Alice [DVD]

There's a girl in a blue dress, a Queen of Hearts, and a a magical looking glass that whisks the heroine into a surreal Wonderland.

But beyond that, don't expect this SyFy miniseries to have much in common with Lewis Carroll's classic novel, "Alice in Wonderland." Instead, "Alice" is a whole different animal -- a deliciously gritty sci-fi adventure filled with action, romance, monsters psychedelic horrors, and a revolution against a drug-peddling queen. It's a little silly, but still immensely entertaining.

Alice's (Caterina Scorsone) dinner date with her boyfriend Jack (Philip Winchester) falls apart when he offers her an heirloom ring. When she chases after him, she sees him being dragged off by some suit-wearing thugs -- and promptly trips THROUGH a looking glass. Of course she ends up in Wonderland, a world of grimy urban ruins and art deco casinos. And it's ruled by the Queen of Hearts (Kathy Bates), a ruthless tyrant who keeps her populace drugged with emotions from kidnapped "oysters" (ordinary humans).

Alice ends up following the eccentric Hatter (Andrew-Lee Potts), who offers to take her to the Resistance -- but when they get there, they discover that Jack's ring is actually the Stone of Wonderland (which powers the transdimensional Looking Glass). Since everybody in Wonderland wants the Stone, Hatter and Alice end up on the run from both the Resistance and the Queen's assassin Mad March. Alice is still determined to rescue Jack and return home, but she soon finds that her boyfriend isn't quite what she thought -- and that one of her loved ones is the Queen's brainwashed slave.

The whole idea behind "Alice" is that Carroll's story was real, and that Wonderland has become a very different place in the last 150 years -- crumbling smoky cities, insectile airships, bunny-headed cyborg assassins, and a pair of sadistic interrogators called Dr. Dum and Dr. Dee. It's a far darker, more complex affair than Carroll's books, and that's what makes it so brilliant.

There's plenty of sci-fi action and chaotic battle scenes, including aerial chases, bombing runs and the occasional attack from the grotesque Jabberwock; and the writers keep the complex plot flowing along nicely. But they also keep the story grounded with a love triangle between Alice, Jack and Hatter, as well as Alice's quest to free the oysters and a long-lost family member. And there's just enough humor to keep it from being excessively grim ("We don't have to use a user manual, do we? I HATE user manuals").

Problems? A few of the homages (the grinning cat, the "drink me" bottle) are pretty superfluous, and the siege of skeletal soldiers is kind of silly (especially the "Hit them with everything we've got").

Scorsone makes an excellent modern Alice -- intelligent, capable and capable of butt-kicking her way out, but still vulnerable and young ("You don't remember me!"). Potts makes a deliciously quirky, sexily disheveled Hatter, and Frewer rounds out the main trio as a mildly insane White Knight. Winchester and Colm Meaney are also excellent, Tim Curry is brilliant but underused, and Kathy Bates absolutely rules as the casually cruel, petulant Queen. And yes, she does say "off with his head!"

I don't know what beloved children's story will get reworked next, but "Alice" does a great job with Lewis Carroll's classic novel -- lots of action, a touch of romance, and just enough surreality.

I was a little concerned when I first saw this advertised. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland has always been one of my favourite children's books with it's clever little in jokes and plays on words and riddles with no answers, so i was worried about what I would get from a modern perception of Wonderland.

I got a pleasant surprise. I found they hadn't massacred the original like I feared but used it as a starting point and moved things on 150 years. The world which the modern Alice finds is one that is just as quirky but a little less child-friendly and a lot more dangerous. We find a world where humans from our world are being kidnapped and taken to Wonderland and their emotions are being harvested for the ruthless Queen of Hearts (played wonderfully by Kathy Bates). We still have the same quirky characters including the White Knight (Matt Frewer) and the Walrus and the Carpenter but they've been modified to suit a modern story, while still being loyal to the original characters.

The script is well-penned, the acting is excellent and although it is a little predictable in places it still has some surprises in store and characters such as the March Hare being used in interesting ways. They also used characters who aren't as well known such as the Dodo, the Duck and the Rat, although they did miss out the Cheshire Cat, which was a pity.

Alice, instead of the little girl in the original tale, is a young adult who is feisty and can take good care of herself, but her thick outer shell only hides a vulnerability inside her as she reels from the loss of her father when she was ten and constant bad luck with guys.

But it was the Hatter that made the show for me. Played by Andrew Lee Potts, he had a lot to live up to and he really stepped up to the plate. He was funny, zany, very much an on-my-own-side character who packs a wicked punch with his right hand and has a big heart and a strong sense of loyalty. To me he was the best part of the show.

Although the DVD has no extras, which would have been nice, it shows it all in one part when it originally showed it on television in two. However I found as I watched it there were little snippets of dialogue in the DVD version that I didn't see on tv, presumably cut to accommodate for advert breaks.

Don't watch this expecting another version of alice in wonderland, but it's definitely worth a look. I've heard it compared favourably to Oz, which I haven't seen, but the title on it's own is well worth watching by anyone who wants to escape from our world for a little while

I don't use that word too often, but this truely is. How they came up with the idea of making it more futuristic is beyond me, but it's a great one. The acting is also pheonomenal, especially Andrew Lee Potts, who delivers possibly his finest role to date. It's definately worth buying this dvd, you'll certainly enjoy it.