All those that have yet to watch
the series premiere of Once Upon A Time
In Wonderland, titled ‘Down the Rabbit Hole’, then please do so now. I’d
hate to ruin it for anyone, as this is not a spoiler free blog. THIS REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS!
You’ve been warned.
So, not a terrible premiere. It
was no Once Upon A Time pilot,
despite it being the spin-off series of said show, but it had its moments.
Including throwing some Storybrooke into the mix, along with a couple of
characters and a snippet of Emma’s yellow bug.
I find it funny how Sophie Lowe
somewhat resembles Mia Wasikowski, the Alice of Alice in Wonderland film that also “coincidentally” revolves around
Alice returning to Wonderland as a young woman. Despite that, I do think Lowe
did quite well in this pilot. The quiet tears as she is questioned by the
shrinks, the awesome ass-kicking she gives to the orderlies, and the way she is
so creative in getting out of bad situations. She’s made no award-winning
performance yet, but she’s better than some of the performances in the mother
show.
The Knave I also found quite
enticing. His slippery hands, the sardonic sense of humour, and the way he just
has to go along with what Alice asks of him, it’s all rather well done. While I
know this is supposed to be about the love story between Alice and Cyrus, the
genie, I kind of hope that something happens between Alice and Will, the knave.
He’s much more interesting than the genie, and I think he likes Alice, though I
may be reading a bit too much into that.
Let’s wrap the other characters up
in one go. Jafar was all right, but nothing spectacular, not like the man’s
performance in Lost. The Red Queen
had something of an understated acting skill, but she still reminded me too
much of a model attempting to act, like Rosie Huntington-Whitley in the last Transformers film. And, like I said
above, the genie was kind of boring. I kind of saw his love for Alice and a bit
of a spark, but the chemistry didn’t fully seem there. He’s kind of just blah.
John Lithgow voicing the rabbit is good, but it almost overtakes the rest of
the actors.
Similar to all the scenes in the
Fairytaleland in the original series, the special effects are abysmal in this
show. It’s even worse for this series, which relies so heavily on them, being
that it is set in Wonderland, a fantastical world. It’s rather distracting.
They’re almost cartoonish. I mean really, shell on some money for better
CGI-ing.
The Red Queen’s costume as well
was masterfully terrible. Far too over-the-top, young kid princess type of
costume. I almost expected her to turn into a little girl, or break out of
character. That just does not look real, or like what a queen would wear. Where
is all the money going for this series?
Okay, so Will was in Storybrooke
when the Rabbit came for him. He then travels to England to convince Alice that
her thought to be lost love Cyrus is alive and that she’ll be able to find him
in Wonderland. My question is, did he go through a time warp to England? Not
only were they dressed in older garb, they were still practicing, or at least
beginning to practice, the lobotomy. How is that anywhere near present day? Do
they plan on explaining this? Will is in modern clothes, Alice is not. Is this
just bad writing, or what?
One more thing, did anyone else
feel bad for the rabbit? He seemed all guilty about betraying a friend, and I
felt bad for him, with his ears hanging so low. That will obviously come out in
the opening eventually, but I wonder why he would be so cowardly.
Also, I really wish Sebastian Stan
was available to play the Mad Hatter, on this or the mother ship… It’s a pity
he’s not.
My rating: 6.5 out of 10.
Best Lines:
“You should know, nothing’s impossible in Wonderland.” –
Will replies to Alice’s belief in the impossibility of Cyrus being alive.
“I hear there’s a procedure for that.” – Alice remarks at
the doctor, who is seeing the White Rabbit.
“Particularly when said face meets this branch. Repeatedly.”
– Alice says to Will, referring to the Red Queen.
That’s all for tonight folks. I’ll get The Vampire Diaries and Grey’s
Anatomy reviews out to you all tomorrow, but for tonight I’m done. It’s off
to bed I go. (The Snow White ‘Hi ho’ is now running around in my brain.)
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