Alice in Wonderland (1951)
Curious and Curiouser.
Brief Backstory
One of Walt Disney’s oldest ideas was to make an animated feature of Lewis Carrol’s “Alice’s Adventures through the Looking Glass” which like the snares of a muted snare drum, was turned off for a while. Eventually after delays, the snare drum’s snares were turned on and Walt’s 13th animated feature became Alice in Wonderland, but much to his dismay, critics weren’t too fond of it initially. After a re-release in 1974 and frequent viewings on television, Alice in Wonderland garnished better critical response.
Story
During a history lesson, Alice sees a dressed up rabbit and tries to follow him as much as she can, entering Wonderland in the process. However after a bunch of encounters with ignorant people, she stumbles to the Queen of Hearts, who plans to guillotine her.
Random Facts
The oysters in the Walrus and the Carpenter part are priced by dollars instead of pounds, a little out of place given that this takes place in Europe. Also those prices were actually pretty expensive for the time; Wide Open Spaces had a cot for $16, and you don’t want to know how much $16 in 1947 would cost today!
2nd fully animated Disney movie to be thrown on home video. Dumbo was first.
Wonderland reminds me of Majora’s Mask, mostly from Link falling down a hole though he became a Deku in that. Ocarina of Time also comes to mind with the forest Alice gets stuck in.
Disney made a Mickey Mouse short titled Thru the Mirror involving similar concepts.
Random Opinions
The Walrus and the Carpenter is likely set in September, presumably due to how it doesn’t seem very cold there at the moment.
In Medal of Honor Frontline there was a code titled “madhatter” which made the enemies have objects on their heads. Is the Mad Hatter’s name an inspiration for that?
Disney must’ve had a lot of fun with this one as he coveted the idea of turning this into an animated feature.
The stuff I mentioned about a musical instrument (a drum) in the backstory section is structurally similar to some of the stuff the Mad Hatter and the March Hare say.
I think it would’ve been great to have Keenan Wynn as the March Hare, could be a good father and son project for Ed Wynn and Keenan Wynn!
Pros
- Alice is very cute and her voice has a very gentle tone.
- Great animation.
- The imagery is more innovative than most of Disney’s other movies.
- The courtroom scene is my favorite moment in the movie.
Cons
- Some of the movie gets pretty annoying after a while; during most of it I’m thinking “you gonna answer her question or not?” and after a while it’s too tedious. I know I used to have to read social stories on the importance of patience back when I was 4, but there’s a difference between patience and making me have an eight scotch breakfast.
- Excessive amount of song numbers. Typically Disney movies have around 4 to 6 song numbers.
Rating: 7/10 – Good
Disney’s adaptation of Alice in Wonderland is probably the best of the bunch. It can test your patience though.
One response to “Alice in Wonderland”
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Alice in Wonderland’s a 9/10 for me. Probably the best animated Disney movie in the classic era. I know I’m very picky when it comes to the classic movies, but I have to give ’em tough love from a modern perspective.
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