When watching this on DVD I began to realize as I reached the end that the writers got lost somewhere. Being a nearly 3 and one half hour mini-series I can almost understand how this would happen. But when you get to the end and the characters, namely Alice, isn't making any sense from the beginning of the story, it just seems like a jumbled mess.
First, the length. Way too long with multiple scenes that use figureheads like Kathy Bates talking about nothing that relates to the plot. Or Alice's making it to the castle, only to be rescued, only to try to return... Time wasters to make what should have been a two-hour TV movie into a two-part mini-series. Essentially dragging the viewers into a long and drawn out and often dull experience which lacks any sort of "wonder" at all.
I also can appreciate the need for day-players, or name actors who will help sell a project because people will watch them. But when you have actors like Harry Dean Stanton, and Tim Curry in the show for mere minutes, just so you can put their name on the cover of the DVD, I'm sorry but that's LAME.
Caterina Scorsone did a really good job with the subtleties. Her facial expressions during any dramatic scene were perfect. She was not, however, a great pick for the martial art, stand up and fight character she was made into. Her moving speeches towards the end were really really forced, as if she was thinking in her head "who would write this crap?" while saying it. In any case, hats off to her.
In essence, avoid this if you can. Poor adaptation using character names for the sake of calling it an Alice in Wonderland tale.
First, the length. Way too long with multiple scenes that use figureheads like Kathy Bates talking about nothing that relates to the plot. Or Alice's making it to the castle, only to be rescued, only to try to return... Time wasters to make what should have been a two-hour TV movie into a two-part mini-series. Essentially dragging the viewers into a long and drawn out and often dull experience which lacks any sort of "wonder" at all.
I also can appreciate the need for day-players, or name actors who will help sell a project because people will watch them. But when you have actors like Harry Dean Stanton, and Tim Curry in the show for mere minutes, just so you can put their name on the cover of the DVD, I'm sorry but that's LAME.
Caterina Scorsone did a really good job with the subtleties. Her facial expressions during any dramatic scene were perfect. She was not, however, a great pick for the martial art, stand up and fight character she was made into. Her moving speeches towards the end were really really forced, as if she was thinking in her head "who would write this crap?" while saying it. In any case, hats off to her.
In essence, avoid this if you can. Poor adaptation using character names for the sake of calling it an Alice in Wonderland tale.