Alice (2009)

I don't remember the first time that I read Alice in Wonderland, but I do recall a long semester spent with it in college in a philosophy class. Spending hours arguing about what the White Knight was really saying and what Carroll's meta-message was by giving the White Knight such speech was interesting and aggravating. That's kind of how I feel about the work of Lewis Carroll in general. Ironically,, I don't remember anything that the White Knight says, the only quote from Carroll, indeed from practically all of literature, is from 'Through the Looking Glass' - "The time has come," the walrus said, "to talk of many things. Of shoes and ships and sealing wax and whether pigs have wings."
This movie (as I watched it) was originally a mini series on Syfy and her sister cable company in Canada. That turns out to be a really good thing. The folks that produced this movie were the same ones who did Tin Man - the re-interpretation of the Wizard of Oz in 2007. In my opinion, they did better with interpreting and re-imagining Carroll's work than they did with Baum, but I enjoyed Tin Man very much, too. Though called 'Alice' this project really brings in elements of both books. Thematically, it also borrows a bit from the Narnia books, not to mention stylistically from the recent Narnia movies. Speaking of style, you can tell that this is not made by an U.S. production company. The first give-away is one of many mad romp chases where figures go up on one foot, arms wheeling as they turn corners. A nice nod to the BBC and it's action/adventure/comedy programs. You know, maybe that's a Canadian thing, too. I should look into that - the only Canadian program that I follow is The Murdoch Mysteries, while lacking the Keystone-Copesque chases, do share in a certain lack of grittiness, while maintaining the serious elements, which is the second hint that this was not from the U.S. Serious conversations were had, very dramatic scenes with no blood, profanity or nudity - not that there is anything with those things as I quite enjoy all three in the correct context - it's quite a different tone.
I liked this movie from top to bottom, beginning to end. Very little time is spent in the "real" world but what is in a setting that looks like New York City, though perhaps cleaner (I've heard Toronto described as NYC, but cleaner with nicer people). Most of the movie takes place in Wonderland as is appropriate to the story. Stylistically, this movie has got it going on. There is a great city that reminds me at times of Brazil (the movie, not the country) and of Coruscant from the Star Wars universe, because the 'ground' level is many stories above the actual ground - hundreds of feet. The city is seemingly deserted because no one much likes going outside and looks appropriately fecund. It is counterposted with the Queen of Heart's palace which is portrayed as a casino in a style cum the remake of the Prisoner series (the visually interesting series starring Sir Ian McKellen). Both places are set in a pristine setting of lakes, forested hills and snowcapped mountains. The third population centers only houses one individual, the White Knight, and it is the destroyed city once ruled over by the Red King before the Queen of Hearts waged war on it killing all but the aforementioned knight. It is this latter city that pulls from the Narnia movies, and looks like a nice setting for a fantasy movie in it's own right. So why doesn't anyone live outside of the city or the casino? That would be for fear of being eaten by the jabberwock, which is more CGI dragon-crossed-with-velociraptor than the horror that I always imagined which oculd only be killed by the vorpal blade (this bit is not party of the movie at all).
I really like the cast for this film. I am not familiar with the two leads, Caterina Scorsone and Andrew-Lee Potts who play Alice and Hatter, respectively. They do a good job and I found the romance between the two to not only be believable but a nice use of screen time. There are a couple of real pros that really hold the production together, though. Kathy Bates plays the Queen of Hearts and Colm Meany plays her husband, Winston. These two are fantastic actors and hit the mark every time in their roles. The third leg of the tripod that makes this movie work is Matt Frewer as the very eccentric White Knight. Frewer is one of those actors that can really pull of daffy without it seeming inappropriate.
There are other performers in much smaller roles generally, all of which do a good job. Notably, Tim Curry plays Dodo - when did he become so creepy? The last thing I saw Curry in before this was Criminal Minds where he plays a seriously skeezy serial killer. Actually, now that I think about it, he must have filmed these right around the same time. It's something about being a large man, who has put on some weight and lost all semblance of a chin, but still retains the ability to move like he did when he was younger, surprising the viewer, or at least this viewer, with his spryness. I'm guessing this is due to his years of theatre training and work. It's also, maybe even more so, the unshaven look and dark eye liner - both in Alice and in Criminal Minds.
I quite liked the political elements added to the story in the 're-imagining' of the Lewis Carroll books. It's not a story about a little girl trying to get home, it's a story about a woman trying to find herself and to find  something to stand up for. It's also about running, chasing and verbal jousting. And did I mention the pink flamingo homage to Return of the Jedi? You'll just to have to find that for yourself.

Alice on IMDb
Alice on Wikipedia