Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
History Through a Looking-Glass, February 23, 2003
By A Customer
What if you were ten years old, and a genius fell in love with you?I'm not sure what category of people I would reccomend this movie to -- the story is like nothing I've ever seen before. Half of the time it's a very dark and introspective piece, which refuses to outright *give* us the straight answers we are used to be handed during a 90 minute movie. Other times it's a funny and rather poignant tale about three unlikely friends -- two of whom happen to be in love with each other. This movie tackles a LOT for an hour and a half, and doesn't do everything it attempts well. But even when it fails, it's thrilling. The actors are also amazing. I can't give enough kudos to the performers who worked on this piece. As someone who works in theater, I have a harder-than-usual time loosing myself to the illusion, but I was *sold* on all of these characters, even if I recognized the actor from another movie. Alice Liddel, the original little girl that so inspired Lewis Carrol, is all grown up, widowed, and turned into a crochety old woman. She is embarking on her first trip to America to receive an honarary degree from Columbia in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Rev. Charles Dodgeson's (the real name of L.C.) birthday. She travels with Lucy, her sweet-as-cream companion who Alice has (apparently) rescued from life as an orphan. As soon as they set foot on dry land, it's clear this is not ordinary trip. America in 1930s, struggling to emerge from the Depression, is crass, commercial, and desperate for dreams. The era that embraced Shirley Temple is all about the cuteness of little girls, and to discover that the Alice of Wonderland was a *real* little girl threw the country into a frenzy. Enter Gallagher's character: an out-of-work reporter who is willing to do anything -- and use anyone -- to get a break. The problem with all this Alice-mania is that the REAL Alice hardly remembers the man who penned her. Her memories of her childhood in sunny, Victorian England (sequences which are done spectacularly, and are really beautiful and nostalgic) are mixed in with scenes of a child's vivid imagining of the scenes in the storybook. This is where Henson's genius comes into play. It probably helped that I never considered the Mad Hatter, March Hare, Red and White Queens, et. all very nice, but I thought the sinister characterization of those characters perfect for the wanderings of a confused old woman. Along with the audience, she struggles to understand the relationship between herself and the Reverend, so many years ago. I really can't give justice to this movie with a written review. The visual aspects, as well as some of the counterpoints used (swtiching between old and young Alices in Wonderland scenes) really deserve to be SEEN, not talked about. Suffice to say that this is a very powerful movie, in its own subtle way. I've read a few reviews that criticized the movie's "softening" of historical facts. I honestly don't believe it sugar-coats all that much. It doesn't touch on Carrol's friendships with other little girls, and ignores the fact that he kept in touch with Alice Liddel long after her marriage for the sake of drama. But otherwise it gives a fair protrayal of events -- at least, one interpretation of them. Because that's another aspect of this movie. Dodgeson was a dreamer, and through his dreams transformed the ordinary into the extraordinary. But did that make it any less true? This is a story about love. The 1930s romance gets admittedly lost in the shuffle (expected, since it's only a subplot of a 90 minute movie), but the love that created a legend shines through.
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15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Why is a raven like a writing desk?, December 18, 2003
"Dreamchild" is a pleasant drama based on a 1967 BBC television play by Johnathan Miller. While being entirely fictional, the film drew much inspiration from the historical figures involved in developing the "Alice in Wonderland" book. At the same time, this movie features playful yet disturbing characters created by Jim Henson's Creature Shop, which at the time had finished working on "The Dark Crystal" and "Labyrinth."
The year is 1932. The dignified Mrs. Alice Hargreaves (Coral Browne) has arrived to New York City to receive an honorary degree from Columbia University. The institution is planning to celebrate the 100th birthday of Charles Dodgeson (Ian Holm), AKA Lewis Carroll. Upon hearing the news about her arrival, New York's hungry reporters and photographers surround the old woman like vultures, treating her like celebrity. While they are anxious to know the relationship she once had with Lewis Carroll, she doesn't understand why so much fuss is placed into her association with a children's novel. In fact, after 70 years of strict, Victorian etiquette, Mrs. Hargreaves has almost forgotton about the simple joys of childhood nonsense. In the first half of the film, she is proud in her upper-class pomposity, reprimanding any stranger who calls her by her first name. Occasionally, there is humor in the clash between British and American behaviors. Later on, Jack Dolan (Peter Gallagher), a handsome and ambitious ex-reporter from the Harold Tribune, tries to convince Mrs. Hargreaves to capitalize on her identity; to rely on her childhood memories as a method of endorsing a feature film and radio ads. For further persuasion, Jack even uses his charms to woo Lucy (Nicola Cowper), Mrs. Hargreaves fragile and obedient daughter. Gradually, behind closed doors, the old woman becomes more vulnerable as she begins recalling the buried memories of her past. Throughout the film, viewers will see flashbacks of Alice's childhood; as a spirited, 10-year-old girl (Amelia Shankley), she has a blossoming love for her mathematics teacher Charles Dodgeson, who once told the adventures of Wonderland to her and her older sisters. Mr. Dodgeson, meanwhile, is a shy, private individual who stutters in the company of other people. He also feared that the little girl he knew as Alice would soon forget about the gift he gave her. It's clear that he's much more comfortable in the warmth of his own imaginative world than in the coldness of reality.
