Alice in Wonderland

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Compared to the classic feel of its predecessor Cinderella, and many of the other Disney films from this era, Alice in Wonderland feels far more adventurous, in terms of both animation and overall style. To be fair, this is due to the stranger nature of the story, but it is a jump nonetheless.  

Its two greatest assets are the ones that make it stand out most- its animation and its supporting characters. The backgrounds are beautiful to look at, translating the iconic style of Mary Blair perfectly and the character designs are also great on most of the people and animals in Wonderland. Alice’s design fits the typical Disney house style of the era, so she’s not particularly interesting, but the Mad Hatter, March Hare and the Cheshire Cat are among the best drawn (and most fun to watch) characters in the film.  It also has a very entertaining villain in the Queen of Hearts, so that’s a plus.And ultimately, this film is about the world that the protagonist finds herself in, rather than the protagonist herself, so the fact that Alice is less interesting than what is happening around her is actually not too much of a problem. 

As for minuses? Well, there aren’t many, but the music is weak. Other than the unbelievably catchy Unbirthday song, all of the other songs feel a bit… meandering. There is just something in the tunes of In a World of My Own and All in the Golden Afternoon, amongst others that just don’t really stick in any way. They are good for communicating information in the story- but that’s about all they are good for to be honest.    

I have stated previously that I am not a big fan of films with more episodic plots, but it works very well here. In this case the plot and characters are less important than the world they show, so a story made up of lots of smaller parts actually works very well.

Overall, this film is a fun and unique ride, with some great animation and fun characters.

Rating

Good guys: Alice isn’t awful, but she’s not particularly interesting, especially when compared to the characters in Wonderland- the real leads are actually the supporting characters, all of whom are iconic for a good reason, so overall the good guys get 6/10

Bad Guys: The Queen of Hearts is a fun villain, although there are far better ones to come, so the Bad Guys get 6/10

Animation: The animation in this film is stunning, some of the best until Sleeping Beauty so it gets a 8/10  

Music: Other than the Unbirthday song, the music in this film is pretty weak, so it gets a 4/10

Plot: The episodic nature of the plot actually works very well here, so the plot gets 6/10

Overall score: 30/50

Next review: Peter Pan