Malice in Wonderland

Viewed at the Marche du Film, Festival de Cannes 2009

With not a lot of money but a bundle of ideas, director Simon Fellows and writer Jayson Rothwell, have come up with a massively entertaining twist on the classic tale, Alice in Wonderland. Only this time it's a young woman with amnesia, a taxi-driver, assorted gangsters, druggies and weirdos who feature.

At the same time, Malice in Wonderland stays true to the novel on which its based, proving that old ideas can still be the best; same story, new version, as it were.

Maggie Grace makes an interesting Alice, here a young American on the run from (and also towards) something, if only she knew what. Some of the dialogue between her and Whitey, the taxi driver, is excellent. Scratch that! A lot of the dialogue is excellent, with some great lines to cut out and keep for future use.

It's clear that a low budget has been made to go a long way, but view it as a lot of bang for low bucks and not as cloth being cut too thinly. What surprises about this film is just how assured it is.

Quibbles? Nothing of note, really. It would, theoretically, be nice to have seen what would have resulted had the production budget been higher, but then the film would perhaps have lost some, if not all, of its edge.

As a calling card, Malice in Wonderland shows some real talent at work. The basic question, is it worth paying to see? Absolutely!

This is an updated tale, loosely based on "Alice in Wonderland."

Alice (Maggie Grace) is an American law-student on a journey to find her mother; in the process is struck down by a London taxi. This causes her to have a small problem of not remembering who she is or where she is.

We have the same problem keeping track of her in some sort of sleazy dream world. As she moves from one unsavory scene to the next. We eventually see there is meaning to the tale of circles in circles.

The DVD has extras that help explain what was trying to be accomplished in the presentation other than the fun of discovery.

I had never heard of this movie so I had no idea what to expect (other than some Alice in Wonderland reference), and I was pleasantly surprised. I only know Maggie Grace from her role as one of the worst characters on Lost, so I was also surprised that I could see her on film without hoping she'd get hit by a bus (I guess that means she's a good actress?) There are some truly zany characters in the movie, and you just have to roll with some of the situations, but all in all it kept me entertained from start to finish. I was kept involved enough in the story and travels of Alice that I really didn't see the ending revelation until it happened (most of the info was alluded to but never really exposed). I wouldn't call it a romance, or an action flick (although there are some violent scenes), it sort of defies description, but it's worth a watch.

I found this movie on Netflix and was initially unsure about it. The title seemed stupid and the rating wasn't all that high. Even once I started watching it, I was just mostly confused. I was interested, yes, but so so confused. For this reason, I will say that this movie isn't for everyone. It's definitely weird, and not just in a slightly quirky kind of way. My advice is, if you start watching this movie and feel put off, start over.

That's what I did, and my experience was increased tenfold. I put my laptop away (I'm very guilty of browsing the internet while watching movies) and found a time when I could actually focus on the movie. The script and the acting was fantastic, with some over-the-top characters, brilliant little details and an overall dream-like feel. When it comes to "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" adaptions, my favorites tend to be the ones that can recreate that same playful crazy feeling that made Lewis Carroll's version so appealing to me as a child. This was definitely in that thread. I'm not sure how well this movie would go over with somebody who hasn't read, or didn't love, the original book. Personally, I had a little rush of joy seeing how wonderfully frantic the trial scene was, just as it was in the book. There were lots of connections like that throughout the film. That said, there were also some great original touches.

In general, I'd definitely advise you to watch it at least once. (While actually paying attention) Some people will love it to death, and others will probably think it's stupid. I think it's worth seeing which category you fall into.

Malice in Wonderland kind of intrigued me because the idea and the thought of making a cockney-gangster version of the Alice in Wonderland story was a clever approach as I haven't heard of a version like it so it's unique. It could have went either way, it could have been something original yet different or it could have been a laughable idea that isn't interesting enough. Malice in Wonderland is pretty much the first. The story is clever yet average, it's clever the way they twisted the known tale of Alice but it didn't grip you in the first fifteen minutes, it took me about twenty minutes to actually get into the movie and no movie should take that long to get your attention. Even though it started quite slow, as time went on, it picked up the pace and started to get better. The acting is average, Danny Dyer plays Whitey (which is, as you've probably guessed, the equivalent to the White Rabbit) and yet again Danny Dyer is basically playing himself, as his character is the same as the other characters he's ever played in movies. However, Malice in Wonderland is the best he's ever been. The talent that shines throughout is the gorgeous Maggie Grace who plays the troubled twenty-year-old Alice. The characters were created cleverly to twist the characters in the story and added a hint of personality from the real world. The direction is done well and the cinematography is okay and it's clever the way they did it. I also loved how they borrowed some of the lines from the old movie and added them for the characters and I liked how it stuck to the original Alice in Wonderland plot and twisted it.

Overall, I was on and off about it before watching but after watching, I ended up liking it. It's an above-average movie and I enjoyed it. It's such a brilliant translation and you would like this movie if you liked Alice in Wonderland.

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