Alice (2009 Mini-Series/Lionsgate Blu-ray)

 

Picture: B     Sound: B     Extras: D     Miniseries: B

 

 

Right in time for Tim Burton’s “reimagining” of Alice in Wonderland comes Alice, a 2009 SyFy Network original miniseries.  The miniseries is also a reimagining that uses elements from both Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass.  The classic tale is taken 150years into the future and infuses science fiction elements.  The series follows the extremely successful Tin Man miniseries (reimagining the classic Wizard of Oz) and is in the same vein as it uses both classic literature and modern day Sci-Fi/Fantasy elements to propel the plot forward.

 

As previously mentioned we jump 150 years into the future (from the time the original Alice came) and Wonderland has become more wild and twisted than ever before.  The land is filled with gleaming light and casinos made of playing cards; the world being ruled under the iron fist of the Queen of Hearts (Kathy Bates).  An evil plot is afoot by the Queen as she has her White Rabbit Organization kidnap people from ‘the real world’ and sedating them so that they will mindlessly gamble in her casinos.  While the people gamble their lives away like zombies, the Queen is concurrently draining their emotions.  The drained emotions are then peddled to the people of Wonderland as a drug of sorts to keep them under her thumb.

 

Alice (Caterina Scorsone) a judo sensei in her twenties is suddenly whisked into the world of Wonderland after a boy she had been dating was captured by the White Rabbit.  It seems that a boy Alice was dating, names Jack Chase, had given her a ring that is very important to Wonderland.  The ring contains the stone of Wonderland, which allows anyone who possesses it to open the portal between the ‘real world’ and Wonderland.  The ring is essential to The Red Queens plan and she will stop at nothing to retrieve it.  Alice once in Wonderland sets out on an epic journey in which she meets a host of interesting characters including the resistance leader named Dodo (Tim Curry), the resistance fighter Mad Hatter (Andrew Lee-Pots) and the White Knight (Matt Frewer).

 

The whole adventure is rather exciting and trippy as classic elements and sci-fi are flawlessly embedded together to create a fantastic tale.  The acting is superb with a ton of familiar and unfamiliar faces making a serene atmosphere.  I found the entire miniseries visually stunning; keeping all the best parts true to Lewis Carroll’s dream and updating it with new elements of flare.  Overall, an excellent venture.

 

The technical features are adequate, but not wonderful.  The picture is a 1080p High Definition 1.78 X 1 Widescreen that has brilliant colors and excellent blacks, but I felt the clarity and crispness suffered at some points; keeping it far from perfect.  The sound is an English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio that is slightly better than the image quality as it utilizes the full speaker range as we are flung into Wonderland.  Ambient noises are heard throughout.  The dialogue is crisp and clean.  The directionality is solid.

 

There are no extras to mention.

 

I say this series is a definite winner and is even better than the previously released Tin Man series.  Thumbs up to the SyFy Network on this one.

 

 

-   Michael P. Dougherty II