Customer Reviews

Alice in Wonderland: Dance Fantasy [VHS]

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I bought this video because my 3-year-old daughter loves dance and likes the Alice story. This surreal Czech production, however, has little to do with Alice in Wonderland. In fact, this video doesn't really have much of a story line at all. It does have Alice, but the other characters are either ambiguous (Is that man in the top hat and fur chaps the mad hatter or the march hare?) or completely new (like a school marm who wears her clothes backward). The costumes and make-up are very much in the vein of "cirque de soleil," which could be scary for some kids. Also, the music is very dark and somewhat menacing at points.

All this said, my daughter has been requesting this video. The downside is that she doesn't feel comfortable watching it on her own, so I have to sit there next to her. (I get to read a book, but she spends a lot of time asking me "What are they doing?" My answers usually begin with, "Um, I'm not sure, but I think . . . ") The upside is that the video is only 27 minutes long.

This dance fantasy inspired by Alice in Wonderland is quite unique. The music, costumes, and sets are all wonderful. A most lovely Alice and a stern Queen are the two main characters. Yes, this story begins with dark and sinister overtones, but that is to reflect the personality of the Queen and her subjects. As the story continues you will see how and why the tone changes, and that is the beauty of this story. Note the exchange scene and how Alice handles it (being vague to avoid spoiler). I love the symbolic gesture in that scene and how things change thereafter. I highly recommend this to fans of Alice in Wonderland and dance.

I ordered this after reading another review stating that it may give children nightmares. I had to see for myself. I loved it! It's weird and beautiful. I recommend it to all Alice lovers and collectors, and as far as giving children nightmares, I don't think so. My kid loved it. In the style of the classic arts channel, this piece was a strange delight.

Alice in Wonderland: A Dance Fantasy is a bad example of how books can be turned into great films. This not-even half hour ballet is utterly disturbing and vile in its nature. I liked the style, but the plot that the Alice stories are famous for is absent and the memorable characters we once knew have been replaced with boring or just stupid characters who we just want out of our faces. The only reason I gave this 2 stars is because it reminds me of a school play, and I love those. I guess I was just expecting a "bit" more than this. It might have been better if I hadn't have been comparing it to other Alice films, but I still think it is strange.

Alice in Wonderland is usually very entertaining as a movie. However, in this case, Alice's adventures turn into a badly choregraphed and badly acted and bad altogether...mess. Alice in Wonderland: A Dance Fantasy has no plot. All I can make out for a plot is that a girl throws a ball of wool into a small mirror and that somehow pulls her into a weird hall which is full of mirrors. Then she starts dancing with weird things and...well...it just doesn't make sense.

The music is very disturbing, which makes one not want to view the film again. It is not memorable what-so-ever and it just seems like somebody is banging on a piano and blowing into a woodwind without a music sheet in front of them.

I do not know what Alice's "friends" are in this movie. There is this school teacher and she wears her clothes backwards and thing pop out of the chalkboard. There is a beachball that is being passed around and people examine it. There is a really bizzare queen who dresses in black. And there is this man dressed up like a march hare and a white bunny, wearing a top hat. I think that is the March Hare, the White Rabbit and the Mad Hatter at the same time.

The following statement is definite: AS OF NOW, I AM WARNING EACH AND EVERY SOUL WHO HAPPENS TO "FORTUNATELY" STUMBLE UPON THIS REVIEW THAT YOU NEVER EVER THINK OR EVEN DREAM ABOUT SEEING THIS. ALICE IN WONDERLAND: A DANCE FANTASY IS ONE OF THE WORST VIDEOS IN YEARS THAT HAVE PASSED!

We were thoroughly disappointed as we were under the impression that it was the ballet performed by the English National Ballet (which was shown by the side of this dvd in the purchase order). This does not help us at all. Very disappointed.

Wasn't sure what to expect, definately not your average ballet rendition of alice in wonderland. A modern, clever low- tech piece with creative costumes and abstract sets.

This is a great, if not a little short(28 min.), ballet based on Lewis Carroll's children's book. Great television, great Ballet.

By James

While interesting in its conception, this version of Alice in Wonderland is not appropriate for young viewers. The images are dark and disturbing and as one dance student, age 10, put it while viewing it in class, "This is going to give me nightmares." We turned it off.

27 minutes of rubbish do not bother

vagador