Basic Facts:
Episodes: 2Runtime: 90 min.
Aspect Ratio: 16:9
Premiered: 2009
Format:
Mini seriesGenres:
FantasyCreated By:
Nick WillingActors:
Alan Gray, Alessandro Juliani, Andrew Lee Potts, Caterina Scorsone, Charlotte Sullivan, Colm Meaney, Harry Dean Stanton, Kathy Bates, Matt Frewer, Philip Winchester, Teryl Rothery, Tim Curry, Timothy Webber, Zak SantiagoMade In:
USAPremiered at:
SyFySyFy (former SciFi) is well know for producing bad TV movies and bad mini series. But, the things are changing, and if you see last two miniseries are they made, we can expect more and more quality short content. First different one is Tin Man (I will watch this next week), and Alice that I am reviewing here. Alice is very good, it has some bad moments, but overall it’s an enjoyable series with a spin on original story.
Story
Alice is based on both Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll. But, they made many changes and added new elements. Story is modernized, made too look realistic, but they still used all important characters. So, you still have White Rabbit, but he is not rabbit any more, but a man with two ponytails to look like the rabbit. Story revolves around Alice, some 150 years after the story from the book and the ring that controls the Looking Glass between our world and Wonderland.
First part of the mini series is really good, and the story develops great. But the second part is not as good, and feels like story is dragging. It runs total of 3 hours, but the pacing would be much better with some elements removed and entire run shortened to 2 hours.
Cast and characters
Cast is excellent, and performances are really good from all involved. Alice is played by Caterina Scorsone, well known Canadian actress, and she is really star of the show. Mad Hatter is now only Hatter, and he is played by Andrew-Lee Potts. Third in our trio of heroes is Charlie, The White Knight played by Matt Frewer. As for the rest of the cast, we have some great names: Kathy Bates as a Queen of Hearts, Colm Meaney as a King of Hearts, Harry Dean Stanton as the Caterpillar. Tim Curry has a minor role, and also Alessandro Juliani (Gaeta from Battlestar Galactica) and Teryl Rothery (Dr. Fraiser from Stargate SG-1).
Production
White Knight, Alice, Hatter
Visually, Alice looks really good. Special effects are great for the most part, but still it’s visible that this is made for TV on a limited budget. It’s pity that they didn’t had enough to polish the visuals. If SyFy continues to invest in mini series as they did with Alice and Tin Man, and with good scripts and cast we can expect the rise of quality from SyFy.
Conclusion
Alice is fun to watch, interesting and explores the well known Wonderland story from a different angle. It’s too long and boring at moments, but that’s just my subjective opinion and maybe you will have different look on it. Anyway, you can get the DVD and enjoy the Alice and her adventures.
this is a clever & brilliant interpretation (or rather, expansion) of the Alice In Wonderland story… i liked how it actually references the events in the book as history. the use of the characters is just fascinating– for example, the Mad Hatter is a protagonist, while the March Hare is an ANtagonist. that’s certainly new to me.
on a completely superficial note, the costumes are a joy to behold… Caterpillar’s coat, the Queen’s robes, the White Knight’s armor, etc. and speaking of the White Knight! Matt Frewer was simply amazing… in fact the entire cast was wonderful– even characters with small roles were memorable (Tim Curry jumps to mind immediately).
watch this! i disagree with the main review which says this dragged… even sitting down to view the entire miniseries as a three hour movie as i did, this was engaging and entertaining… actually i wouldn’t have minded more!
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