As Mrs. Hargreaves struggles to recall what Mr. Dodgeson said to her, several hallucinating scenes show her walking INTO the fantastic world of Wonderland. While her image flips back and forth between that of a child and an elder, she is tormented by the grotesque characters she encounters. The Griffin, for example, appears as a fierce predator, bearing the head of a hairy rooster and the large wings of a hawk. The purple Caterpiller has an unpleasant, almost pulpy body while he sternly stares at Alice with his yellow eyes. The March Hare looks like a diseased animal with his crooked buck teeth and gray fur. The Mad Hatter is perhap the most abusive character of all; when Mrs. Hargreaves forgets what day of the month it is, he snarls, "You stupid, ugly old hag. You should be DEAD!"
The movie, overall, is quite a treat to watch. Not only does it picture the stylish look of the early 1930's, but it also emits a mystery caught between both the fantastic and the real worlds. Fans of "Alice in Wonderland" will enjoy it because it captures the lovely summer days of the 19th century; it's a time when ladies were dressed in lace and children played croquet on the grassy lawns.
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24 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Who cares for you? You're nothing but a pack of cards!, August 23, 2005
Let me start by simply saying that the reaction I had viewing this film was unlike any other viewing experience I can recall. Although I found it well written and produced, I was so disappointed by the 2/3's point that I almost stopped watching. Yet by the end I was absolutely embracing the whole thing. So if you are a Lewis Carroll fan keep an open mind and watch the whole thing, you may find the whole much greater than the sum of its parts. And you may even find yourself willing to accept the historical fiction as necessary to better tell the story.
I suppose a large part of my initial negative reaction was due to the film's puzzling failure to capture a fundamental aspect of Alice Liddell's childhood personality. Alice spent much of her time in "Wonderland" being p....d off; at the illogic, the rudeness, and the selfishness of the characters she met there. Both Alice's were proper and confident little Victorian girls who took themselves very seriously. I am sure that this was one of many "Real Alice" personality traits that Carroll transplanted to his "Wonderland" Alice. Often amused by her reactions of irritation and frustration, he constructed many of the story elements with the intention of getting indigent reactions from Alice and her sisters. I had hoped that this connection would be made by the film and was disappointed that it was not explored, although in retrospect you could argue that the older Alice's reactions to the characters she meets in America are identical to Alice's reactions to the characters in Wonderland. That the film does not explore my pet topic was disappointing but ultimately not fatal.
In all other respects the portrayal of young Alice Liddell was excellent. Amelia Shankley turned in a fine performance. She is clearly the best film Alice so far and it is a shame that they did not star her in an actual Alice film right after "Dreamchild" was completed. And Coral Browne was equally excellent as the older Alice.
This film is about how Alice's mother (who felt her daughter could find much better candidates for marriage as she moved into her teens) essentially poisoned her memories of Dodgson, leading her to believe that there was something wrong about his feelings for her (when in fact he was just a childlike personality who loved her more than his other child friends, but always with a shy innocence). It is also about the guilt the older Alice still feels over abandoning him just as she entered her teens, especially after all the innocent kindness he had shown. She is in denial about her affection for Dodgson and irritated because all the attention of his centennial is forcing her to recall those long-suppressed years of her life. And finally she feels that since she was not actually the little heroine who exhibited so much courage in "Wonderland", she does not deserve her sudden celebrity status. In her view she was catapulted into fame "by simply doing nothing". Remember that Wonderland Alice is arguably the bravest literary heroine of all time.
What ultimately redeems the film is the climatic scene in the hall of Columbia University. Alice Liddell flashes back to a scene late in her relationship with Dodgson, a symbolic scene meant to represent the end of their relationship. She had outgrown him at this point in her life and she laughs and humiliates him as he attempts to sing his Lobster Quadrille song to the three Liddell sisters and their male suitors. When her mind returns to the present she hears the Columbia University orchestra and glee club performing the same song. She realizes that the story which she once rejected was in fact his personal tribute to her and that even after all these years each little detail of his creation is admired throughout the world. At this point she finally gets it. She goes back to the symbolic scene as her older sister Lorina reads the final paragraph from the Wonderland book, the one in which Dodgson reveals the reason he made up the story. Then the child Alice walks over, kisses Dodgson in apology, and places her head on his chest (an omission for which she has long felt guilty). Then we are back in the hall and find that in place of her prepared speech she has read this same passage to the now applauding crowd.
The point is that she finally understood that the story was a gift to her and to future generations of children, that she had inspired the story and had been the model for his heroine. With this realization came the final gift of knowing that the virtues Mr. Dodgson gave his heroine: innocence, courage, curiosity, wonder, kindness, intelligence, courtesy, humor, dignity, and a sense of justice; were virtues he credited to the real Alice.
It is hard to imagine a better scene (or sequence of scenes) than the climatic one detailed above. Film and video cannot hope to compete with books in communicating thoughts. But with the right players film can visually communicate moments of character realization and transformation to a degree much more subtle and personal than what any author can write. This is the real magic of film and acting for the camera. In the end these climatic moments say everything that needs be said about the relationship between Dodgson and his "dreamchild". A truly great cinematic moment and my all-time favorite.
Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.
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