Alice in Wonderland (1999 film)
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| Alice in Wonderland | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Nick Willing |
| Produced by | Dyson Lovell |
| Written by | Lewis Carroll (novel) Peter Barnes (screenplay) |
| Starring | Tina Majorino Whoopi Goldberg Ben Kingsley Christopher Lloyd Peter Ustinov Ken Dodd Robbie Coltrane Miranda Richardson George Wendt Gene Wilder Martin Short Liz Smith |
| Music by | Richard Hartley |
| Cinematography | Stefan Lange Giles Nuttgens |
| Editing by | Alex Mackie |
| Distributed by | Hallmark Entertainment |
| Release date(s) |  February 28, 1999 |
| Running time | 129 minutes |
| Language | English |
| Budget | US$21,000,000 |
| Allmovie profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Alice in Wonderland was a television movie first broadcast in 1999 on NBC based upon Lewis Carroll's books Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass.
Tina Majorino played the lead role of Alice, and a number of well-known performers portrayed the eccentric characters whom Alice meets during the course of the story, including Ben Kingsley, Martin Short, Whoopi Goldberg, Peter Ustinov, Gene Wilder, and Miranda Richardson (who played the Queen of Hearts and who coincidently one of her most famous roles was of Queen of Elizabeth in Blackadder, whose catch phrase was also "off with their head").
The film won four Emmy Awards in the categories of costume design, makeup, music composition, and visual effects.
[edit] Synopsis
The film follows the storyline of the book closely, save for adding some scenes from Through the Looking Glass. It also changes the opening "real world" scene from Alice and her sister sitting at a riverbank to Alice in her bedroom, reluctantly practicing the song "Cherry Ripe", which she is expected to perform at a garden party. (The party guests are played by the same actors as the Wonderland characters, and are shown as resembling them in appearance and personality, in a similar manner to the MGM version of The Wizard of Oz. The toys in Alice's room also reflect the residents of Wonderland). Thanks to stage fright, and constant nagging from her confident music teacher, Alice runs out of the house and hides herself in the woods nearby until the party has ended. However, an apple floats down from the tree and seems to hover in Alice's face. She is suddenly distracted by a human-sized White Rabbit (voiced by Richard Coombs) rushing by. Curious, Alice follows the White Rabbit, falling down his rabbit hole and ending up in Wonderland.
Alice travels throughout Wonderland, meeting a large number of bizarre people and challenges. Alice first has problems keeping her size the same while attempting to go through a small door leading to a beautiful garden, eventually she grows massively tall and floods the room she is in with her tears before shrinking to the size of a mouse. She then meets a Mr. Mouse (Ken Dodd) and his avian friends who participate in a Caucas Race, where everyone wins. Alice encounters the White Rabbit again who directs her to his house. There, Alice comes across a bottle of liquid that makes her enormous and trapped in the house. The White Rabbit and his gardeners Pat and Bill attempt to remove Alice by going down the chimney, but Alice shrinks again. Wandering in a forest, she encounters Major Caterpillar (Ben Kingsley) who advices her to not be afraid before transforming into a butterfly. Alice grows back to normal size by eating part of a mushroom. She ventures to a nearby manorhouse where she meets the musical Duchess, her pig-like baby, her pepper-obsessed plate-throwing cook, and the Cheshire Cat (Whoopi Goldberg). The baby is left in Alice's care but it turns into a pig and is released. The Cheshire Cat advices Alice to visit the Mad Hatter and his friends the March Hare and Mr. Dormouse.
Meeting the trio at a tea party, Alice is given rather odd advice on how to avoid stagefright, the Mad Hatter leaping onto the table to do his performance he previously did at a concert of the Queen of Hearts. Alice eventually leaves when the Mad Hatter and March Hare begins smashing cups and plates. She comes across the small door and using her intelligence, succeeds in getting through it into the garden which is actually the labyrinth maze belonging to the Queen. The Queen of Hearts (Miranda Richardson) invites her to a bizarre game of croquet, but her love for decapitating people annoys Alice. The Cheshire Cat's head appears in the sky and is ordered to be executed, but reasoning from Alice stops the Queen. The Duchess arrives to answer the King's question of who the Cat's owner is, but the Cat has vanished. Alice leaves the croquet game, meeting the Gryphon and the Mock Turtle (Gene Wilder). The two sing with Alice, giving her great encouragement. Alice then wanders into a darker area of Wonderland, meeting a White Knight (Christopher Lloyd) who encourages her to be brave.
Alice then meets Tweedledum and Tweedledee who have some antics with her before getting into a fight over a dropped rattle. Alice is then taken to the royal court where the Knave of Hearts is put on trial for apparently stealing the Queen's jam tarts. The Mad Hatter and his companions appear as witnesses but he is accused of stealing someone else's hat and is recognised by the Queen for singing at her concert, prompting him to sing his Twinkle Song. Alice is then called to the stand but she uses some mushroom pieces to grow to great heights. She sees the jam tarts have been untouched and the trial is pointless. She openly criticizes the Queen, the King and Wonderland. The White Rabbit, who is present at the court, reveals he deliberately lured Alice into Wonderland to conquer her fears. He does so by first asking her if she's self-confident. Upon answering yes, he simply states, "then you don't need us anymore." He then sends her back home using the same hovering apple that brought her there in the first place.
Awakening back home, Alice courageously sings in front of her parents and their guests, but instead of singing Cherry Ripe, she sings the Lobster Quadrillde. The audience enjoy her performance and applaude. Alice spots the Cheshire Cat in the audience who smiles at her in a term of congratulations.
[edit] Cast
- A mouse, played by Ken Dodd
- Major Caterpillar (Sir Ben Kingsley)
- The Duchess (Elizabeth Spriggs)
- Cheshire Cat (Whoopi Goldberg)
- The Mad Hatter (Martin Short)
- The Queen (Miranda Richardson)
- The Gryphon (voiced by Donald Sinden)
- The Mock Turtle (Gene Wilder)
- A White Knight (Christopher Lloyd)
- Tweedledum and Tweedledee (Robbie Coltrane and George Wendt)
- The Walrus and the Carpenter (with Peter Ustinov and Pete Postlethwaite as the titular characters)
[edit] External links
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