DVD Review: Cal Vista’s Alice (2010)

Some stories have been made and remade to death. Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland is one of them. In the past, there have been somewhere in the vicinity of umpteen thousand live-action and animated adaptations made based on the now legendary story. From Disney’s LSD-fueled classic to the more recent Tim Burton ego-fest, Alice has been worked over more times than the phrase “six ways to Sunday.”

And then, there’s Cal Vista’s Alice (2010), a live-action hardcore pornographic adaptation directed by Erica McLean; a film that offers an alternate view at the Carroll classic, as well as a variation of the tired ol’ expression, “six ways to Sunday.”

Okay, so the concept is really nothing new. Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland has been the subject of adult movie-making before, such as Bill Osco’s Alice in Wonderland: An X-Rated Musical Fantasy. But, whereas that 1976 X-rated cult favorite presented us with a “light-hearted” journey into the world of promiscuous sex (to say nothing of singing and dancing), Cal Vista’s Alice is quite possibly the first “serious” attempt at XXX action set to the familiar Lewis Carroll tune.

Whilst peeking through a book of dirty pictures with her sister, our heroine, 19-year-old Alice (portrayed by Sunny Lane) drifts away into unconsciousness — and is soon following the White Rabbit (Andy San Dimas) into the seedy world of Wonderland (which bears a remarkable resemblance to the urban and rural locales of Southern California). As one could expect from a porn film, a lot of sex ensues (there are a total of seven hardcore scenes to be found here). Plot-wise (a term some may find unfathomable to comprehend, considering the circumstances here), Alice depicts our titular character’s journey while attempting to gain access to The Hole, the popular Wonderland nightclub. That’s about it, really: it is an adult film, after all.

Which brings us to the foremost important part of any adult feature: the sex. Well, since Blogcritics isn’t an adult-oriented site, I shan’t wander too far out into those waters. But what I will divulge is that many of Alice’s sex scenes are alive with that rarely seen artistic skill so many other adult filmmakers often fail at bringing to the screen. The cast (and, again, one must take into consideration the type of film this is) does a fine job with their “straight” performances as well as their hardcore ones.

That’s probably as far as I should (or perhaps, can) go here, so I’ll leave it at that — but I will add this: Cal Vista’s Alice is a welcome adaptation for both jaded adult film fans and those of us who are sick of all of the other “traditional” versions out there. The 2-Disc Collector’s Set of this film from Metro Media includes some behind-the-scenes action, a photo shoot, the music video for Dirt & Bank’s song “Yeah I” (featured in the film), an image gallery, and trailers for other Metro Media releases.