Alice

This 2009 Syfy-aired miniseries reimagines Lewis Carroll's fantasy classic, offering a grown-up Alice (Caterina Scorsone) with a black belt in judo, who becomes a heroine within an underground resistance movement in an alternate universe wonderland (entered through a looking glass portal) where despotic forces have enslaved the population. In other words, this is a warped-mirror retelling in the cyberpunk-fantasy mold, similar to Alice writer-director Nick Willing's earlier Tin Man, which reworked The Wizard of Oz. The concept offers lots of opportunities to mutate the fantastic imagery (and have fun with the playing-card and chess-piece motifs), while also rewriting the whimsy of the classic surreal children's tale to become a more grown-up adventure in a strange land. Thus the Hatter (Andrew-Lee Potts) appears as a scruffy rogue working in the margins, the White Rabbit (Alan Gray) serves as a mercenary, and the Red Queen (Kathy Bates) is a cruel dictator who is stealing human emotions to transform into wonderland drugs. Also featured are Matt Frewer as the White Knight, Tim Curry as Dodo, and Harry Dean Stanton as Caterpillar. Unfortunately, Alice is not so much smart as it is colorful (with art deco designs and splashy Vegas-like settings), with lots of offbeat humor. DVD/Blu-ray extras include an audio commentary (not listed on the back cover) by Willing and Scorsone. A strong optional purchase. (S. Axmaker)