Syfy Channel's Alice Dec 6, 2009

[Lady March Hare]

I watched it all the way through (because who needs to write term papers, anyway?) and I have to say, I really enjoyed it even if it was a bit predictable (hey, that's one of the many things to love about the SyFy channel!). I thought it was a pretty interesting take on all of the Alice stuff, and despite the fact that Alice flailed about a lot I really liked her character. I'm really looking forward to seeing the final part tomorrow!

I have to say, I loved the White Knight! His character made me smile. ^_^



Edit:
I explored the site a bit... they have some interesting clips up on the site, and if you feel like wasting a few seconds on the Alice's Jewelry Box thing you can see some pretty interesting concept art. It makes me wish I had artistic talent. crying  

[Irish Stout]

Here's my quick thoughts after part one:

Not what I expected at all. I loved the casino imagery from the deck of cards link in AiW and the giant chess kingdom. I felt they nailed certain characters from their respective stories (like most movies this one's a mix of AiW and TtLG) in their new portrayals like Tweedledee and Tweedledum, the White Knight, the White Rabbit, the King of Hearts, and the Knave of Hearts, although many characters have a more sinister edge to them (in keeping with their roles in the movie). Some I felt were nothing like their original counterparts - like our hero, the Mad Hatter who seems to have forgotten his Mad. In fact I'm going to rename him Mr. Exposition since he acts like an encyclopedia with legs telling us where we are, what's going on, what's chasing us through the woods, and leaving nothing to the imagination. If Alice had sat down with him at the beginning and given him a proper thorough description of the person she was looking for (instead of just a name) he probably would have known who it was and where they were, told us whether we wanted to know or be surprised, and Alice could have thrown up her hands in disgust, gone home, and the movie would have lasted 30 minutes at best. Sorry if I seem overly critical but to be honest I felt let down by this movie. At first, while I was watching it, I was having tons of fun matching characters, places and events to the books. My beloved Cheshire Cat even shows up in a appropriate scene making my night. But then after it was over and I got to thinking about the elements of the movie something struck me rather familiar about it... I've seen this movie before!! When I was watching Tin Man!

White colored for spoilers, highlight to see:
Malevolent female ruling from castle fortress in a world falling apart? Check, check. Girl from "our" world with a familiar name enters other world to have an adventure many years after the girl she bears the name of did something big in said world becoming a legend? Check, check. Scatterbrained inventor with knowledge of the past and a good heart? Check, check. Male protector with ulterior motives? Check and check. Magical rock of importance? Scientist working for Queen figure to do nasty things to the world? Suspiciously absent but plot important parent(s)? A chase through the woods by a big nasty critter that wants to kill us? An underground resistance against the Queen? The list just goes on and on... Seriously... it's Tin Man with an Alice paint job... And that's why I feel let down.

I'll still be watching the conclusion though and crossing my fingers that it gets more original. But from now on if I ever see "brought you by the same people who did Tin Man/Alice" I know I'll be watching with super low expectations from the start.  

[Azure Caterpillar]

Hmmm, conflicting reviews, guess I'll wait till you guys watch the second part. XD Thanks for the info so far though. ^_^  

[Kahlan_BrightBlade]

This is my review of the first part :

I must say i was presently suprised as to the plotline of this. Unlike any other alice movie it does not follow the books which is a bit of a welcome change. I also enjoyed that it mixed both of the books and its characters (The white knight and the hatter) and let them interact with each other . It was fairly easy to recognize who was who , althoug there were some disapointments like certain characters not appearing but for five minutes (*coughchesirecatcough)

Overall i have to say part one was very good. However i'm saving my overall review for tonight when the second part airs.  

[Lady March Hare]

@ Pooka: (Tehe, typing your name makes me smile!)

You know, I understood where you're coming from, but I'm not really let down... number one, because I've never seen Tin Man, and number two because it's the SyFy channel, and none of the things they put out are the picture of originality. XP They're the channel king of corn, haha.

I agree with you on the matching characters thing! Especially in the beginning; I really enjoyed watching it run at a parallel to the book and finding "familiar" characters. And the Cheshire Cat scene was awesome possum;


@ Eone: It'll probably just all boil down to how much time do you have to waste? Haha, just kidding! XD


@ Kahlan: Though I could argue that following the book thing, I agree 100% about the character interactions. I hadn't thought about it until you mentioned it, haha, but it is really interesting to see characters that don't interact in the actual books do so in the SyFy universe. Thus the bickering, and my smiles. ^_^

And I have a very sneaky suspicion that's not the last we've seen of the Cheshire Cat. She's important, after all. *snickersnicker* And so cute and fluffy..!  

[Irish Stout]

Re: Not Following Books - You're right it is a very pleasant change not to be another remix of the books and for that alone I think it's worth a watch. It's really inspiring to think someone could take Wonderland and re-imagine it into something new that still manages (i.m.o.) to feel like a wonderland.

Re: Cheshire Cat - I so hope we get more cat air time. Cheshire-puss is the perfect "subtle hints" character. But with only two hours to go I worry.

Re: The Currently Named Lady March Hare - (Glad the name makes you smile!)

I saw Tin Man and enjoyed it a great deal. Knowing Alice was being done by the same person who wrote and directed Tin Man was a major appeal for me but at the same time seeing it as a Tin Man re-write makes me feel disappointed that this writer apparently only has one plot they know how to make. I think if I hadn't seen Tin Man or could look at it without linking the two I'd be raving about how much I like it based just on part one.

