Animation Celebration Saturday - Alice In Wonderland (1951)

Welcome to Animation Celebration Saturday! On Saturdays, you get a review of an animated (or live-action family) musical to brighten your weekends. Sit back with a big bowl of cereal and enjoy the show!

Alice In Wonderland
Walt Disney, 1951
Voices of Kathryn Beaumont, Ed Wynn, Sterling Holloway, and Verna Felton

The Story: Alice (Beaumont) is getting bored, sitting by the river and listening to her sister (Heather Angel) read. She's daydreaming in a field of flowers when she sees a rather nervous white rabbit (Bill Thompson) hurrying into a rabbit hole. She follows him, falls down the hole, and finds herself in a fantastic underground world. The kid is curious to know where the Rabbit is going at first, but after her tea party with the Mad Hatter (Wynn) and March Hare (Jerry Colonna) gets out of hand, she just wants to get out of this weird place and go home.

After being lost in a dark wood, she's directed to the Queen of Hearts by the odd Cheshire Cat (Sterling Holloway). The Queen (Verna Felton) turns out to be a bad-tempered biddy who screams "off with your head" at anyone within firing range. Now Alice has to figure out how to get back to where she started while her head is still on her shoulders.

The Song and Dance: There's other versions of Alice that are probably closer to the book in letter...but I think this one at least has the right spirit. Beaumont is the perfect foil for a collection of beloved radio and early TV actors who are having a fine time hamming it up as Lewis Carroll's crazy creations. Thompson, probably best-known as the original voice for Droopy the Dog, is a perfectly hen-pecked White Rabbit, while Ed Wynn carries his original "Perfect Fool" persona from radio and the stage to animation as a hilarious Mad Hatter.

The Animation: This is some of the most creative work Disney ever put on-screen. The images are often so surreal, the film became surprisingly popular on college campuses in the 70's. The slanted lines and brilliant colors were the work of Disney artist Mary Blair, who also did the Donald Duck In Latin America anthology films and Cinderella and would later do the designs for the It's a Small World ride. There are odd monsters that you won't see anywhere else, like the cage-bird and walking glasses in Tulgey Wood.

Favorite Number: While the most famous song from this is probably "The Unbirthday Song" at the mad tea party, my personal favorite is Alice's introductory number, "In a World of My Own." Alice's longing as she sings of finding a special "wonderland" of her own is as touching as it is lovely. It perfectly sets up all the lunacy that comes after it.

What I Don't Like: This is not the Disney movie for you if you're looking for a typical boy-meets-girl romance or a more linear story. It's pretty much just Alice bouncing around from kooky character to kooky location. The extras on my 2-disc DVD set from 2004 indicate that a lot more characters and songs were considered and discarded. Despite having worked on it since the 30's, I don't think Disney quite knew what to do with it. Many literary critics then and now have complained about it being "Americanized" and about the deviations from the books.

The Big Finale: Walt Disney thought this film lacked "heart"...but what it lacks in a heartfelt storyline, it makes up for with creative animation, unique characters, an all-star cast, and some fun songs. Those college kids in the 70's were right - this is a fun experience, and one of my top-10 favorite Disney films of all time.