zerogirl42

The preview gives the impression this is a light comedy. Some parts are cute and sweet, while others are very dark and just plain cruel. Some animals have very nefarious plans.

At the screening I attended, when those evil plans were revealed, about 15 people walked out of the theater (about 6 or 7 families with children under 8). There's a character that gets off on violence and violent stories.

That being said, it's not a horrible film. It definitely has its moments, but the pacing is just odd. It can't make up its mind. Characters change alliances randomly. One minute it's funny, the next it's very disturbing.

There's even a psychedelic, drug-like sequence all of a sudden which just seems out of place and is just weird. I couldn't wait till it was over.

The film was obviously made by and for dog lovers, not cat lovers too.

I left the theater feeling empty at the end.

If you're looking for a solid family film, Finding Dory is a better choice and movie overall. You might want to pre-screen The Secret Life of Pets if you have small children.

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.

First, I've been very entertained by films like 40-year Old Virgin, I Love You Man, and Superbad. I'm generally not offended by gross-out humor or films with a long running time so that's not my issue with Funny People. The problem is that Funny People is an extremely self-indulgent film with uninteresting characters. I'm okay with unlikable characters, I welcome the kind of characters that you love to hate like Jack Nicholson's character in As Good as It Gets, but I didn't find anyone lovable, much less likable in Funny People.

The lead characters in Funny People are just not the kind I care about. Sandler plays George, an extremely successful Comedian who is diagnosed with a terminal illness. He's not a jerk, just a typical, spoiled rich actor who has free stuff given to him and sleeps with groupies all the time. He hires Ira (played by Seth Rogen), an aspiring comedian, to follow him around and do things like sell off his excess car collection. Sandler regrets not having love in his life so he calls an ex-girlfriend. All I can say is, so what? I don't care. Ira has two room mates that are aspiring actors with varying success. The characters are either spoiled actors or people who want to be spoiled actors. Funny People is all about their boring lives off the stage and screen. So what that George has trouble sleeping at night and sucks a popsicle after sex. So what that Ira can't get a date with a nice girl.

There's no depth in this movie, just a shell of superficiality that's parading as deep. Even with Sandler's inclinations that there may be something deeper that he's missing out on like a family or kids, his actions in the film show that he doesn't care. The characters don't grow and change. Ira gets to pal around with a big celebrity like George for awhile, but he doesn't really learn much from it. He just sits in the living room while George has sex with willing women. I could care less about an aspiring actor's fantasy like this.

Now, it's not all bad, but I needed to vent about the real problems of this film first.

The supporting characters are where some of the depth comes in. There are a few laughs with a tall, imposing doctor and Eric Bana is surprisingly tolerable as the husband of the ex-girlfriend whom George misses from the past. In fact, Bana's character is almost likable as the Aussie businessman who puts down his wife and finds peace in Buddhism. There's also camaraderie and friendship in Ira's room mate situation which is unexpected. I was with two guys who kept laughing at the male genitalia humor. Some of it went over my head, so I guess you need to be a guy to understand some of the stuff going on down there.

The film just doesn't get funny enough or dramatic enough to be interesting. There's not much of a story here unless you like the boring lives of actors. I would caution woman on seeing this film. There won't be anyone you can relate to unless you have the fantasy of banging an actor.