Alice in Wonderland

IMDB
First time viewed: No
Current Release: No
Watched With: Myself

It's been a while since I last watched this Disney classic. The bluray's just been released and has a great visual commentary filled with interviews and historians commenting not only about how the film came to be but about the author and the story of it's creating. It's really well done.

So of my favourite stuff is the live action reference with those great comedic actors that provided the voices. There's a slightly more freer sense of timing in the voice acting than some of these early animations which I think is due in large part to them being able to act the scenes out and interact with each other, instead of just being recorded one at a time in a booth.

There have been many adaptations of this material and it's always been problematic as is usually the case with such episodic writing and not a very strong through line. This version manages quite well, the main invention being Alice getting lost in the forest and singing a sad song which helps give some shape to the structure and gives her a climax to work towards from that low point.

But it's a story that's so suited for animation, with all the animal characters and a lot of Disney's inventions too. It's a brief little film, a cool 50's score that was nominated for an oscar and some great character animation from the original team. And the Bluray transfer is phenomenal, as expected.