{"id":30946,"date":"2013-09-18T06:50:48","date_gmt":"2013-09-18T10:50:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_world\/?p=30946"},"modified":"2022-02-06T00:12:16","modified_gmt":"2022-02-06T05:12:16","slug":"movie-review-alice-wonderland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_world\/movie-review-alice-wonderland\/","title":{"rendered":"Movie Review: Alice in Wonderland"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Alice<\/a>
DVD cover courtesy Amazon.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Released on July 28, 1951,\u00a0Alice in Wonderland\u00a0<\/i>was the 13th<\/sup>\u00a0full-length animated feature in Disney history. The 75-minute film is based on Lewis Carroll\u2019s 1865 novel\u00a0Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland<\/i>.<\/p>\n

Plot Summary<\/b><\/p>\n

Alice in Wonderland\u00a0<\/i>begins in an outdoor setting, presumably in England, where the title character is enduring a history lesson from her older sister. Alice cannot keep attention, however, and she breaks into the song “In a World of My Own,” which describes what things would be like in Alice\u2019s dream world. This song sets the stage for the locales that dominate the remainder of the film.<\/p>\n

Upon seeing a watch-carrying white rabbit, who is \u201clate for a very important date,\u201d Alice becomes curious, and she chases after him. The White Rabbit leads Alice through numerous strange settings such as his own house, Tweedledum and Tweedledee\u2019s forest, and the Mad Hatter\u2019s tea party.<\/p>\n

Alice gradually becomes disenchanted with the \u201cnonsense\u201d she is encountering and wants to go home. Instead, however, she\u2019s forced to deal with the Queen of Hearts, a feared tyrant who wants to chop off Alice\u2019s head.<\/p>\n

Connection to Package Films<\/b><\/p>\n

In some ways, the film is similar to Disney\u2019s package films of the 1940s. These features incorporated numerous animated shorts, which were connected by a common theme instead of a single plot-based story. For example,\u00a0Saludos Amigos\u00a0<\/i>(1942) contained four distinct South American-themed shorts.<\/p>\n

The plot of\u00a0Alice in Wonderland\u00a0<\/i>is much more cohesive than the package films, but it\u2019s more jumbled than other classics like\u00a0Cinderella\u00a0<\/i>(1950) or\u00a0Dumbo\u00a0<\/i>(1941). The plot is almost completely based on a single adventure by Alice, but I was more interested in the individual scenes than in the eventual goal or conclusion of the film as a whole.<\/p>\n

If there\u2019s one scene in\u00a0Alice in Wonderland\u00a0<\/i>that is especially reminiscent of the package films, it is the Tweedledum and Tweedledee sequence. Here, the two aforementioned creatures recount the story of \u201cThe Walrus and the Carpenter.\u201d This tale, which shows how curiosity can be harmful, is related to the theme of the film, but it has a separate feel.<\/p>\n

Characters<\/b><\/p>\n

Walt Disney himself was disappointed in\u00a0Alice in Wonderland<\/i>, and he admitted that a major reason why was because Alice \u201clacked heart.\u201d I can see where he\u2019s coming from with this comment. Though I shed tears when Alice was lost near the end of the film, I don\u2019t think she is a particularly likeable character. She seems to have a short temper.<\/p>\n

The Wonderland characters in the film aren\u2019t very developed. You know they\u2019re bizarre and awkward, but that\u2019s about it.<\/p>\n

Though most of the characters are strange, they are also thought provoking. Many puns and lessons are incorporated throughout, and I enjoyed searching for them. For example, in one scene, Cheshire Cat said that he wasn\u2019t \u201call there.\u201d Though he presumably meant this from a mental standpoint, he also wasn\u2019t all there physically, being partially invisible.<\/p>\n

A few of the characters\u2014most notably Caterpillar and Cheshire Cat\u2014sounded philosophical in their approach. They reminded me of a university Philosophy Professor using the Socratic Method in an attempt to make Alice think about herself and her place in the world.<\/p>\n

Aside from the Wonderland characters with speaking parts, numerous strange-looking creatures appear towards the end of the film. For example, there is an owl with an accordion neck and a dog with a broom for a head.<\/p>\n

Music<\/b><\/p>\n

The music in the film is outstanding. There are a plethora of songs, and I found each one catchy and worthy of singing aloud.<\/p>\n

If there was one disappointing number, it was “All in the Golden Afternoon,\u201d and this is because of the placement rather than the actual song. The song is both catchy and beautiful, but I ironically felt that its beauty was a detriment. Alice and the flowers get into a fight shortly after the song, dampening what could have been a great moment.<\/p>\n

In the Parks<\/b><\/p>\n

Several\u00a0Alice in Wonderland<\/i>-based attractions exist at the Disney theme parks around the world.<\/p>\n

Each Disneyland-style park has a spinning teacup ride based on the film\u2019s Mad Hatter scene. The attraction is known as \u201cMad Tea Party\u201d at both the Magic Kingdom in Florida and Disneyland Park in California, \u201cAlice’s Tea Party\u201d at Disneyland Park in Tokyo, \u201cMad Hatter’s Tea Cups\u201d at Disneyland Park in Paris, and \u201cMad Hatter Tea Cups\u201d at Hong Kong Disneyland.<\/p>\n

Disneyland Park in California has a dark ride, \u201cAlice in Wonderland,\u201d where guests travel though rooms depicting the narrative from the film.<\/p>\n

Disneyland Park in Paris contains an exclusive hedge-maze walkthrough attraction called \u201cAlice’s Curious Labyrinth.\u201d It is primarily based on the movie\u2019s Queen of Hearts scene.<\/p>\n

Finally, diners can currently enjoy a buffet breakfast at the 1900 Park Fare restaurant at Walt Disney World\u2019s Grand Floridian Resort with Alice and the Mad Hatter each morning.<\/p>\n

Overall<\/b><\/p>\n

Alice in Wonderland\u00a0<\/i>isn\u2019t a perfect film, but it is one of my favorites. Though the overall plot leaves something to be desired, the wonderful music and numerous details and jokes provide for an engaging movie that also lends well to repeat viewing.<\/p>\n

What do you think of Alice in Wonderland? Let me know in a comment!<\/i><\/p>\n

Sponsored Ad:<\/strong>\u00a0 Would you like to help support The Mouse For Less website in continuing their mission of being THE Disney vacation planning resource?\u00a0 You can do so by purchasing Alice in Wonderland<\/em> from our affiliate link through Amazon<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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    Released on July 28, 1951,\u00a0Alice in Wonderland\u00a0was the 13th\u00a0full-length animated feature in Disney history. The 75-minute film is based on Lewis Carroll\u2019s 1865 novel\u00a0Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Plot Summary Alice in Wonderland\u00a0begins in an outdoor setting, presumably in England, where the title character is enduring a history lesson from her older sister. Alice cannot keep…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":67,"featured_media":30947,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wprm-recipe-roundup-name":"","wprm-recipe-roundup-description":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30946","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-disney-movies"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30946","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/67"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30946"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30946\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":82632,"href":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30946\/revisions\/82632"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30947"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30946"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30946"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30946"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}