Alice in Wonderland is the perfect piece of literature for adaptation since it has a colorful characters, intriguing scenes and a lapsed copyright. You can do whatever you want without a fear of the Lewis Carroll estate suing. That’s why the tale of going down a rabbit hole has been used in Disney movies, Resident Evil videogames, adult films and even a Star Trek episode. After the SyFy network had a hit with Tin Man, its re-imagining of The Wizard of Oz, they put a twist on Wonderland to create Alice. This is not a happy kiddie tale about a naive girl following a rabbit around a fantasy land. Alice is a three hour mini-series takes the story through a darker looking glass.
Alice is no longer a little girl in a meadow. The Syfy version of Alice (Caterina Scorsone) is an adult who makes her living teaching martial arts. Her father vanished years ago, but she has hope he’ll return. Her latest boyfriend Jack Chase (Phillip Winchester) surprises her with an antique ring. But he’s quickly grabbed by goons. In her chase, she falls through a mirror and discovers an alternate universe. Quickly it is revealed that this place is powered by the emotions of humans. They kidnap people and tap them at the Hearts Casino. This location is covered with go-go dancers in card suite inspired outfits.
Alice must stop the Queen of Hearts (Kathy Bates) and her emotion sucking operation from going wider. She’s assisted by the Hatter (Andrew Lee Potts), Dodo (Rocky Horror‘s Tim Curry, the Caterpillar (Big Love‘s Harry Dean Stanton) and the White Knight (Max Headroom‘s Matt Frewer) in the battle. She also gets a lead on what really happened to her father. He didn’t merely run away. Can she rescue him before the March Hare takes them out? There’s a massive battle and destruction at the end of the film.
Alice has quite a bit of fun turning the fantasy story into a dystopian sci-fi epic. While this was split in half when originally broadcasted on SyFy, the version here is uninterrupted. This will make an afternoon vanish. Kathy Bates is wickedly worthy as surrounded in her kingdom by the heart motif. Being on SyFy, there’s a giant monster as the Jaberwalky. Perhaps he’ll get his own movie special. It’s also refreshing to see an Alice that isn’t completely defenseless. For those who aren’t strict traditionalists, Alice is an engaging reworking of the book with more action.
The video is 1.78:1 anamorphic. The images are sharp even especially the numerous CGI effects. The audio is Dolby Digital Surround. The levels are fine for the fantastical moments. The subtitles are in English and Spanish.
Audio Commentary featuring Writer/Director Nick Willing and Leading Lady Caterina Scorsone. They give a lot of behind the scenes stories. Best tale is how Matt Frewer showed up without a script because he’d memorized all his lines.
Alice adapts the story of Alice in Wonderland into a science fiction tale of distilling the emotions out of humans. The mini-series gives us an aggressive Alice that has no problem dealing with the violence of the wicked characters. This is one of the better productions aired on the SyFy channel.
Lionsgate presents Alice. Starring: Caterina Scorsone, Matt Frewer, Tim Curry, Harry Dean Stanton and Kathy Bates. Directed and Written by: Nick Willing. Running Time: 184 minutes. Released on DVD: March 2, 2010. Available at Amazon.com.
