Alice in Wonderland is the 13th animated feature film produced by Walt Disney Productions in the Disney Animated Canon and was released to theaters on July 26, 1951 by RKO Radio Pictures. Lewis Carroll's books Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass had only a few adaptations before this movie; this adaptation solved the problems of the setting by using animation (the next adaptation wouldn't come until 1972, two decades later). The film features the voices of Kathryn Beaumont as Alice (also the voice of Wendy Darling in the later Disney feature film, Peter Pan) and Ed Wynn as the Mad Hatter. Made under the supervision of Walt Disney himself, this film and its animation are often regarded as some of the finest work in Disney studio history, despite the lackluster, even hostile, reviews it originally received, especially in the UK. Even many people behind the film, including Walt Disney himself, were unhappy with the final result, though it did receive an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Score.
It gained popularity in the 1970s due to the "drug" culture fandom at the time, it was released in 1974, and then again in 1981. By the 1980s, the initial consensus proved to be outdated. One of the biggest cult classics in the animation medium, the film gained critical praise and became one of the most popular Disney films of all time, as well as one of the most commercially successful Disney films (ironically considering it's initial disappointment). Today it is not only universally considered the best film adaptation of Lewis Carrol's novel, but one of Disney's greatest classics.
Rating[]
Alice in Wonderland received a G rating by the MPAA. This is the thirteenth Disney animated movie to be rated as such in the US after Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Pinocchio, Fantasia, Dumbo, Bambi, Saludos Amigos, The Three Caballeros, Make Mine Music, Fun and Fancy Free, Melody Time, The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad and Cinderella.
Credits[]
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Trivia/Errors[]
- The film's copyright was renewed on May 25, 1979.[1]
- Alice in Wonderland is the first Disney movie to include ending credits. The second is The Black Cauldron, but the difference is that the latter film does not include opening credits.
- In the aforementioned opening credits, Lewis Carroll's name is incorrectly spelled "Carrol".
- When the red head flower rose says "Sound your A, Lilly", a B-flat is actually sounded.
- This Disney animated feature was the first one in which the voice talent is credited on-screen with the characters they each play. This would not occur again until The Jungle Book.
- In "The Walrus and the Carpenter" sequence, the "R" in the word "March" on the mother oyster's calendar flashes red. This alludes to the old adage about only eating oysters in a month with an R in its name. That is because the months without an R are the summer months (May through August) when oysters would not keep due to the heat in the days before refrigeration.
- The fish watching the walrus that lures the oysters away look exactly the same as the fish (albeit recolored) that watch Pinocchio search for Monstro the whale in Pinocchio.
- The Curious Oysters appear to have no visible legs. This can be seen while they are dancing with The Walrus and sitting at the table.
- This film features more individual songs than any other Disney film. Fourteen original songs are included in the seventy-five minute run time.
- When the White Rabbit introduces the King of Hearts (after introducing the Queen ), a high-pitched voice can be heard cheering "Hooray!". Many people believe that it sounds similar to Mickey Mouse, cheering, even though he doesn't appear in the film. It's most likely another card in the audience.
- The blue bird seen in the beginning of the film is really from Bambi.
- When the Caterpillar says "Keep your temper" he is painted wrong; he is supposed to be blue with a light blue belly but at that moment he has a blue belly and a light blue left side.
- While the animals of Tulgey Wood are all crying around Alice, the particular Mirror Bird is smiling while crying in sadness.
- To this day, being one of the more popular Disney films (despite being one that Walt Disney was personally disappointed in), many of the characters have been represented at Disney theme parks, such as the title character, the White Rabbit, Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum, the Mad Hatter, and the Queen of Hearts. The Cheshire Cat and The March Hare are meetable characters at Disneyland Paris while Mr. Walrus is a very rare meetable character. The King of Hearts and four Card Soldiers appear as walking characters during the Happiness is Here Parade at Tokyo Disneyland.
- The White Rabbit's pocket watch's numbers change from regular to roman numbers just before the Mad Hatter takes it and tries to "fix" it.
- When the Rabbit's pocket watch goes out of control, and the gang thinks it's mad, the background changes from green to red. Most likely a reference to mood changes.
- Same thing happens later in the movie, when the Queen of Hearts gets mad at Alice, blaming her for flipping her over, (Eventhogh it was the Cheshire Cat) during the game of croquet.
- After the March Hare strikes the White Rabbit's pocket watch with a hammer, the picture becomes black and white rather than colour for a few seconds. It is not known if this is intentional or not. A theory is that a part of the masters was lost and was replaced quietly with the black and white section, however, as it's fades to black and white gradually it may be a deliberate effect. This could be a reference to the 1933 black and white version, the first ever filmed version of the story, or it could be a reference to the black and white Tenniel illustrations of the original book.
- The Flamingos appear to be all different colours instead of just pink, which is what it would be like in reality. Only Alice's Flamingo appears to be pink.
- Alice is also the only one who actually makes the croquet shot correctly. She hits the ball (hedgehog) with the mallet (flamingo), while the Queen of Hearts and doesn't actually take the shot, as she was cheating. She just spins around with her flamingo mallet in the air, with King telling the Hedgehog ball to roll through the wickets (cards) by itself.
- The fanfare that played right after the song, "Painting the Roses Red", was the same one from Dumbo. It was played right after Timothy Mouse said "Dumbo the Great!"
- The flamingo from the Carnival of the Animals segment of Fantasia 2000 resembles the flamingos used by the Queen of Hearts.
- The book appears in the beginning of Pinocchio.
- One of the pencil birds met by Alice will reappear in Donald in Mathmagic Land, where Donald will also dress up as Alice at one point.
- The 2000 Gold Classic Collection DVD version of the movie features the 1985-2006 Walt Disney Pictures logo in the beginning, but not in the end of the movie.
- This is the fourth Disney animated classic to have the 2006 Walt Disney Pictures logo at the end of the movie, on current releases.
- When the flowers are singing, a caterpillar that looks like Figaro is seen.
- The broom headed dog who was erasing the path in Tulgey Wood, resembles Bruno the dog from Cinderella.
- The team could not decide what accent Alice should have. Disney wanted it to be understandable for Americans and the English. The accents they had to choose from were American, British, Australian, and Canadian. 13 year old Kathryn Beaumont was chosen because her voice “had enough accent to please the British, but not too British for American audiences.”