gavin6942
Alice follows a man through a mirror into Wonderland, which is not the joyful place from the story. It is now ruled by an even more merciless Red Queen, and the inhabitants have a strange sort of addiction to "tea" that is drained from humans outside of Wonderland. Can Alice get back home?Writer-director Nick Willing has previously worked on "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" -- he made a version starring Tina Majorino back in 1999, which was one of the closest adaptations ever. A bit dry, but Willing's love of the characters was obvious. Here he returns with a modified story, much less dry, and a whole new spin... this is the masterpiece.All the cast is pretty great, even Caterina Scorsone (Alice) who flails her arms wildly when she runs. Andrew Lee Potts (Hatter) does a great male lead, being both handsome and understandable. Cult icon Matt Frewer is a wonderful White Knight, though they might have used a better beard. Having Colm Meaney (King of Hearts) show up was good, though his role was not made all too clear.The situations were brilliant. The "tea party" being more like a stock market was a good modification, though I don't know why the Dormouse was a woman with a mustache. The room with Doctors Dee and Dumb was genius, and I really liked Mad March (though the Brooklyn accent was a bad choice).Three casting choices failed for me. Philip Winchester (Jack Chase) did not have the charisma he should have to play the romantic interest. He just did not make a strong hero. Tim Curry (Dodo) was doubly wronged: his Dodo made little sense (why the Dodo?) and a character actor of his caliber deserved a bigger role. Lastly, Kathy Bates (Queen of Hearts) was wasted. Anyone could have played the Queen the way she was written (very flat)... using Bates was overkill. This is probably the best thing SyFy did since picking up the rights for "Mystery Science Theater". What is normally a worthless network was spared by this film.
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
ctomvelu1
Disney's ALICE cartoon remains the best adaptation of the two famous novels. Maybe the Robert Halmi production team was right in trying a different approach to these old stories, as this two-part ALICE is if nothing else watchable on a rainy Saturday night. It is painfully obvious ALICE is a low-budget Canadian job, and Canadian TV mainstay Matt Frewer is on hand as the White Knight to drive home the point. If you can get beyond this, what we have here is an adult Alice being sucked into Wonderland and facing much political intrigue built around a mystical ring Alice has wisely hidden. Frewer, one of the worst actors on this or any other planet, actually isn't all that bad as the dotty, Quixote-ish White Knight. At the very least, this TV flick isn't any worse than any other fantasy TV movie one sees on NBC or The Hallmark Channel. And it is a cut above anything previously seen on the SciFi Channel.
