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So I just watched the series premier of Once Upon a Time in Wonderland, and I must say I am less than impressed. The source material (a combination of Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking Glass as indicated by the use of the Red Queen and the chess pieces instead of the Queen of Hearts and playing cards, and Disney's Aladdin) is promising yet in combination, the show plays out like bad cross-over fanfiction with less impressive visual effects. To be fair, I realise it is a television show and they don't have the excessive budget necessary to make everything perfectly polished, but it felt as though the post production work was rushed and sloppy. The acting felt forced and none of the characters felt genuine. One of the nice things about Adam Horowitz and Edward Kitsis' work are their characters (can we all stand up and cheer for Ben Linus's very existence for a moment?) and they did not deliver in Wonderland.
The characters they crafted, however, are at least intriguing even if they do fall flat. I'd like to know what exactly the Knave of Hearts did in Wonderland and how he found his way to Storybrook. I enjoyed Alice's Victorian combat boots/corset combination in terms of aesthetic. But in contrast to the conflicted and in depth portrayals of Disney characters we find in Once Upon a Time, Jafar was just Jafar and doesn't seem to have any sort of difference in personality than he did in the original film. While the concept of the show is enjoyable - and its relation to Once Upon a Time puts it in good grace - the execution was botched and regrettable. I really wanted to like this show. I really did, but I doubt I'll return for the next episode.
score /10
mightyinkwell 12 October 2013
Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw2890514/ |
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22-11-2019 08:35:06