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Alice
[Blu-ray]
Blu-ray A - America - Lions Gate Home Entertainment Review written by and copyright: Ethan Stevenson (11th April 2010). |
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The Show
 I’ve got Lewis Carroll’s titular Alice on my mind. Why? Because, in the same day that I finished watching the Blu-ray of Nick Willing’s SyFy Channel miniseries “Alice”, I also went to see Tim Burton’s “Alice in Wonderland” (2010). An interesting comparison all told, because both productions set out to put their own spin on the classic tale, and both do so with equally unique style, they both set Alice around the same age (20ish) and both are flawed. But, one is definitely a better adaptation than the other. Guess which one? Unfortunately, it isn’t Willing’s “Alice,” which is not actually that surprising, really. I mean, I don’t intend to make a blatant generalization – an oversimplification – but, honestly, did anyone reading this review expect me to heap more praise on a low-budget Cable version of Carroll’s timeless story, over a big budget Burton-Disney film? No, because, the cable channel “Alice” aired on the SyFy Network, and most people know that channel's reputation. And while “Alice” may not be as bad as the epic Roger Corman double feature of “Dinocroc” (2004) and “Dinoshark” (2010), which I caught a few weeks back – the last time I watched anything non “Caprica” (2009-present) related on said channel – this adaptation is still anything but a home run. Willing has made a career of adapting written works for television, including, having already tried his hand with the “Alice in Wonderland” story, in 1999, for broadcast on NBC. While his first attempt was a fairly faithful adaptation, this new version, like his recent “Tin Man” (2007) – which took the premise of “The Wizard of Oz” (1939), flipped it on it’s head, and came out a uniquely different, somewhat problematic animal – is a more adult, less loyal-to-the-source series. Set in present day, in a world much like our own, the events of the “Alice’s Adventure in Wonderland” and “Through The Looking Glass” truly happened, only they happened 150 years ago and some guy named Lewis Carroll wrote a children story about them. The new Alice (Caterina Scorsone), all dark-haired, modern and tough (a Judo master, no less) – who may or may not be the same “Alice of Legend” – slips into a quirky and unfamiliar Wonderland. A place of totalitarian rule, where unhappy humans, called Oysters, are mined for their feelings, which are sold as commodities on a sort-of stock market for emotions. A rebel resistance fights the evil Queen of Hearts (Kathy Bates) for their freedom, while she rules her court and fearful subjects with an iron fist (and a secret police). But the intricacies of Wonderland and its inhabitants are of little concern to this Alice, who only cares about finding her boyfriend Jack (Philip Winchester), who was recently kidnapped, and she believes is being held captive by the Queen. Somewhere in between is Hatter (Andrew Lee Potts) a schemer ostracized for his inability to pick a side between the warring parties. This take on the century-old adventure is certainly distinctive; I’ll give it that. Hints of “The Matrix” (1999) and a touch of genuine originality make the film (or series, whichever one prefers – it sort of exists in the in-between) stand apart from the staggering number of other Wonderland variations which, including the Animated and Live Action Disney films comes to a whopping twenty-two. Willing’s world is not populated by anthropomorphic animals like the original story and most adaptations, but simply just humans. Apparently, the director wanted the production to have a sense of realistic believability (which leads to some disappointing tone issues that I’ll address later). As such, actors like Harry Dean Stanton, who plays Caterpillar, a wise old man with thick coke-bottle glasses, embody characters with animal names, but are nonetheless, just people. Willing’s Wonderland is a whimsical, weird place. A mixture of future and past, sort of a retro-future, where men and women dress in late fifties and early sixties era fashions – like the “suits”, (basically the Queens secret service) who sport, clean lined suits, fedoras and Ray-Ban Club Master Sunglasses – all the while existing in a far more slick, modern world. Alice evades capture by jetting away in an all-wood Chris Craft, speeding across a lake, while the bad guys chase her down from above in futuristic airships. Stylistically some of the series is excellently shot, especially for it’s budget and TV origins. But, also some of it is not. “Alice”, a product of HD video, at times looks too video-y – too amateurish – to be taken seriously. However, overall, the production design is, if sometimes visually messy because of low quality CG or unconvincing green screening, at least mostly worthy. Again, it’s a dangerous balance between decent and awful – a sentiment that plagues the series throughout it’s entirety. Tonally, “Alice” doesn’t quite work – at least not totally. For a supposedly more adult, realistic, and serious sci-fi like adventure, Willing makes some curious choices. While dealing with a deeper, more reverent and political plot, and some genuinely more grown up action, full of gunfights, violence and references to sex, sometimes the visuals don’t quite connect. The perfect example of this is shown in a chase between Alice, Hatter and two “suits.” The suits chase the duo, wielding shotguns and firing freely, while Alice and co. flee on bright pink flamingo-shaped, I guess you’d call them “rocket bikes.” Moments like that exist throughout the 3-hours, and no doubt will cause a few eyebrows to rise. I for one found that sequence (and a few others) to be awkwardly strange and not in line with the more serious tone that surrounds them. As to a few other faults? Well, again, the series runs three-hours – a middling time, and really the sum of two parts – but not really, as the show plays like one long movie on this disc. The home video presentation makes it difficult to