No wonderland is sane, certainly not from the mind of Lewis Carroll, and the Disney version of this classic children's novel is certainly something that adults who see it after having seen it as a child can enjoy it in a completely different way. Elements of the actual story are more adult oriented anyway which is why this book is taught in adult literature classes labeled as children's literature. There's also a reason why certain acid rock songs use Alice in Wonderland as a reference to drug trips.
Disney's version certainly has to appeal to children so the adult elements are somewhat toned down even though much of the freaking nature of it still exists for them to pick up and for children to just look on perplexed. It's basically a non-structural story, a series of events that occurs when Alice falls into the rabbit hole and tries to get out after her series of weird adventures.
For fans of classic movies, you'll recognize some obscure character actors providing the voices, particularly Doris Lloyd as one of the flowers and Sterling Holloway ("Winnie the Pooh") as the Cheshire cat. Who better to voice of Mad Hatter than Ed Wynn and he actually looks like the character he's voicing. But the best material goes to Verna Felton as the queen of hearts, and she is a maddest of them all both in temperament and in sanity.
Kathryn Beaumont, who voices Alice, doesn't have the strongest singing voice, but she's delightfully acerbic in how she deals with some of the weird situations surrounding her. This isn't notable as far as the songs are concerned anyway so you won't be singing any of the songs even though the flower chorus number and the walrus and the carpenter are very well done. I've seen at least half a dozen Alices over the years, and they are all unique in nature, but this being Disney gives it the label of an instant classic.
Disney's version certainly has to appeal to children so the adult elements are somewhat toned down even though much of the freaking nature of it still exists for them to pick up and for children to just look on perplexed. It's basically a non-structural story, a series of events that occurs when Alice falls into the rabbit hole and tries to get out after her series of weird adventures.
For fans of classic movies, you'll recognize some obscure character actors providing the voices, particularly Doris Lloyd as one of the flowers and Sterling Holloway ("Winnie the Pooh") as the Cheshire cat. Who better to voice of Mad Hatter than Ed Wynn and he actually looks like the character he's voicing. But the best material goes to Verna Felton as the queen of hearts, and she is a maddest of them all both in temperament and in sanity.
Kathryn Beaumont, who voices Alice, doesn't have the strongest singing voice, but she's delightfully acerbic in how she deals with some of the weird situations surrounding her. This isn't notable as far as the songs are concerned anyway so you won't be singing any of the songs even though the flower chorus number and the walrus and the carpenter are very well done. I've seen at least half a dozen Alices over the years, and they are all unique in nature, but this being Disney gives it the label of an instant classic.