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    Alice in Wonderland

    Reviewed by
    adamwatchesmovies@

    While doing research on Walt Disney’s 1951 adaptation of “Alice in Wonderland”, I was shocked to hear that it was not met with critical acclaim upon its initial release. If you ask me, it’s the best adaptation of the book that we’ve seen, perfectly capturing the outright madness of Lewis Carroll’s characters without simply adapting it word-for-word. It’s also a splendid animated feature packed with memorable songs and moments.

    Bored with her studies, Alice (voiced by Kathryn Beaumont) daydreams about all the things she’d rather do when she spots a white rabbit screaming that it’s late for a very important date. Curious, she follows it, only to find herself in a strange world named Wonderland, a realm where logic takes a vacation.

    Usually, I criticize films that have a non-linear story. Here the episodic approach is perfect. Alice is a regular little girl, able to reason and come to logical conclusions. For her (and for us), stories have a beginning, a denouement, and an end. How fit is it then that in a world when everything is nonsense, the middle of her story is a jumble of adventures. You could have her meet Tweedledee and Tweedledum, the Mad Hatter and the March Hare, the Dodo, the Caterpillar in any random order and it wouldn’t alter the plot at all. Everyone one of them is an outlandish character that doesn't point our heroine in the direction of the White Rabbit. ; they’re just citizens of this mental asylum and she is along for the ride, getting increasingly frustrated after finding nothing but dead ends. It puts you in Alice’s shoes in a unique way. Although you’re enjoying yourself at the sight of these colorful creatures, eventually you find yourself thinking “Alright you crazies, enough is ENOUGH! Where is the White Rabbit already?! ” And no sooner do you and Alice give up that right on cue, he’ll appear.

    After seeing this animated film, I can’t imagine it being done any other way. Had Alice been a live actress, the other characters would be either makeup-heavy, actors, people in costumes, puppets, or do the whole thing in the same manner as Mary Poppins. It wouldn’t work. If you look at Alice, she’s a perfectly proportionate, normal-looking girl. She interacts with characters that are clearly human but take a step back. The way they’re drawn makes them look like aliens, or crude caricatures brought to life, you don’t think about it at the time, but the Red Queen, the King, the Hatter all look… is grotesque too strong a word? It’s got a dream-like quality of feeding you all of these absurd visuals, and you never question them like you would in a live-action film. They belong together. They move in the same manner, use the same kinds of colors, and yet if you took them independently from each other, you’d swear they were from two completely different films. That’s brilliant design.

    I bet if you interviewed 10 different people on what part of this film was their favorite, you would get just as many different answers. Sure, a lot of the credit is due to Lewis Carroll for creating this world, but this “Alice” has its own identity. The Mad Hatter is not only defined by his attitude but by Ed Wynn’s voice, by the songs contained in his interactions with Alice, by the visual gags he brings with him. The film lasts a brisk 75 minutes but there’s so much going on. You can’t decide if you’d rather learn the Dodo’s song by heart, or analyze and figure out how exactly the animators managed to pull off the incredible visuals that accompany the Playing Cards leading to the Queen of Hearts’ castle. There’s this manic energy contained within the songs, the animation, the plot and the characters that I have yet to see again in any other film.

    “Alice in Wonderland” is surreal and bizarre. It wants to be and excels at it. The picture uses the medium of animation to its fullest potential. It’s so good at bringing all of these different elements together you’re unlikely to spot them all until they’re pointed out to you. Filled with immortal songs, iconic scenes and a great cast of voices, it’s a relief to know that “Alice in Wonderland” eventually got the credit it deserves. (On Blu-ray, February 5, 2016)

    10
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    adamwatchesmovies@  13.6.2016 age: 26-35 2,867 reviews

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