused on just a couple stories, instead of several like Once Upon a Time. It's more of a quest and journey focusing mainly on Alice, but with VERY interesting characters surrounding her.
