| Alice in Wonderland | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Based on | Alice's Adventures in Wonderland andThrough the Looking-Glass byLewis Carroll |
| Screenplay by | Peter Barnes |
| Directed by | Nick Willing |
| Starring | |
| Composer | Richard Hartley |
| Country of origin |
|
| Original language | English |
| Production | |
| Executive producers | Robert Halmi, Sr. Robert Halmi, Jr. |
| Producer | Dyson Lovell |
| Cinematography |
|
| Editor | Alex Mackie |
| Running time | 129 minutes |
| Production companies | Hallmark Entertainment Babelsberg International Film Produktion |
| Budget | $21 million |
| Original release | |
| Network | NBC |
| Release | February 28, 1999 (1999-02-28) |
Alice in Wonderland is a 1999made-for-televisionfilm adaptation ofLewis Carroll's booksAlice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865) andThrough the Looking-Glass (1871). It was first broadcast onNBC on February 28, 1999 and then shown on British television onChannel 4.
Tina Majorino played the lead role ofAlice and a number of well-known performers portrayed the eccentric characters whom Alice meets during the course of the story, includingBen Kingsley,Martin Short,Whoopi Goldberg,Peter Ustinov,Christopher Lloyd,Gene Wilder,George Wendt,Robbie Coltrane andMiranda Richardson. In common with most adaptations of the book, it includes scenes and characters fromThrough the Looking-Glass.
The film won fourEmmy Awards in the categories of costume design, makeup, music and visual effects.
The film was re-released as a special edition DVD on March 2, 2010. No special features were included; however, the film was restored to its original speed as prior releases suffered from PAL speed-up. A rare behind-the-scenes documentary of the film was released toYouTube in 2019, the 20th anniversary of the film's release.
Alice unwillingly prepares a performance of the song "Cherry Ripe" for her parents'garden party; facingstage fright of performing a song she dislikes to an audience of strangers, she hides in the woods. There, she sees theWhite Rabbit and follows him to a rabbit hole, which leads her toWonderland. Alice attempts to enter a small door leading to a beautiful garden, but accidentally grows to giant size and floods the room with tears before shrinking to the size of a mouse. She meets Mr.Mouse, whose avian friends attend his boring history lecture and participate in a Caucus Race, which Alice is asked to give out prizes for.
Alice again encounters the White Rabbit, who tells her to retrieve hisgloves from his house; there, Alice drinks from a bottle which makes her grow, trapping her inside. The White Rabbit and his gardenersPat andBill attempt to remove Alice, but she shrinks to a tiny size. Wandering in long grass, she meetsMajor Caterpillar, who tells her not to be afraid when performing before transforming into a swarm ofbutterflies. Alice returns to normal size by eating part of his mushroom and arrives at the manor house of theDuchess, whoseCheshire Cat advises Alice to visit theMad Hatter and his friend theMarch Hare.
Alice meets the Hatter and Hare with their friendThe Dormouse friend at a tea party, where she is given advice on the fun of performing and how to get around stage fright. The Mad Hatter performs for her as he had previously at a concert of the wickedQueen of Hearts. Alice leaves when the two start to stuff the Dormouse into a teapot and once again finds the small door, this time entering the garden, which turns out to be alabyrinth maze belonging to the Queen of Hearts, who is quick to have peoplebeheaded. The Queen invites Alice to her bizarre game of croquet, where the Cheshire Cat's face appears and is ordered to be beheaded, but Alice's logic stays the order and everyone applauds her.
Alice escapes the croquet game and meets theGryphon andMock Turtle, who teach her theLobster Quadrille dance. Alice then wanders into the illustration in an enormous book, emerging in a wooded area where the Red Knight is battling the White Knight, who encourages her to be brave when she goes home. Alice encounters talkingflowers and bickering twinsTweedledum and Tweedledee, who tell her the story ofThe Walrus and the Carpenter, before card soldiers bring her to the royal court, where theKnave of Hearts is put on trial for apparently stealing the Queen's tarts.
Upon seeing the tarts have been untouched and the trial is pointless, Alice openly criticizes the Queen and King Cedric. She is called to the stand to defend herself, where the White Rabbit asks her if she has confidence in herself; when she answers that she does he states "then you don't need us anymore", and Alice awakens back home. Instead of singing "Cherry Ripe", Alice courageously sings the Lobster Quadrille in front of her parents and their guests (who all resemble the Wonderland characters), who, to Alice's delight, all enjoy her performance.
The film utilized bothpuppetry and live-action footage. The puppet designs were created byJim Henson's Creature Shop.
