I recently watched Alice in Wonderland for the first time in years. The entire movie is painted with amazing, lush colors that set the tone for a surreal adventure. The background animation in the first scenes with Alice and her sister in the field remind me of a painting. The animation has the classic Disney style to it, something that I have to say I miss in alot of new computer animated features. I liked most of the Pixar Disney animated movies but I have to say that I doubt some of them will stand the test of time of a Disney classic like Alice in Wonderland. From Toy Story to Up the Disney Pixar movies grossed over 2 billion dollars in total while Alice in Wonderland was a flop at the box office in 1951.
Charles Dodgson or Lewis Carrol, the author of the books, Alice’s adventures in Wonderland and its sequel Through the Looking Glass was a mathematician and logician. Many rumors claim that he had been on mind-altering drugs while writing it but maybe he just had a very eccentric imagination. Later in his life he experienced hallucinatory migraines called micropesia. He claimed his hallucinations were like that of what he wrote about in Alice’s adventures in Wonderland. Queen Victoria of England liked the book so much that he dedicated the sequel to her. The Disney animated Alice in wonderland stayed true to the books with the only exception being the addition of the doorknob as a character after Alice falls down the rabbit hole. If you notice during the scene when Alice is falling down the rabbit hole there are a wide variety of geometric shapes in the form of the tunnel that guide her down.
Alice in Wonderland has a reputation for being one of the stranger Disney films but in my opinion its one of the greatest.
animashunation said,
January 27, 2010 @ 4:46 pm
I agree! I LOVE Alice in Wonderland! I saw it for the first time when I was very young, and I have to admit I was SO confused! I absolutely hated it because I had no clue what was going on. Now that I have grown older however, and seen the movie again and read Lewis Carroll’s book as well, I have to admit that this story is one of a kind. Carroll certainly had a unique imagination that I have seen mirrored in very few other movies since. I can’t wait for Tim Burton’s version of this movie to come out! I hope it does justice to Lewis Carroll’s original work.
Samira Denardo said,
February 1, 2010 @ 1:22 am
I agree. Nothing compares to classic Disney animation. Some of the new Pixar and Dream Works computer generated animation films are so realistic, it no longer resembles animation… you can tell it was drawn by a cartoonist. It’s just too real. Disney animation films like Fantasia, Peter Pan, Pinocchio, and many others really brought out your imagination as a kid, and following the movies up with Disney Land has been unmatched. I also agree with you that this guy was on some heavy drugs. You don’t just wake up in the morning and think this process. Oh! And by the way, i thinks it contains lots of references to hallucinations and drugs in the film. It still is an awesome movie today!
Samy