Alice In Wonderland(1951)

I used to insist that my father read Alice In Wonderland to me every night.  When I got a little older, Alice Through The Looking Glass was one of the first proper books I read on my own.  That may be why I've always liked Through The Looking Glass just a little bit more - I felt so proud to have read it all by myself, and I thought myself quite clever for that.
Disney's version of Alice mixes elements from Wonderland and Through The Looking Glass into the one film.  And I must admit, this isn't one of my favourite Disney cartoons.  

I don't find this film as elegant as some other Disney cartoons, but I'm having trouble pinpointing why.  I thought it may be because Alice is just a bit too affected, but then she's supposed to be precocious and slightly bratty.  Yet, something didn't quite translate from the books.  She's always trying to act grown up, but she never quite feels obnoxious in the books, whereas she sometimes does in the film.
I do feel like story doesn't really follow a consistent path, but then neither do the books, and neither do dreams, so that lack of a path is merely a factor of the story itself.  Most likely the fact that I'm so used to the books means that the use of elements from both of them disrupts the story for me.  I wonder what I'd think if I didn't know the books so well?

There's also something that bothers me about the way the dream characters are drawn.  Again, I'm having trouble specifying what it is.  It just doesn't feel as lovely as 101 Dalmatians or Beauty And The Beast, for example.

There's been numerous attempts to adapt Alice for the screen over the years, and to me they never quite make it.  (Tim Burton, as much as I like his earlier work, and if anyone could do it, you'd think he could.  But his version was a disgrace and I don't want to talk about it).  I think the problem with Alice is that the fact it mainly takes place in a dream world.  No matter how extravagant you try to be when filming it, it will always seem that it's not fantastical enough.

Final Thought:  It's nowhere in the books, but the scene in the film where Alice is trying to find a path through the forest and encounters various strange birds is actually my favourite part, as it turns out.

Up Next:  All Dogs Go To Heaven (1989)