In all, 875 special digital effects were created for the film. An example is Martin Short's head; it was enlarged to three times its size to resemble the Hatter in Tenniel's illustrations.
In December 2018, composer Richard Hartley was interviewed for Tammy Tuckey's "Rattling the Stars" podcast about his work on the film for the 20th anniversary, providing never-before-heard stories.[1]
In September 2019, directorNick Willing was also interviewed for Tammy Tuckey's Rattling the Stars" podcast about his work directing the film for the 20th anniversary.[2]
In 2019, a behind the scenes documentary of the film was released on YouTube, which had originally been broadcast on theHallmark Channel (then known as Odyssey Network) in 1999 and had not been included on any VHS, DVD, or digital releases of the film.[3]
In March 2024, castmembersKiran Shah,Richard Strange,Nigel Plaskitt, Matthew Sim andFrancis Wright as well as production designer Roger Hall, reunited to celebrate the film's 25-year anniversary by participating in a 1-hourlivestream onYouTube onThe Tammy Tuckey Show. The event had been organised ahead of time.[4]
The original NBC airing averaged a 14.8 household rating and a 22 percent audience share and was watched by 25.34 million viewers, ranking as the 6th highest rated program that week in terms of households and the most watched program that week in terms of total viewers.[5][6][7][8]
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Onreview aggregator websiteRotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 33% based on six critical reviews.[9]
David Zurawik gave the film a positive review inThe Baltimore Sun, calling it a "grand and magical production" and praising the cast's performances, particularly Majorino and Wilder.[10] Rating the film 2 out of 5 stars, David Parkinson ofRadio Times praised the "wondrous Jim Henson puppetry" and the performances of Richardson and Wilder; however, he found the film "still falls short of the cherished images taken from those first readings of Lewis Carroll's classic tales."[11]
| Year | Award | Category | Recipients | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | Primetime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Costume Design for a Miniseries or a Movie | Charles Knode | Won[12] |
| Outstanding Makeup for a Miniseries, Movie or a Special | Anne Spiers, James Kell,Duncan Jarman and Sandra Shepherd | Won[13] | ||
| Outstanding Special Visual Effects for a Miniseries or a Movie | David Booth,Richard Conway, Bob Hollow,Andy Lomas, Alex Parkinson, Martin Parsons, Jamie Courtier, Avtar Bains, William Bartlett, Nick Bennett, Oliver Bersey, Murray Butler, George Roper, Pedro Sabrosa, Angus Wilson and Ben Cronin | Won[14] | ||
| Outstanding Music Composition for a Miniseries or a Movie (Dramatic Underscore) | Richard Hartley | Won[15] | ||
| Outstanding Art Direction for a Miniseries or Movie | Karen Brookes, Roger Hall, Rosalind Shingleton, Alan Tomkins | Nominated[16] | ||
| Outstanding Main Title Design | Chris Allies | Nominated[17] | ||
| 1999 | Artios Award | Movie of the Week Casting | Lynn Kressel | Nominated[18] |
| 1999 | Golden Reel Award | Best Sound Editing – Television Movies of the Week – Music | Andrew Glen | Nominated[19] |
| 2000 | RTS Craft & Design Awards | Visual Effects | Framestore | Won[20] |
| 1999 | Television Critics Association Awards | Outstanding Achievement in Movies, Miniseries and Specials | Alice in Wonderland | Nominated |
| 1999 | YoungStar Award | Best Young Actress in a Mini-Series/Made for TV Film | Tina Majorino | Nominated |
| 1999 | OFTA Television Award[21] | Best Motion Picture Made for Television | Alice in Wonderland | Nominated |
| Best Ensemble in a Motion Picture or Miniseries | Nominated | |||
| Best Costume Design in a Motion Picture or Miniseries | Nominated | |||
| Best New Titles Sequence in a Motion Picture or Miniseries | Won | |||
| Best Production Design in a Motion Picture or Miniseries | Won | |||
| Best Sound in a Motion Picture or Miniseries | Nominated | |||
| Best Visual Effects in a Motion Picture or Miniseries | Won | |||
| Best Makeup/Hairstyling in a Motion Picture or Miniseries | Won | |||
| Best Lighting in a Motion Picture or Miniseries | Nominated | |||
| Best Music in a Motion Picture or Miniseries | Richard Hartley | Won | ||
| Best New Theme Song in a Motion Picture or Miniseries | Won | |||
| Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture or Miniseries | Gene Wilder | Nominated | ||
| Martin Short | Nominated | |||
| Best Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture or Miniseries | Miranda Richardson | Nominated |
