This Disney feature-length cartoon combines the most entertaining
elements of Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking
Glass. Chasing after the White Rabbit, who runs into view singing "I'm
Late! I'm Late!," Alice falls down the rabbit hole into the topsy-turvy
alternate world of Wonderland. She grows and shrinks after following the
instructions of a haughty caterpillar, attends a "Very Merry
Unbirthday" party in the garden of the Mad Hatter and the March Hare,
stands in awe
as the Cheshire
Cat spouts philosophy, listens in rapt attention as Tweedledum and
Tweedledee relate the story of the Walrus and the Carpenter (a sequence
usually cut when Alice is shown on TV), and closes out her day with a
hectic croquet game at the home of the Red Queen. The music and
production design of Alice in Wonderland is marvelous, but the film is
too much of a good thing, much too frantic to do full honor to the
whimsical Carroll original, and far too episodic to hang together as a
unified feature film. One tactical error is having Alice weep at
mid-point, declaring her wish to go home: This is Alice in Wonderland,
Walt, not Wizard of Oz! Its storytelling shortcomings aside, Alice in
Wonderland is superior family entertainment (never mind the efforts in
the 1970s to palm off the picture as a psychedelic "head" film).
Directed By:
Nick Willing
