Product Description

Alice falls down a rabbit hole, ends up in Wonderland, and has adventures with a series of odd characters.
Genre: Feature Film Family
Rating: NR
Release Date: 9-JAN-2007
Media Type: DVD

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #7923 in DVD
• Brand: BECKINSALE,KATE
• Released on: 2005-01-11
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, Full Screen, Subtitled, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .22 pounds
• Running time: 83 minutes

Amazon.com
A delicious combination of live-action, animation, and special effects tells the fantastical adventures of Alice as she returns to Wonderland, in this imaginative adaptation of Lewis Carroll's classic story of the same name. Kate Beckinsale plays Alice, a young girl who steps through a magical mirror and is transported from the real world into an enchanted one of talking insects, nonsensical questions, and reversals of logic. Her journey is marked by mostly incomprehensible encounters with quirky characters such as Tweedledee and Tweedledum, Red Queen and White Queen, and Humpty Dumpty. Beckinsale's Alice is a believable blend of curiosity, poise, and impertinence whose presence in nearly every scene carries the film. Other strong performances include Desmond Barritt, as Humpty, who recites a chilling rendition of "Beware the Jabberwocky," and Ian Holm (The Lord of the Rings), as White Knight, with a soliloquy as colorful as his hair. If, as Carroll states at the end of his tale, "all life is but a dream," this wacky version is one to remember. (Ages 10 and older) --Lynn Gibson

Customer Reviews

Not a Disney version...
Finally a film version that follows the actual book. This movie inspired me to re-read the original. Beautiful filming and entertaining. The only part that threw me was the teenage actress in place of the 7 1/2 yr-old character, though the actress does a very good job. My 7 1/2 yr-old son also enjoyed the film; he was glued to the set for the entire 86 minutes (perhaps because we read Through the Looking-Glass to him last year). However, my 4 yr-old daughter was not interested in the least. This is not a "Disney" production, or even an American film, so don't expect the dumbed-down sparkling simplicity that we have been spoon-fed for so long. A very enjoyable film for an open mind.

The most honest, true to text interpretation yet!
For the person who didnt like that it didnt make sense to them, welcome to the concept of nonsense ("The dialogue is filled with non sequiturs" That is Lewis Carrolls text you are commenting on not this movie READ THE BOOK!)

I give this version top marks as it is the only version ive seen that is so faithful to Lewis Carrolls text. The nonsensical situations and conversations work perfectly without any actor having to go overboard with silliness. Many versions annoy me as the actors feel that have to act as daft and 'mad, totally mad' as they can. No need! the material is weird enough. This version feels weirder as a result cos the actors play it down a bit and act as if everything is as it should be when it clearly isnt.

The Alice stories were not all happy happy bouncy silly madness. Specifically, Through the Looking Glass has a dark edge to the insanity. And no songs is quite refreshing.

Oh and read the book, there is no plot, Alice is trying to reach the final square to become queen. If this is too challanging, forget Svankmejers version and go straight to the Disney infant friendly version.

Not Necessarily a Children's Film
I actually thought that I would never find this on DVD. I saw a snippet of the film on television and was blown away! Finally somebody did a slightly twisted yet faithful version of the story. The casting was great too, especially Ian Holm as the White Knight who doesn't look like the Knight from the book but makes you believe he is the White Knight. Geoffrey Palmer is a great choice for the White King and I loved how the costumes at times looked vaguely Seussian.

There are a few moments in the film ("Walrus and the Carpenter", the Train Ride, "Jabberwocky" and the Finale) that are actually rather unsettling at times and might scare younger viewers, so I suggest that Parents watch this film first to gauge whether their child could watch it and not be frightened.

I wish this production team had done the previous Alice story as well. Top Notch.