Petri Pelkonen
There have been a few movies made of Lewis Carroll's Alices Adventures in Wonderland (1865).This one directed by Nick Willing is a TV movie from 1999.There are some known names in this movie.Tina Majorino does very nice job as Alice.Miranda Richardson is fantastic at The Queen of Hearts with her "Off with the head" routine.Martin Short is brilliant as The Mad Hatter.Whoopi Goldberg is terrific as Cheshire Cat.Ken Dodd is great as Mr. Mouse.Gene Wilder is superb as The Mock Turtle.George Wendt and Robbie Coltrane make a very fine pair as Tweedledee and Tweedledum.Christopher Lloyd is magnificent as The White Knight.Elizabeth Spriggs is marvelous as The Duchess, as is Sheila Hancock as her cook.Ben Kingsley is very good as Major Caterpillar.Peter Ustinov and Pete Postlethwaite are both great as The Walrus and the Carpenter.There are many nice moments in this movie.The most delightful moment must be when Gene Wilder sings "Beautiful Soup".This is great fun for the whole family.
vip_ebriega
My Take: A visually-entertaining made-for-TV effort.When I watched this movie when I was a kid, I really loved it. And it didn't differ when I grew up. I still love this movie. It's so abundant in ideas and imaginative wonder, also sharing the imagery of Lewis Carroll's classic story. It stars a very familiar cast. Their's Miranda Richardson (Queen of Hearts), Christopher Lloyd (White Knight), Ben Kingsley (Sgt. Caterpillar), Robbie Coltrane (Ned Tweddledum), Martin Short (Mad Hatter), Gene Wilder (Mock Turtle), Pete Postletwaite (Carpenter), Peter Ustinov (Walrus) and of course, Whoopi Goldberg as the mysterious Cheshire Cat. Tina Majorino is perfect as Alice, with a fine British accent to fit her role. I remember seeing her younger in Kevin Costner's "Waterworld", but she was quite memorable, for me, in this film. The strange creatures and make-up effects are great too, as supplied by the artists at Jim Henson's Creature Shop. Not the best in a long line of 'Alice' adaptations, but it's curious settings and trippy characters is faithful to the pages of Carroll's classic story. TV movie rating: ***1/2 out of 5.
raymond-15
When you fall down a very deep hole like Alice did, hitting your head on the way down, it is almost certain you'll end up with a sore head and more than likely a certain amount of concussion. In her concussed state Alice begins to experience wild imaginings. At least that is how I explain her strange behaviour.Lewis Carroll seems to have a fixation about body size with Alice only too ready to experiment drinking from unmarked bottles on more than one occasion. When the world becomes all out of proportion, the story takes on a dream-like quality and when Alice cries the whole floor is awash with tears. It's strange how we accept all the nonsense that makes up our dreams. Alice accepts all these weird happenings too.Alice (Tina Majorino) is not the sweet little blond that one might expect in this fantastic tale, but a determined brunette ready and willing to argue a point or save someone in distress. She even fronts up to the screeching Queen of Hearts who seems to be determined that everyone should lose their head.I feel that some of the scenes were too long. I also find some of the scenes not very funny. The knight falling repeatedly from his horse does not send one off into fits of laughter. I also find Tweedledum and Tweedledee a bit of a bore. On the other hand I think that Whoopi Goldberg steals the show as the grinning Cheshire cat. I just cannot forget that face.Some of the sets are top class. My favourite is the Court of Law where the whole building is built of playing cards. And like any house of cards collapses in the end.Alice's imagination runs riot when she sees flamingos being used as croquet mallets. but then, as I said, anything goes in a dream.The story is nicely rounded off when in the end we see the family and friends and relatives and household staff gathered together to hear Alice sing a little song. There is something mischievous about this scene as we recognize the all too familiar faces of Alice's subterranean Wonderland.
koxanpetra
It's a pity that the leading role was played by this untalented actress. The movie could be just fine, but this horrible acting messes it totally up! I don't understand how this girl could get the role! Especially when there are such great actors in the film... I mean, really, this Tina has only four faces (one "surprised" which I'd rather call imbecilic, one "regretful" - just as imbecilic as the first one - one scared, and one "happy") which she keeps changing, but it's so dull and lame after the 10th minute, you wish she wasn't there! It's a shame, because otherwise it's a perfect family movie, with great special effects and acting. (I wonder why Miranda Richardson always plays the queen... :) )Better luck next time with the casting!
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