Rating: 
Summary: A children's story even an adult could love.
Review: With two children of my own, I've spent plenty of time watching children's movies and television the last 10 years or so, and this is one of the few movies I've seen that I'm willing, yes, even anxious, to spend money for. I didn't expect anything when the movie was first broadcast on network TV, but was immediately hooked when I wandered into the room during the tea party. After watching too many cloying and dumbed-down Disney tales, this movie, with it's combination of almost surreal special effects (and what else would you want for Alice in Wonderland?!) and quirky comic performances, was a wonderful treat. My kids (12 and 7) love it, but then they aren't Disney fans either.
Rating: 
Summary: This is how you cannot adapt Alice in Wonderland....
Review: I got this in a cereal box for free, which I'm grateful for, but I wish I hadn't watched it. It's everything you'd expect of a modern re-telling of this story with Hollywood comedians and actors. They make the first mistake of having an American Alice attempt a British accent. Secondly, she's had to perform a song, and the story is revealed to be only a result of a dream she's had, like Dorothy. They've penned a couple of wretched, unmemorable songs. A constantly blinking rabbit runs around and seems to have made no contribution. It's cold and lifeless, except for its set design, but it's still not much to look at. It's the Tim Burton excuse of creative style over substance, but Tim Burton movies have something to add. The actors don't even seem to want to act against the other actors and the camera and costumes ensure you never see them express body language. The camera uses many closeups and quickly cut away from what you want to see, assuming you're already bored, the backgrounds are either blandly digital or miniatures. It's claustrophobic, suffocating and irritating to watch. Whoopi Goldberg and Martin Short are two examples of inspired casting. Goldberg plays herself as a grinning Chesire cat, Short plays the Mad Hatter as a kind of gay socialite Austin Powers, which I can accept in this rendition but it doesn't totally work. There's no wonder to any of it and all the added-for-tv wacky dialogue just seems to get further and further away from what worked about the book - which was more and it deserves a much better film version. This never came together and when Miranda Richardson was onscreen to play croquet the whole thing just dies and the only thing keeping it going is its set pieces. There was nothing going for this in the first place, so just avoid it.
Rating:
Summary: Oh, Alice, what have they done to you?
Review: This is the worst adaptation of Alice in Wonderland I have ever seen. From the ridiculous and invented-for-the-movie stage fright premise on, this is a classic example of a movie not doing justice to a book. I'm giving this DVD 1 star, and that star is for Martin Short, the only saving grace of this movie. He plays the Mad Hatter to deranged perfection. And I guess the costumes are pretty.
Rating: 
Summary: Dear GOD, let Tim Burton do this thing!
Review: I have seen/read several versions of Lewis Carrol's masterpiece and it's always interessting to see a new angle. The hallmark version stays pretty close to the source material though, even if it does introduce singing as a new theme.
This was probably done to create some kind of coherent storyline. Something many movie adaptions of Alice tend to do because let's face it, a movie tells a quite different kind of story than a book does.
Anyway, this interpretation is sure to include certain scenes that will satisfy most people (even the purists). My own favorite is without a doubt the tea party with an over-the-top performance from the underestimated Martin Short. Bravo! This scene, and the effort and hard work in bringing this complicated story to life earns this tv movie 4 stars in my book. But this is definetly not THE definitive version of Alice. That would probably be the book. And yet as I have done so many times before, I can't help but wonder what Tim Burton could do with this kind of source material, and drool at the prospect.
Tim, if you're reading this you know what to do! Make this film now! Right now!
Rating: 
Summary: Big Fat Mess
Review: I give it two stars because of all the effort that
has been put into this mammoth telling of Alice in
Wonderland but here bigger doesn't mean better.I've
read and believe that Hollywood has a hard time making
a good movie out of a good book and had Alice been a
lesser book it would have made a better movie. Such
madness however could have been made into a fabulous
movie hadthey gone about the right way instead of
following all the previous Alice's mistakes adding
it's own quirky additions. It's too slowly paced
allowing each star - one of the many faults of every
Alice is to cram it full of known actors rather than
sutible actors or better still animated creatures or
electonic puppets. In watching the 1931 Alice it's
impossible to tell Cary Grant is the mock turtle
under all his paper mache so whats the point. But
worse yet is this new version rather than seeing
the Cheshire cat , I'm haunted by the sight of
Whoopi Goldberg's decapitated head computerly
attatched to the body of a cat so that it's not
the Cheshire cat we are seeing but Whoopi Goldberg
playing the Cheshire Cat. All the actors are given
too much time which results in ego bursts - Aunties
wooden leg says it all. This movie has traded whimsy
for common sense for Lewis Carroll a.k.a. Charles
Dodgeson even though a mathematician didn't need
to moralise or trivialise Alice as does this version
giving Alice a reason for being in Wonderland to learn
a lesson of all things -chagrin! This only only
distroys the true meaning of Alice's symbolic trip
through puberty. The actors are wasted , Miranda
Richardson only comes close capturing the queen but
Tina Marjorino is too polite , too mild and
occationally weary of trying to figure out how Alice
would behave - though if one read the book they'd
know Alice was quite peppery and childishy impertanant
this Alice is very much restrained. For a truer Alice
check out the Disney animated version. It's quick
paced , colorful with a sausy bewitching Alice and
lots of terrific characters with actors only lending
voices and not their looming faces interupting with
guest appearances. The best snippets of a true Alice
I have seen however is in Dreamland a superb movie
about the questioning relationship between Alice
and Lewis Carroll there is some fabulous puppetering
from Jim Henson and explores the darker side of the
fable. It would be nice if a director with a sense
of the macrabre and whimsy would do a proper version
of Alice in Wonderland - Tim Burton?