classify. It’s not a regular series, because it’s too short. It’s not a movie, as it has too many characters and subplots. And, at least in DVD and Blu-ray form, it’s not a miniseries, because it only has one set of credits and no break. So, that’s sort of confusing. Also on the time topic, I’m not so sure that “Alice” needs to be as long as it is; again leading me to question it’s miniseries-ness. The show could easily have had a few of it’s pointless subplot removed. Willing could have trimmed the runtime by almost an hour, and ended up with a better made-for-TV movie than the, at times, overlong Miniseries “Event” that it claims to be. The acting is solid from all, but only excellent by a few. Bates, Colm Meaney, as the King of Hearts, and Tim Curry (who, despite receiving third billing on the packaging, is in but a few scenes as Dodo, the leader of the resistance) give merely passable performances; certainly not bringing their “A game” in any regard. Then again, the main cast – and not the big name “stars”, which are mostly supporting characters – is largely satisfying. Scorsone is a different Alice, but not a poorly portrayed one. And Matt Frewer, as the White Knight is an oddly humorous addition. But, Potts is the clear standout of the cast, as I loved his charming, dirty and altogether more hip take on the Mad Hatter. Not too good, but hardly bad “Alice” is, as I’ve said, an inconsistent 3-hours. Parts of it are good sure, but tonal inconsistencies, at times questionable production values and a few unneeded subplots constantly nag the viewer into wondering about the overall worthiness of the series. Did I hate “Alice”? No. But I didn’t fall in love with it either. Rather, I found it to be a passing, but flawed reimagining.
Video
The word I’m looking for to describe the 1080p 24/fps AVC MPEG-4 transfer that Lionsgate has bestowed on “Alice” would be unpredictable. Well, it is predictable actually, predictably inconsistent. Sure, the screen-filling 1.78:1 widescreen image is often colorful and the HD-originated visuals are quite striking and full. Grain is nowhere to be found, detail is crisp and sharp, the image is lush with richness and texture. But, unfortunately, the previous two flattering sentences are only true for about half of this Blu-ray release. The remaining portion, sprinkled throughout the series’ 180-minutes, is rife with issues, including lifeless colors, dull contrasts, weak sharpness (and a debilitating haziness), color banding, poor delineation, and even source noise and artifacts. In short, “Alice” is hardly the stuff of perfection. To be honest I’m quite disappointed with these results – I expected better from a modern release of a new-to-disc feature. Frankly I would rate this much lower if it weren’t for the times of brilliance that infrequently populate screen. The presentation is so wildly uneven; the bad scenes make the good scenes look wrong (like something out of a different production), and the good makes the bad look even worse. In short, both sides of the spectrum hurt the disc, loudly calling attention to the inconsistency of the whole transfer. I’d complain about the cheap CGI and how high definition doesn’t do the flick any favors in that regard (I guess I just did, huh) but, well, I did sort of expect that considering this is a “SyFy Original” and all.
Audio
Much less bipolar than the video is the miniseries’ English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track (48kHz/24-bit/3.5Mbps). Clear dialogue, well-prioritized spatial effects across the 6-channels, and a robust clarity are among “Alice’s” strong points. But, again I find some fault here keeping the miniseries from attaining too much praise. Maybe this time it’s my expectations that were set too high or something, but I found bass (LFE) response to be disappointingly weak for most of the duration and surrounds to be curiously not as active as I’d hoped. All’s not lost, as much of “Alice” does sound excellent, including a few key moments of surprising authority, but again, this isn’t quite the knockout that I thought it would be. Optional English, English for the hearing impaired and Spanish subtitles compliment the audio track.
Extras
Lionsgate has included an audio commentary and a bookmark feature in this release, below is a closer look at these supplements. At first glance “Alice” appears to be a frill-less, barebones release with not a supplement or bonus in sight. Dig a little deeper and you’ll find a rather serviceable (but by no means extraordinary) audio commentary with writer/director Nick Willing and Alice herself, Caterina Scorsone. Hidden in the audio set up menu (or selectable by pushing the audio button on your remote), I honestly wouldn’t have found it had I not cycled through the subtitle and audio options for the purposes of this review, because it is not advertised anywhere on the packaging or in the “special features” menu. The commentary is standard kit, with Willing taking the reigns, and Scorsone piping up on a regular basis; the two banter back and forth with ease and an airy quality. You might think that they tire eventually, but surprisingly, even though there are a few momentary gaps of silence, both participants have plenty to add over the entire three-hours. Lionsgate also includes their standard bookmark feature. Again, this is somewhat hidden, not in the “scenes” menu where you would expect, but under the “special features” header.
Packaging
“Alice” arrives in a generic package. The single disc release comes pressed onto a BD-50, housed in an Elite style case, and is locked to Region A.
Overall
If I were to say that “Alice” is one of the better non-Ronald Moore productions to come out of the SyFy Channel in the last few years, would that actually mean anything to anyone – probably not. No matter my musings, the 3-hour series is a spotty thing, that’s for certain, as is the Blu-ray release, which offers sometimes excellent, but overall terribly inconsistent video. Still, at the very least, “Alice” is worth a peek, if only for having a unique spin on a well-known story.
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