You're completely right about Syfy channel and their lack of originality. They even have recycled actors they use in every show. They even made it into this movie - the actress who plays Alice's mom, Teryl Rothery, was on Stargate SG-1, Eureka, etc. I just spend most of my tv watching time on Syfy (or Food Network) because I love sci-fi/fantasy/supernatural and at least with this channel I don't have to spend hours reading schedules and flipping channels looking for a chance that another will have something on.

Now that you've got me thinking about it I guess the Tin Man thing isn't so bad. You could probably win an argument that over the thousands of years humanity has been telling tales we've covered everything and there are no original stories left. So we could just enjoy it by itself - in which case I think part one at least was fun!
 

[Kahlan_BrightBlade]

So far I must admit the second part has been intersting so far. And now they're finially introducing the caterpillar. and i love somet of the twists that the story is throwing at us .  

[WinterPatriot]

I am disappointed with them showing the Cheshire cat, Dinah.For some reason I expected more from the Caterpillar.I did like what they did with the March Hare though.Even more exicted when he said,"Twinkle, twinkle, little bat! How I wonder what you're at!"But I guess it was ok.
 

[Irish Stout]

Alright after watching the end I have to say it was a pretty fun show. It had some issues to nit-pick over but worth blowing 4 hours to at least watch once. It was again nice to have something different from the standard AiW, even if it was super-predictable.

Few Nit-Picks:

I did not like what happened with the Carpenter and felt it was completely unnecessary. Why they decided to have it go that way (referring to the scene in the casino not the other one with Caterpillar) I can't figure out.

Part way through the second part after a certain Hatter near-event I found myself chanting in his favor and crossing my fingers for the rest of the movie that that development would play through. I was so happy with the end result, though the mother's expression cracked me up.

No more with Cheshire Cat... so disappointed.And what was the point of Cheshire's scene anyway? Ok we're running through the woods... now we're entering a door in a rock wall into a flashback that reveals nothing we don't already know and a house that we get to see again a few minutes later with Dee and Dum. Aside from Cheshire-love what was the point of it?But again I think I just need a movie with hours of Cheshire in it. Who's with me?

I love the White Knight's "army". I kept hoping for them to do something more. It's Wonderland after all... it could happen!

For our UK friends - No sign as of tonight on Syfy's Rewind, but I have seen it elsewhere online already.

I had some problems with the Queen of Hearts. I've always envisioned her as a "tough as nails", extremely menacing figure and this version just came off as a push-over. Especially with the way it ended.

Finally, the whole mini-series had a "rushed" feeling to it. Anything that could be cut, got it. Anything that could be sped up, jumped ahead. Wonderland came across as being extremely small land-wise. There was no time for character development resulting in everyone (except perhaps the White Knight) being static and one dimensional. I could very easily see this plot alone being turned into a longer piece (even a full series). It has alot of potential built into it for something grander.
 

[Lady March Hare]

Alrighty! Though I was working on a project at the time I mostly got to watch the ending... and, in all, I really enjoyed the series. Maybe it was the novelty (..?) of the SyFy channel doing something on AiW in the first place, maybe because of the special... who knows? XD

I was a little disappointed with the Cheshire Cat bit... I kinda figured the Cat would play more of a role, but maybe they stayed away from that just because it's kinda stereotypical. Not that that's ever stopped the SyFy channel before, haha.

I do think my favorite part was the whole white knight part... I thought it was surprisingly complex, given the circumstances. And it made me want to hug him, which is a benefit.

Overall I found it a bit predictable, but completely worth commandeering the television for hours for. I'd watch it again in a heart beat! ^_^


@ Pooka: Ah, I see what you mean about the actors. I knew I recognized one face for sure, but the more I watched the easier it became to ID other people, haha. And I'll have to look for Tin Man... because now I'm curious. *nodnod*

Oooh... Food Network... *_*  

[Azure Caterpillar]

Okay you guys are kinda making me want to watch it. XD Just a question, what's the caterpillar like in it? Being my favourite character I'm interested.

I could probably find this online if they decide not to show it over here, also thanks for the reviews guys. ^_^  

[Kahlan_BrightBlade]

Really the Caterpillar plays a small part in it . but he's still almost the smar, smart and smoking that hookah.


Overall i found that i liked this series,although i was dissapointed that the chesire didn't show up more. Although i loved the army of the white knight , although at one part i was sad when I thought he was dead .

As to the queen of hearts i was dissapointed. She ended up being nothing like her disney counterpart who is strong and not a pushover. I was hoping for more from her ,instead of what happened . As to the carpenter it was a nice twist what happened, although sa.d they could of done more with him .  

[A DEADLY KITT3N]

with the movie i was quite happy. I didnt like certain parts but i did love the fact about the jabberwocky was correct. they should have ade the movie longer to explain a few more things but overall it was a good movie. I loved the ending too it was amazing and just what i had hoped for!!!  

[I Hatter I]

This is such, and exciting thrill. xD -does a dance-  

[Lady March Hare]

*joins in on the dancing*

So I've never really followed a SyFy movie/series closely... what happens to it now? Are they likely going to release it to a DVD or something like that? Though I suppose that depends on popularity, right?