Alice in Wonderland [DVD] [2000]

Having always been a great fan of this Lewis Carroll classic (it was my chosen text for English Literature A Level!!) I was intrigued to see how such a mixed bunch of British and American actors would portray the bizarre world that is Wonderland.

Whoopi Goldberg is superb as the Cheshire Cat - 10 out of 10 to casting for choosing the biggest grin on the big screen. Ben Kingsley makes a marvellous portrayal of the pompous Caterpillar as does Gene Wilder as the Mock Turtle. Other stars worthy of a mention are most certainly Martin Short whose Mad Hatter is just the right amount of cheeky yet lovable and last but not lease Miranda Richardson whose squawking Queen of Hearts is second only to the extremely ugly portrayal of the same character in Walt Disney's version.

Amongst this phenomonal list of stars was cast little known Tina Majorino in the lead part of confused Alice. This creates a perfect balance in that Tina still shines through as the star of the picture and interacts superbly with the huge star cast she has been dropped in the middle of.

This film is a must for children and the young-at-heart alike. Where children will enjoy the funny characters and the places which only ever appear in your dreams, I would advise adults to look deeper into the mind of the child and what is going on in there!!!

I would not be without this in my video collection and cannot wait for the film version of Alice Through the Looking Glass to appear in my xmas stocking.

Thanks to some excellent performances and wonderful Henson creatures this version of "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" truly sparkles in places. The star-heavy cast is rarely a burden, as sometimes happens when signing a big name seems more important than choosing appropriate actors, and there are delightful scenes aplenty, even when the script departs from the original, which it unfortunately does all too often.

Thanks to a peculiar combination of cutting elements of Carroll's story and dialogue and inserting new material too much of this film has a disjointed and chaotic air about it that manages to be merely confusing rather than conveying the madness and dream-like nature of Wonderland. Some of the changes work well enough (the Gryphon becomes considerably more cultured than in the book thanks to a splendid bit of voice work by Donald Sinden, for example) and many of them make little real difference to the story, such as a jury consisting entirely of guinea pigs rather than an assortment of birds and animals. Others are less successful, particularly the beginning and end of the film where a wholly superfluous tale of Alice being afraid to sing in public and Wonderland giving her the confidence to do so has been tacked on, presumably to impart some sort of moral message.

Least satisfying of all is that this isn't actually a film of "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" alone but also includes elements of "Through the Looking Glass", spliced rather gracelessly into the story. Two films, one for each book, would have been better, but under the circumstances the scenes with Tweedledum and Tweedledee (nicely played by the heavyweight pairing of George Wendt and Robbie Coltrane) are a much better fit than the encounter with Christopher Lloyd's White Knight.

Children will find some parts of the film baffling but the whole spectacle will pull them along. Adults might be left somewhat bemused by the choices made in this production, but enough of it is excellently done to make one generous towards its faults. The definitive "Alice" has yet to be made, but this is still a very enjoyable film with plenty to delight the viewer.

The acting and visual effects in this adaptation are second to none in my opinion. Just check out the actors involved. Impressive! The perfomance by the young Tina Majorino is nothing short of excellent, and I can't imagine anyone improving on Martin Short's Mad Hatter. It is wonderful treat to find films that can be shared with enjoyment by both children and adults. This is a film that achieves this - the difficult art of mixing "adult" an "naïve" qualities. It is only too rare to find these days. In short an excellent film!