Rating:
Summary: As the Box Says: "A MASTERPIECE OF IMAGINATION!"
Review: All your favorite comedy and drama stars join together to bring you this remarkable adaption of the Lewis Carroll book. Tina Majorino makes a smart, sweet and brave young Alice trying to find the beautiful garden belonging to the Queen of Hearts (Miranda Richardson from Sleepy Hollow). On her way she meets new friends who convince Alice that there is nothing wrong with performing in which she hates. The special effects were no-dought the best effects of Alice in Wonderland movies. When she shrinks her feet ripple and when she grows her head is bigger than her body, and her hands grow as big as her head. This movie also includes silly songs and riddles, fun and games and even more memorable things to make an Alice in Wonderland as special as can be. This is probably the best Alice in Wonderland yet! I saw this movie in Feb. last year of 1999 on NBC, channel 15. I was informed when it was on by my Aunt Gina. So I decided to tape it because I love Alice in Wonderland so much. When it came on it looked so wonderful and enchanting to watch and I was so sure I wanted to tape. Even by looking at the adds for it made it look just spectacular to be seen. That is why I give this movie 5 stars! Thank you.
Rating:
Summary: i hated hated hated this movie!
Review: I love disney's alice in wonderland and i love the book but i hated this version! What the heck is miranda richardson and gene wilder doing in this? the characters were so annoying especially richardson as the queen of hearts. and the girl who played alice acted like a little snob. do yourself a favor and rent the animated disney classic instead. i wont even waste any more time writing about this!
Rating:
Summary: Alice in Wonderland (1999)
Review: Dazzling, sparkling TV adaptation of the classic ALICE tale featuring an amazing cast, splendid direction and a great script.
Tina Majorino makes a fantastic Alice, and Whoopi Goldberg and Martin Short were very funny as the Cheshire Cat and Mad Hatter.
This was beautifully photographed, and was often shot on location. The script is very nicely laid out and written, with
exciting and new twists on the story. It made the story a little more modern and made it easier for smaller children to understand with its humour. An delightful family flick!
Rating:
Summary: AN OLD STORY THAT JUST KEEPS GETTING BETTER IN THE TELLING!
Review: Every time Lewis Carroll's immortal classics, Alice's adventures in wonderland and through the looking glass, get told again the risk is run that something will be lacking. After all, how many different ways can a story be told? How many different sides are there to a mushroom? Just so. While the story remains unchanged over the years the innovations employed in the telling make it what it is. And this is one of the best adaptations that I have ever seen. Sure there's Disney and the innovations there but the real trick is taking a fantasy like this and telling it with animation as a support and not whole enchilada. Combine Carroll's classic story with the magic of Jim Henson's Creature Shop and add wonderful performances by Martin Short as the Mad Hatter, Gene Wilder as the Mock Turtle, Peter Ustinov and Pete Postlethwaite as the Walrus and the Carpenter, Christopher Lloyd as the White Knight, Ben Kingsley as the Caterpillar/Butterfly, and Whoopi Goldberg as the Cheshire Cat and you have a made-for-TV production that could have done very well on the big screen. Care was also taken to ensure that the original illustrations of Carroll's books were faithfully adapted. The March Hare is a prime case in point. Tina Majorino (Andre) is superb as Alice and the story is as engaging and imaginative as ever. A must have for any video collection.
Rating:
Summary: Great story!
Review: This movie was modeled after Disney's version of Alice in Wonderland with a few new twists. I enjoyed Whoopi Goldberg's smile as the Cheshire Cat, Martin Short as the Mad Hatter, and Gene Wilder as a turtle. The story is very much the same as other "Through the Looking Glass" tales, but the live action with new songs and some new encounters make it worth another watch.
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