Alice in Wonderland
Year: 1951
Rating: G
Length: 75 minutes / 1.25 hours
Of all the early Disney movies based on literature, Alice in Wonderland (1951) always felt like the odd one out. It wasn’t based on any fairy tales, and the source material it was adapting wasn’t necessarily something that had a narrative plot that connected everything together (other than the main character’s misadventures). Still, its psychedelic aura lends itself well to the animation format and leaves the viewer with at least a few short bits of memorable content.
Having never really sat down and watched the whole movie straight through, there’s a reason the handful of more memorable scenes have stood in place for the whole. If anything, the characters in Wonderland make it memorable. The Cheshire Cat, Mad Hatter, and Queen of Hearts all have strong showings in this movie, even if their individual contributions don’t make up the whole film. Their representations here in the Disney animation style are iconic and have lasted for decades based on that strength alone. I mean, walk into any Hot Topic store in the last three decades and you’ll likely find something based on this adaptation that focuses on one of those characters.
The main problem with the film is how disjointed it is. Sure, some characters come back for the Queen of Hearts “finale.” However, they’re really just little snippets of oddball poetry brought to life through the talented Disney animators. Alice is thrust into each new situation with no knowledge that could help her navigate home. And ultimately, the framing for the story is similar to The Wizard of Oz (1939) in that one wonders if any of it even happened at all.
Some memorable characters disconnected from a larger plot, I give Alice in Wonderland 3.0 stars out of 5.
