Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1972)

My first thought was to wonder why Alice's dress looked so much like Alice's dress in the Disney version. A quick date check revealed that this came out just over 20 years after the Disney version. So the question is... did William Sterling's version deviate in any OTHER ways from the Disney film?

Well... it's live action. And the frame story involves Lewis Carroll (Charles Dodgson) taking three little girls out for a picnic, where he tells the story of Alice in Wonderland. Which... I have to admit, turned me off of the film right away. More for the creeping staring than the content, although in context it's not very reassuring, either.

Aside from that... call me a product of my era, but I found the pacing extremely difficult to deal with. This film sticks pretty close to the original story, which is to say--all the cruel nonsense is present. But this Alice laughs through the whole thing, so at least she's not scared....

This movie is almost more worthwhile for the antique special effects. If you enjoy that kind of thing, this is one to check out. And if you like the pure nonsense of the book, this is a respectable version. Otherwise, I'd pass it up for something else.

You CAN watch it for free, on hulu, and the bright costumes and music might appeal to children more than they appealed to me.

Suckerpunch

I went to see Suckerpunch this weekend. I have been excited about it for some time now, and from the trailers I thought it had a certain "Alice in Wonderland" quality to it. Don't you think so?

And I have to admit, it's been buzzing around my literary-analyst-brain ever since the end of the movie, when I sat in open-mouth shock and watched the credits.

I almost hesitate to recommend it, because I want to go into such depths of analysis that there are sure to be spoilers, spoilers, spoilers involved. But I also want all my fairy-tale-fan readers to go see and so we can DISCUSS it.

If you liked Watchmen AND Kick Ass, I would recommend this. I will say a few things more below the next picture, so if you are wary of spoilers, I'll see you next time!

First of all it occurred to me: action girls in miniskirts: really feminine empowerment? Yet I think this one fits the bill--it certainly passed the Bechdel test. In fact there are almost no "good" men in the movie. The one male helper fits the role of fairy godmother or even more the "old woman helper on the road." This is a movie about women, and while I have to say that the characters didn't reach new levels of depth in movies, it IS an action movie, and I don't ask for every male action hero to be stunningly characterized; it would be unrealistic to think that every action movie featuring women would have 100% humanized, rounded characters.

Having said that, each of the women in this movie DO have distinctive personalities, and while they may lean toward stereotypes, there are none that can simply be categorized (as, for example, "the love interest") and dismissed.

One of the things I found most compelling about this is the concept of the hero's journey and how well it fits Babydoll's experience. (Ha. Yes. The names. That's a whole different thing, but anyway.) Her "journey into other" is very much internal, but no less awesome, and her "return to aid" is completely concrete, as we see at the very end.

Thinking of Babydoll in terms of a Superhero is what makes the whole story work for me. It could be a tragic "suckerpunch" if you will, but I think we have a tendency to give our superheroes unrealistically happy endings in many cases. Here we have a bittersweet ending: there is success but it is mixed with sacrifice. As is hinted at in the movie--it's not a surprise except that in all the excitement, Babydoll and her audience forget that she was warned of the fifth thing, a mystery, a sacrifice that pays for all.

And I loved the parallel between Babydoll's sister and Sweetpea's sister. These two have experienced such a similar thing in regard to their younger sisters, and to me, that makes the ending all the more satisfactory. It's hard to explain without getting TOO specific, but the parallel between Sweetpea and Babydoll justified the ending: by saving Sweetpea, Babydoll saves herself.

The imagery was phenomenal: WWII meets Steampunk meets Lord of the Rings. (I seriously thought they just borrowed some orc costumes from Peter Jackson at one point.) It's worth seeing for the cinematography alone (although I suppose if you aren't interested in the movie at this point, you can just look up pictures online).

Like I said, I hesitate to unreservedly recommend this. However, I loved it, and I hope you'll give it a chance, free of expectations.

SyFy's Alice

Imagine a science fiction made-for-tv movie about a weird portal that takes you to a place where humans are harvested for their emotions. Add a whole bunch of Alice in Wonderland motif and imagery, and you have a good idea of what you're going to get with SyFy's miniseries, Alice.

The action begins when Alice's (Caterina Scorsone) not-very-longterm boyfriend (Philip Winchester) tries to give her a ring. She freaks out and he leaves, but when she finds that the ring was slipped into her pocket, she follows him to give it back and talk. Just in time to see him dragged away by some goons with white rabbits on their lapels.

Next thing she knows, she's through a looking glass and into a strange and very vertical world, where she's tagged as an "oyster" and boxed up. But being a savvy girl, she makes a quick escape, and finds possible help in the form of Hatter (Andrew Lee Potts).

(If only that was a blue police box instead of a red phone booth, they'd be fine.)

Hatter and Alice continue to make their way through Wonderland, meeting a cast of familiar yet slanted characters, from the White Knight (Matt Frewer) to the Queen of Hearts (Kathy Bates).
Above, check out the Happy Hearts Casino, where humans go to win big all the time! And as they win, their feelings get drained away. Or something nefarious and questionable.

The imagery was very cool, and of course I love spotting the references. It's not a straight up Alice in Wonderland retelling, but I'm not sure that could work in a sci-fi film. However, most of the elements are here, and seeing how they show up is half the fun.

I enjoyed this at least as much as Tin Man, so if you liked that, here's another one to check out. There are a bunch of special features on the SyFy site, so you can get a more in-depth idea of the imagery and the storyline over there.

The Looking Glass Wars by Frank Beddor

This is hardly one of those obscure pieces that I'm blurbing about, for your surprise edification, but I thought I'd say a few words about The Looking Glass Wars.

This draws on the history of Alice in Wonderland, and it's creation, rather than just reinterpreting the story. The premise being that Alice Liddell, the inspiration behind Wonderland's Alice, really was Princess Alyss, from Wonderland, and had been chased out when her Aunt took the crown. Trapped in our world, she is mocked for her believe in another world, until she finds the way back and returns to reclaim her throne.

I did enjoy this book, although I found the pacing to be a little slow. Things that I would have liked to know more about (her time in our world, possible ways that things crossed over) were sometimes skimmed over. Some of Alyss's "Woe is me" moments seemed to drag on a bit. I wouldn't call it perfect, but it was an interesting invention, drawing both from our world and Wonderland.

There are two sequels now, which are somewhere in the midst of my t0-be-read list. (It's a really, really, REALLY big list.)

Down the Rabbit Hole by Peter Abrahams

I know there's a lot of excitement about a couple of upcoming retellings of Alice in Wonderland, but in the meantime, I wanted to talk about a book that's not a retelling at all: Down the Rabbit Hole, by Peter Abrahams.

"Not a retelling at all?!" you gasp? "Then why are you putting it here in this adaptation review blog???" you wonder?

Because in spite of being very much its own story, it greatly involves TWO of my favorite retold tales.

First, obviously, Alice in Wonderland. The entire story is evocative of the classic, the parallels made moreso by the play within a novel -- the community in the story is putting on a production of Alice in Wonderland.

Secondly, Sherlock Holmes. The main character, 13-year-old Ingrid, is a devoted fan of the world's greatest detective.

The two motifs blend together splendidly in this fast-paced thriller, which, while it's been tagged as Peter Abrahams first young adult novel, I found entirely captivating -- I could barely put it down. Abrahams succeeded both in creating a believable, dark mystery, and capturing that which makes 13 years old an awkward and awakening age. Ingrid was fun to read -- stubborn, smart, and resourceful, even while being afraid and making mistakes.

I definitely recommend it if you're a fan of either Alice in Wonderland or Sherlock Holmes, or if you just like a good mystery....