Product Details

• Actors: Matt Frewer, Harry Dean Stanton, Tim Curry, Kathy Bates, Caterina Scorsone
• Format: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, Widescreen, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.77:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Lions Gate
• DVD Release Date: March 2, 2010
• Run Time: 184 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (166 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0031DDG9A
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,824 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
  • #75 in Movies & TV > DVD > Fantasy
• For more information about "Alice (TV Miniseries)" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Abandoned by her father as a child, the independent twenty-one-year-old Alice is accustomed to men being unpredictable, but Jack Chase is something else. Just moments after surprising her with a rare family ring, he’s suddenly kidnapped by two thugs and driven into darkness. It is then that Alice is confronted by a sharply dressed stranger who calls himself White Rabbit, and who promises to know more about Jack than she. Where Alice follows him is through the liquid glass of an ornate mirror. Where she lands is Wonderland, an outlandish underground city of twisted towers and parapets, staircases conceived in a Dali dream, and an otherworldly purple horizon. Soon, the word’s out that Wonderland has its most prized captive. It seems Alice has the ring that controls the looking glass—the key to the power of the Queen of Hearts. It was mad folly for her son Jack to give it to a girl he barely knew. But Jack had his reasons. Discovering them is up to Alice.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

77 of 82 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Alice of legend, December 22, 2009

By 

E. A Solinas "ea_solinas" (MD USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Alice (TV Miniseries) (DVD)

There's a girl in a blue dress, a Queen of Hearts, and a a magical looking glass that whisks the heroine into a surreal Wonderland.

But beyond that, don't expect this SyFy miniseries to have much in common with Lewis Carroll's classic novel, "Alice in Wonderland." Instead, "Alice" is a whole different animal -- a deliciously gritty sci-fi adventure filled with action, romance, monsters psychedelic horrors, and a revolution against a drug-peddling queen. It's a little silly, but still immensely entertaining.

Alice's (Caterina Scorsone) dinner date with her boyfriend Jack (Philip Winchester) falls apart when he offers her an heirloom ring. When she chases after him, she sees him being dragged off by some suit-wearing thugs -- and promptly trips THROUGH a looking glass. Of course she ends up in Wonderland, a world of grimy urban ruins and art deco casinos. And it's ruled by the Queen of Hearts (Kathy Bates), a ruthless tyrant who keeps her populace drugged with emotions from kidnapped "oysters" (ordinary humans).

Alice ends up following the eccentric Hatter (Andrew-Lee Potts), who offers to take her to the Resistance -- but when they get there, they discover that Jack's ring is actually the Stone of Wonderland (which powers the transdimensional Looking Glass). Since everybody in Wonderland wants the Stone, Hatter and Alice end up on the run from both the Resistance and the Queen's assassin Mad March. Alice is still determined to rescue Jack and return home, but she soon finds that her boyfriend isn't quite what she thought -- and that one of her loved ones is the Queen's brainwashed slave.

The whole idea behind "Alice" is that Carroll's story was real, and that Wonderland has become a very different place in the last 150 years -- crumbling smoky cities, insectile airships, bunny-headed cyborg assassins, and a pair of sadistic interrogators called Dr. Dum and Dr. Dee. It's a far darker, more complex affair than Carroll's books, and that's what makes it so brilliant.

There's plenty of sci-fi action and chaotic battle scenes, including aerial chases, bombing runs and the occasional attack from the grotesque Jabberwock; and the writers keep the complex plot flowing along nicely. But they also keep the story grounded with a love triangle between Alice, Jack and Hatter, as well as Alice's quest to free the oysters and a long-lost family member. And there's just enough humor to keep it from being excessively grim ("We don't have to use a user manual, do we? I HATE user manuals").

Problems? A few of the homages (the grinning cat, the "drink me" bottle) are pretty superfluous, and the siege of skeletal soldiers is kind of silly (especially the "Hit them with everything we've got").

