Review of Once Upon a Time in Wonderland

My problem with this show, lies mainly with the writing. To me, the writing is as cookie cutter as they come. When I watch or read something, I like whichever formulaic approach is taken in writing the plot, to be hidden beneath layers of good scenes, action, and dialogue. With this show, I constantly feel distracted by the fact that the formula is staring right at me the entire time. Its almost as if the writers are fresh out of a classroom and afraid to experiment with tweaking known working formulas just enough to make the show more engaging, and less run of the mill.

Thats my main gripe with the show. Some others include: - The marshmallow swamp scene seems out of place. This is Wonderland, not Candyland. - The actor's lines seem forced and could be written a lot better. - The twists aren't all that unexpected barring the Wonderland / Aladdin mash up.

Which makes me think a stand alone series for Aladdin might have been the better route all together.

-Special effects from the early nineties. The chroma keying is ugly. There's no excuse for being able to see the lines where the actors have been cut and pasted onto scenes in this day and age. Especially when Disney owns the company broadcasting the show.

With all that being said, there are a few things I like.

• The Aladdin mash up. (Again wish it were its own series though.)

• The acting really isn't that bad. They just don't have much to work with when reading the atrocious lines that the writers wrote.

• The prospect of a girl fight between Alice and the Queen lol.

All in all I think the show rates around more of a 6. It falls victim to that whole great idea, poor execution thing.