Alice

The first thing that must be said is that this is not the original Alice in Wonderland. Honestly, anybody who thinks it is... They said it in the very first commercials that this was "different" so from the get go you shouldn't expect Carrol's book.

This is a completely different take on Wonderland and Looking Glass - and it's good! It presents us with a headstrong and kind of reckless Alice who is capable of taking care of herself. And Hatter is just awesome, he really is. The Queen makes me want to punchasize her face (which is a good thing, it means Bates played her role well) and the White Knight... Ah, what can I say about the White Knight besides, "Most awesome old guy ever?" Some people have complained about the CGI but honestly... I expected it from Sci-fi (or Syfy, whatever). But that doesn't stop this from being a good miniseries. It was well acted, well written, and fun! I must reiterate: This wasn't meant to be the children's story, it was meant to be a different take on the story and aim it towards a different audience! A good miniseries and well worth watching if you can accept that this really is "a different kind of Alice."

I originally scheduled the film after seeing a (mostly) negative review of it on Slate, but as I am very familiar with the original works, I found that I really loved it. I wrote a review on TV.com after seeing the 1st half and now saw the rest. I DID scramble the 2 books together, but used them both creatively, and unlike some commentators, I believe that the fact that Alice had grown up, while the hatter and others were frozen in time was entirely in keeping with a "Wonderland". The Sci-fi aspects were also completely in keeping with the spirit of the work. I am not a great fan of "action films" but I think this would appeal to them. I have never read any Harry Potter, but I saw one with my grandkids and I think this would be no more frightening to children than those. All in all, I just emailed many friends and relatives to try to catch it on the next whole broadcast (until???) this coming Sunday at 6PM.

So two re-imagingings of Alice in Wonderland were released this year. One was from an iconic Hollywood director, the other a smaller production special on the ScyFy network. Guess which one was better? I didn't like Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland, at all. My opinion is if your going to do a remake, bring something to it, don't tread the trodden ground. His version played it safe. And actually diluted the experience, by a lot. This Alice had an interesting twist on it and although it falters in some key areas, overall it had more than enough charm for me to appreciate the retelling. I liked noticing the characters from the book, and acknowledging the little nods to the original story. The woman who played Alice was infinitely more interesting to me, and I enjoyed the dynamic between the Hatter and Alice. I was surprised at the special effects and thought they were rather good for what the movie was. I also felt the casting was elevated with Kathy Bate's role as the Red Queen. She made me laugh in more than one scene and I thought she did a splendid job. My complaints are a few. While the script can have clever moments, it also falls into generic dialogue. When a director realizes what an opportunity he has with writing scenes in wonderland, and utilizes it properly, I will praise him with countless accolades. As it is, this really has not heightened scripting to any level. The other complaint was the pacing. Towards the final act, it felt very uneven, jumping from action to exposition. It just felt very rough. At the end of the day I gave it a six and unlike the other Alice in Wonderland, I would watch this one, most assuredly, again.

Yet I did. First and foremost Andrew Lee-Potts. That is all that needs to be said. Just take one look and the beauty and utter gorgeousness explains it all. Plus his amazing acting talent. Caterina Scorsone I have seen in numerous things but it was awesome to see her in a role like this. She was so phenomenal as was the rest of the cast. You could have expected more because the roles were casted wonderfully and everyone so believable. Matt Frewer shocked me in this role because Honey I shrunk the kids is what I best know him from and he was surprisingly great and wonderful to watch. Philip Winchester was not on scene enough but the time he was, was terrific and he had you questioning him the whole movie. Kathy Bates, Harry Dean Stanton, Tim Curry, Timothy Webber and Colin Meaney all lived up to their wonderful talent and long standing careers. Zak Santiago was awesome and this was a great role to see him and was surprised when I first saw him in this kind of film but loved how well he portrayed the character. The storyline was wonderful. I did not expect any less from director Nick Willing (Tin Man). What I did enjoy though was the fact it was not as dark as Tin Man. This film went more storyline and was creepy and kind of dark without over doing it. Also the lack of makeup and costumes which were used more in Tin Man and less this one helped by not taking away from the story. All in All great film definitely a family film but some scenes may be a little scary or confusing to young children say under 13. Wonderful film recommended to those that are a fan of the 10th Kingdom or just any fantasy type of stuff. Once again Andrew Lee Potts!~!

I don't understand all the harsh negativity heaped on this series by previous posts. As long as you aren't expecting "The Greatest Movie Ever" you should come away fairly pleased. I for one found the series fun and fresh. Some good ideas mixed with decent acting. In particular the role of Hatter was very well played. Matt Frewer(Trashcan Man for those who watched The Stand in 1994) puts in a rather delightful performance. Alice was pretty without being cliché and embodied a more realistic and modern woman. The special effects were better than your average SyFy Channel fare. I see no reason not to take a journey down this Rabbit's Hole.