Scorsone makes an excellent modern Alice -- intelligent, capable and capable of butt-kicking her way out, but still vulnerable and young ("You don't remember me!"). Potts makes a deliciously quirky, sexily disheveled Hatter, and Frewer rounds out the main trio as a mildly insane White Knight. Winchester and Colm Meaney are also excellent, Tim Curry is brilliant but underused, and Kathy Bates absolutely rules as the casually cruel, petulant Queen. And yes, she does say "off with his head!"

I don't know what beloved children's story will get reworked next, but "Alice" does a great job with Lewis Carroll's classic novel -- lots of action, a touch of romance, and just enough surreality.

79 of 85 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Like Alice, LOVE Andrew Lee's Hatter even more!!, December 8, 2009

By 

A. Lee - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

I never really got into the whole Alice in Wonderland story, to tell the truth, I was actually terrified with the story as a child. Anyways Alice is a wonderful and refreshing take on the well known classic and I was shocked at how much I enjoyed it. I watched it at about midnight, skimming through the channels until I came across it and for some reason I was hooked at once. Alice is portrayed as a kickass fighting heroine, that's quite different and the story/plot was so exciting and new, I don't want to give it away but there is some interesting bits added to the original.

Summary: So this Alice is a martial arts butt-kicker. She meets Jack who slips her a ring and once Jack is abducted Alice follows, thus leading to her falling down the "rabbit hole" or the looking glass. Once there she meets Hatter who wants to help her find her way home. As she learns more about Wonderland and their emotion-extracting economy, her life becomes endangered when the Queen of Hearts orders for Alice's capture. The Queen ultimately wants the ring Alice recieved from Jack to power the looking glass. Along Alice's journey to find Jack, she also meets The White Knight who accompanys the duo to the Casino(where the captured humans are extracted) while also running away from the Queen's men: White Rabbit and the Suits. Quite an adventure.

Okay back to characters: I must say the acting is top-notch, so great for SyFy to get these incredibly talented actors. First Caterina Scorsone as Alice is amazing and this is my first time watching her, but I am really impressed by her acting. The White Knight(Matt Frewer who is another great star who works perfectly in Alice) is there for some comical parts, and very fun to watch too. Kathy Bates as the Queen, I get what I expected knowing her previous work. The whole cast, Tim Curry, Phillip Winchester, Colm Meaney, etc. is great but the one person that MADE it for me is Andrew Lee Potts as the Mad Hatter. Cute, funny, adorable and most of all he is the one character you can sympathize with (also watch him in the sci-fi show Primeval!) I mean he practically steals every scene he is in. Pott's Hatter is so likable opposite of Scorsone's skeptical Alice that I would watch this just to see the two of them and their <spoiler> romance! He really surprised me with his fun cool side yet it was his sensitive and "mushy side" that just left me wanting more. Now I am curious to see Johnny Depp's Mad Hatter...

The SyFy series Tin Man, was a similar miniseries that I saw a few years back(not sure how long) but I really enjoyed the show and the concept behind it. Alice is much like Tin Man, since it is by the same people, but I think it is slightly better and less gloomy.

The cinematography is also perfect, many beautiful scenes but some might have something to say about the CGI. It kind of bothered me that the CG wasn't too amazing but considering it is SyFy, that is just a very miniscule issue and never took away from the show itself. The small attention to details is exceptional too, if you pay attention you can tell how amazing the level of depth is- from the clothing to the buildings.

Basically the show is fun, bizarre, unique and a truly fantastic adventure. I highly recommend a watch.
One last note: the ending ROCKED! and did I already mention how awesome Hatter was....

Edit: dvd release March 2, 2012

27 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars HATTER, December 9, 2009

By 

D. Kontnik - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

I'm using my boyfriend's account to post this review. He's a big Alice In Wonderland fan. It was never really my thing. Much like with Wizard of Oz I always got upset as a kid that it took them so long to get home. I grudgingly agreed to watch this movie with him but ended up enjoying it way more than he did. The main reason being the character Hatter. As another reviewer said, "The whole cast is great but the one person that MADE it for me is Andrew Lee Potts." His Hatter was quirky and adorable. You like him from the moment he's introduced on screen and you fall in love with him as the story unfolds. I love the romance aspect that was thrown in. I can't wait until this is released on DVD. In the meantime it will remain on my DVR lol.