“Most everyone is mad here.”
Alice in Wonderland is easily Disney’s most eccentric film. Walt Disney had been inspired by Lewis Carroll and his books Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass from a young age. There are no rules in Wonderland, making the plot pretty much just a series of weird shit happenings in a bizarre world. That’s somewhat its charm if you can get past all the madness. It’s structured very sequentially, oddity after oddity, and viewers have to expect that if they’re to derive enjoyment out of it. Some may accept the lunacy, others may feel alienated by it.
The story for what there is of one, follows a girl called Alice. She’s unconcerned with her older sister’s history lesson and is revealed to have an active imagination. When she spots a white rabbit in human clothes rushing in a frenzy at being late, she follows it all the way down a rabbit hole where she finds herself in a mysterious and surreal world called Wonderland. From there she comes across countless odd characters like Tweedledum and Tweedledee, the Mad Hatter, Cheshire Cat, and Queen of Hearts as well as inconsistent strange places and situations.
The inventiveness of this animation is brilliant! The ideas that they come up with in terms of the absurd creatures and characters of this world are exceptional. I particularly like the owl accordion, the birdcage bird, and the mirror and glasses birds. It’s also very fast and sharp animation which works to great advantage given the film’s energetic pace and atmosphere. It really feels like an insane rush which in many ways is what it is. Alice in Wonderland is often equated with drugs because of the psychedelic nature of the story (and the Caterpillar who literally seems to be smoking opium) and this film does a great job of capturing that, causing one to wonder if the writers and animators at Disney took whatever it was that inspired the “Pink Elephants” sequence in Dumbo for the duration of this film’s production. However they came to conceive it, the creativity on screen and the style of animation is very enjoyable to watch. This is a film that doesn’t offer a lot to connect to though. Neither the story nor characters are worthy of much investment, but they aren’t really supposed to be. Alice is very curious and imaginative but you don’t feel for her. She meanders her way through Wonderland unsure of anything but that she wants to follow the white rabbit. Her motivation is kept vague which wouldn’t be as much a problem if she was more relatable. I think that’s what makes films like Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory and Spirited Away, both of which were influenced by Alice in Wonderland, stronger; the protagonists react realistically to the strange world that’s encompassed them. Most of the film Alice’s response to each weird character or occurrence seems to be along the lines of “well that’s quite unusual”. Unusual is an understatement for Wonderland and I just wish she’d react with more fear and awe. Because that’s what the world inspires. I like how the tone is consistent despite everything else, that this is a slightly foreboding world even if it can be wondrous. Until we get to the Queen of Hearts though, there’s nothing especially hostile. Bad things happen to Alice of course but they occur neither out of good nor bad action, just because of the oddity of the world and perhaps Alice’s own carelessness. She wished for a world of nonsense and that’s exactly what she got.
While I think the lack of coherent plot to the film makes sense to the book it’s based on, this does prevent it from being one of the Disney greats. As I said, there’s nothing to invest in, it’s just a voyage into insanity. There isn’t much excitement or drama bar for one albeit significant scene when Alice worries about not being able to find her way home (a good if brief moment of growth in her realizing the importance of the world she left behind). Generally though the movie is more of a comedy and I think looking at it that way is better, as there are a number of funny moments to be had. But even then it’s not so much so as to leave a substantial impact. There’s also the fact that much of the satire of the original novel is not present. Or it’s present, but not readily accessible to an American audience. Lewis Carroll was in many ways a precursor to my favourite satirist Douglas Adams, in how surreal and nonsensical his worlds were. His books brought joy to children’s imaginations and connected with adults who could see the allusions to and send-ups of the British way of life. Those send-ups don’t always translate here. The Cheshire Cat for example, is a great character. But many audiences wouldn’t understand why he’s a CHESHIRE cat rather than simply a Dorset or Norfolk cat. However the Queen of Hearts is a little more obvious, her connection to Queens like Mary and Victoria being not that hard to spot (also now I think about it, Queenie from Blackadder may have been influenced by her; especially her love of chopping off heads). And it’s not like this film is that loyal an adaptation anyway. Like Pinocchio, the book featured a number of other detours that didn’t make it into this film. With what it did use, it did mostly capture the spirit of Carroll’s novel. Right up to the end. I won’t give it away but this movie ends on one of my most hated clichés, admittedly leaving a sour taste. It’s not the film’s fault as it’s the book’s ending too, but it still really irks me.
Alice in Wonderland does overcome this bad ending with its strongest attribute: madness itself. This is a mad film and it takes every advantage. In some ways it may be madder than the novel. I think the sheer madness in the characters and story is what keeps it entertaining. Alice is a bit bland but few of the figures she meets are. All of the odd events and actions come from a place of nonsense. Like the flowers who are singing harmoniously “All in the Golden Afternoon” with Alice one minute, then bullying her the next; or the characters who always backtrack on themselves like the Caterpillar, or more notably, the Cheshire Cat. I love how he seems aware to a degree of the madness of the world and just participates as a sort of scoundrel. And having the voice of Sterling Holloway certainly helps. I love the Unbirthday scene, probably the movie’s best, which is just rampant insanity. The Mad Hatter and March Hare are a lot of fun and the sequence boasts some really great comedy. All the characters and events up to that point had some semblance of consistency, but this was just a wild absurd episode almost in the vein of Monty Python. I love how creatively outside the box the lunacy is. Like when the Hare asks for half a cup of tea and literally cuts his cup in half; or the fact that some teapots had multiple spouts while others had none at all. The Queen of Hearts’ temperamental and irrational behaviour is something we’ve seen in Warner Brothers cartoons before, but she’s surrounded by figures like the minuscule king (though more of a counsellor) and flamingo croquet bats who are a tad suicidal, and they make her scenes enjoyably ridiculous. There’s just an overwhelming and creative madness to everyone and everything.
And Alice in Wonderland does somehow work because of that madness and inanity rather than in spite of it. It’s not one of Disney’s best films but it’s still perfectly decent. This kind of a film with an episodic narrative and incoherent focus and characters was a risk for Disney, but one I think worked well. It’s certainly not for everyone, being probably too surreal, but I like it fine. Is it the best possible adaptation of Lewis Carroll’s book? No. Is it the best that’s yet been done? Definitely. Leagues above that awful Tim Burton movie. But it’s not one I’d go out of my way to re-watch. I admire the unbelievable creativity, the comedy and madness, but it falls just a little short of being a classic to me. I guess Alice in Wonderland though good, just isn’t my cup of tea.
Next Week: Peter Pan (1953)
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