So much average

Excellent but underrated film

Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

What should I start with? The good or bad side? Okay, let's get the things that don't work well for the movie out of the way.For starters, the SONGS!!!! Ugh! I'm sorry I find them way too cheesy and unnecessary! What's a rapping/tap dancing caterpillar doing here? The duchess and her cook botch the short song written in the book, forget Twinkle Twinkle Little Bat; it's not as interesting as the added song! Why does the Queen need a song to explain why she needs a reason to behead people; she needs no intro! But I'm going to have to say the song that bugs me the most is Ringo's song as the Mock-turtle. He sings about how "this" world doesn't have enough nonsense (not sure if he's referring to the 4th wall's world or Wonderland). If he's referring to our world, fine, but at the same time what concern does he have about our world? He's carefree in Wonderland! If he's referring to Wonderland then I could strangle the lyric writers! Wonderland is abundant in nonsense! Everyone there is MAD! Not one person there is not mad (except maybe for Alice). The songs aren't the only things that annoy me. Alice goes to Wonderland and there are very not so subtle hints about teaching her how to grow up and face her fears. Wonderland was an escape from reality; not a return to it. I won't scream at the costumes or special effects because there's no point in 1985, however I'll bring up this childhood killer; the Griffin mentions the Queen beheading is not real. I know we would like that, but that was part of what made Wonderland exciting and a tad bit scary; heck she sings a whole song about it and a trial's going on to determine whether or not they should sentence the Knave of Hearts for stealing the tarts!Okay, so let's get down to what is good. They've got a proper aged Alice (6-8 years) and she's not too bad, though I'm not sure if the Alice in Wonderland dialogue fits her well. Some of the actors are good, though I like the Queen of Hearts (her song ruins her), and as much as I hate to say it, the White Knight is likable and his song is nice and soothing. I know his long song from the original story gets botched too, but this song is heartwarming and relaxing after trauma Alice went through. It's cheesy, but it's mildly okay.

This is a great film-I watched the film as a child, and I actually played it for my kids tonight, they loved the songs, and I fell in love with the movie all over again! As I watched I thought about being a child and remembered all the actors that performed during the movie with a VERY small number of them STILL ALIVE.It is very hard for me to watch much TV, with reality shows, and not much family shows that I grew up on. I loved the cast, my husband even forgot about all the stars that filmed the movie, and was excited to see it.It would be great if today there could be an all-star cast for a TV movie just like this, but I doubt egos could coexist long enough for fans to have that chance. Great movie, great memories!

it's weird to think of a nine-year old kid as being the most solid thing about a major all-star production like this, but really, Natalie Gregory is the only thing that keeps this Hollywood Squares mess-up from falling apart. her performance is sure-footed,appealing and more than satisfactory as Lewis Carroll's heroine. she brings a element of quality and consistency that keeps the whole production together and moving forward.i wish i could say the same for the rest of the incompetents here. some of the cast hams it up and mugs for camera time so badly it almost seems like they're intentionally trying to sabotage and shut down the production. sure not everyone is bad, Ann Jillian has some nice moments,and LLoyd Bridges, Imogene Coca and Martha Raye are really pretty good. but mostly the cast over-acts terribly. Carol Channing gives the hammiest, most over-done performance ever when she sings "Jam Tomorrow Jam Yesterday" it's so bad it's good. the others in the cast, Anthony Newley,Sammy Davis Jr.',Scott Baio,Eydie Gorme and so on, all over-act and ham it to the extreme.the worst performances in the film were Telly Savalas as the Cheshire puss (meow baby) and Ringo Starr as the Mock Turtle. Telly Savalas was really stupid in that kitty outfit. a tough guy can work in the role of the cat. Whoopi Goldberg as a tough guy cat in the Nick Willing version a few years ago was great. Telly Salvalas just stunk and his song was worse. as for Ringo. this really was a egregious offense. offensive because i like Ringo and his reputation is of a higher caliber than this kind of TV variety show material. the other celebrities were the types that regularly appeared in this kind of hokey TV junk. you would think Ringo could do better than headline with a bunch of Hollywood Square wash-outs. it was like when a good rock performer like Jane Wiedlin appeared on 'The Surreal Life'. do some celebrities really want to perform in the limelight forever and so badly they would be so shameless? obviously Ringo really wanted to be in a movie so much he would wear the stupid turtle outfit they gave him. the feet look like fuzzy bedroom slippers. the song was awful. i thought the Telly Savalas song made my ears bleed, this was way worse. Ringo's performance is so astoundingly putrid that you wonder if an actor should be water-boarded for giving a sucky performance. if so, i nominate Ringo.since i'm so critical why did i give this movie ten stars? because it is sooo bad it's really, really entertaining. also if you check the film's critical reception online you'll find that this version is very popular and well liked. i like it. except for Ringo(who should be beaten and forced to eat those stupid bedroom slippers) the movie is good natured fun. the Steve Allen songs are likable enough with Martha Raye's Duchess song "A Lot To Be Said For Hatred" being one of the best. you gotta love this ditzy film. except for Ringo. no love for Ringo.

Its been beautiful to hear what seems to be the theme of my generation's experience with this film: "My mom/dad/grandma/grandpa taped this film when i was little/unborn and it glued me to the TV for all three hours of it." This was exactly how I experienced it and I feel nothing but gratitude to my parents for taping it and thus giving me the opportunity to watch it again and again and again...even though it TERRIFIED me! Somehow that didn't stop me from indulging in repeat viewings (my parents say I watched it incessantly). Of course, as I got older, I stopped watching it. But just recently I was shocked to find it in my hands as a DVD (my girlfriend heard me speak fondly of it and got it for me as an early x-mas present). Since then I've found myself wrapped in a myriad of awe, nostalgia, and even tears as childhood loves and fears have come flooding back to me because of this film. It's a riveting and beautiful story for children, but for adults who really listen its a treasure chest of wisdom. Buy this film for your kids and for yourself. It's enriched my life as both a child and an adult.