I watched so many things with friends this year that I can actually afford to do a year end list of Alice related stuff. So...
BEST
Alice in Wonderland: Black Light Theatre of Prague (1994) Directed by Jiri Snec (Youtube)
This is not technically new at all, but it is new to the internet. It took a dear friend of mine neigh on 7 years to find the VHS of this obscure Japanese video of a Czech "black light" theatre performance. I think I can say on viewing that the wait was worth it. A silent theatre performance using aspects of dance, and using Carroll's books as a leaping off point for ever stranger spectacles. Marcela Skrbkova's Alice captures wide eyed wonder in the way most variations of the character don't. Even the darker aspects of this version (the addition of some menacing red birds) seem in keeping with the dark-light balance of traditional Czech fairy tales. I can't really do this justice in words, its one of those things you'll have to seek out for yourself and experience.
MOST SURPRISING
Alice's Wonderland Bakery (2022) Directed by: Nathan Chew, Arielle Yett, Steven Umbleby, Donald Kim and Sarah Frost (Disney +)
I'm breaking my rule here because this TV series has nothing to do with Carroll's books. But I'm writing this at Christmas and this IS a year end list. This is something friends and I enjoyed enormously towards the end of this year. Alice's Wonderland Bakery is inspired loosely by 1951 Disney where a new generation of Wonderland inhabitants form around "Alice" the supposed great great granddaughter of the 1951 Alice (the linage and connection is confused and contradictory, but just go with it) This new "Alice" owns a bakery, and the plots are based around cooking. Despite the strange, strange jumble of elements (Doorknob that moves everywhere? Dodo living on the Walrus and Carpenter beach? Talking cookbook? Rabbit hole as Bakery pantry?) the show eventually grows into something very adorable and the references to '51 do grow more thoughtful over time. Some episodes even seem to hint and play with concepts familiar to Carroll (we see a hall of doors in the Hearts' castle, and Alice and co embark on a deeply absurd search for a lost flower singer) By the end of the series, you'll be wondering why you ever doubted such a concept working.
MOST FORWARD/2020s ADAPTATION
Alice nel mondo da Internet (2022) directed by: FabrÃcio Bittar (Netflix)
OK so, this is on Netflix Brazil and also Mexico, but not UK or US outlets. You'll need to use internet trickery to watch and also download eng subs by yourself (subs by one of my friends who was good enough to translate for me)
This is a very fun made in lockdown 2020 version which brings the Alice books bang up to date by setting the story inside a laptop. Said laptop belongs to Alice, an arrogant young youtuber who has fallen out with a friend recently. During a livestream, Alice falls a long way down into her own desktop. In Wonderland she meets a cat meme, two twins who hold gateway entry, and an antivirus blue caterpillar who is obsessed with order. The joy of this adaptation is seeing how Wonderland and Looking glass characters and scenes are retold and reinvented to fit this updated tech theme. Although its packed with green screen, its very well done and not too intrusive.
WORST
Alice (2022) Directed by François Roussilon (France Televisions)
On one hand, this nightmare of a carroll myth influenced dance disaster DID give me excellent citation material for my essays on how fiction writers have misinterpreted Lewis Carroll, on another... it exists. Its one of the worst Alice related things I've ever seen, without any hyperbole. Please, even if you are curious about how wrong a portrayal of Carroll can be, do not seek this out. It is not worth your time.
