Alice In Wonderland (Masterpiece Edition) 1951 Buena Vista Home Entertainment   Buy It Now

Nearly twenty years in development, and after five years of production, Disney's animated adaptation of Lewis Carroll's two tales, "Alice in Wonderland" and "Through The Looking Glass", continues to enchant audiences of all ages over fifty years later; and stands as the most prolific and widely known introduction into the written works of a brilliant man.  Whether being read as a bedtime story, brought to stage at the local community college, or inspiring the vast majority of a little film you might have heard of, called The Matrix, Carroll's (real name, Charles Lutwidge Dodgson) books continue to influence the world at large, thanks in no small part to many a child's imagination being sparked by this Disney release.  Now, so very many years later, the folks behind the magic have given you, the viewer, the ultimate release of this classic feature film.
 

The story is familiar to nearly everyone.  Alice, a young fanciful girl, who is not nearly as interested in her history lessons as she should be, is spending some time in a warm, peaceful glade when she sees a white rabbit, complete with waistcoat and gold watch, who appears to be very late for some date or another...or at least that's what he says.  As she follows him down his rabbit hole, she finds something a little more than she would have expected; a fantastic world of nonsense and contradiction, full of bright colors and even more garish characters!  The Mad Hatter, the doormouse, Cheshire Cat, the walrus and the carpenter, Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee, and of course who could forget the cowardly King hiding behind the overbearing Queen of Hearts!

As Alice wanders through this wonderland, she is forced to face the reality of a child's skewed dream world...a world of no rules, no expectations, and worst of all, a world where all the adults are unfair, unjust and more than a little demanding. 

But if there are a few messages hidden within the fantasy experiences of this little English girl, they certainly do not take away from the magical adventure she takes us on.  With playing card soldiers, a hookah-smoking caterpillar, a march hare, and singing flowers, there is never a dull moment in Alice's slumber-time dream world.

And speaking of singing flowers; Alice In Wonderland is simply filled with song.  In fact, with fourteen music numbers, it is the most musical of all Disney features.  These are each and every one, timeless delights; from "The Un-Birthday Song" to "Twas Brillig" to "In A World Of My Own".  The latter of which has a special history behind it, as it has ties to another Walt Disney feature film, Peter Pan, released two years later.

The original tune for "In A World Of My Own" was actually the tune that you and I now know as Peter Pan's theme, "The Second Star To The Right".  The melody, however, was thought to be a bit to lethargic for the opening number of such a frantic and manic film as Alice In Wonderland, and so the song was re-written.  A production crew gathering material for Peter Pan found the sheet music, and as they say, "The rest is history!".  You can check out the full story, as well as comparisons between the two songs in one of the MANY included extras on this Masterpiece Edition release.

And it is these extras which really make this release, and review, worth taking note of.  First up, are the wonderful extras that will keep your children, or yourself if you are extremely young at heart, busy in the world of Wonderland.  First up is an interactive tea party hosted by the Mad Hatter.  Kids can experience new dances and songs, listen to riddles, play some games, and even help Alice make cookies (with actual recipes attached to make at home).  There are multiple Sing Along Songs, an Alice In Wonderland trivia game and an older Mickey Mouse animated short, "Thru The Mirror".

But before you think that all the extras here are for the tykes, there is actually an even larger assortment of goodies for us adults.  My personal favorite addition is a newly recorded song for the Cheshire Cat.  This is not however some newly written inferior tune, just to get you to buy the disc; instead, this is a recovered song that was passed over originally, but is now brought to life, for your enjoyment, fresh from the original sheet music.  I would have loved to hear Sterling Holloway (voice of the original Cheshire Cat & Winnie The Pooh) do this one himself, but whoever did supply the vocal talent, did a fantastic job!

Toss in the second disc, and see what extra features really can be!  Check out the pilot episode, in its entirety, for the Alice Comedies: "Alice's Wonderland".  Watch the original theatrical trailers for both the original theatrical release and the theatrical re-release two decades later.  Next, Walt himself introduces a few episodes of his television show, that are each Wonderland themed.  Operation Wonderland takes us on a vintage, behind-the-scenes tour of the Walt Disney Studios during the production of the film.  A great look at not only the artists at work, but the voice talent as well, who each acted out their parts as inspiration for the talented animators.

The aptly named One Hour In Wonderland is a scaled down version of the Alice story, for TV release; but the best of the television materials has got to be the excerpts from The Fred Waring Show.  In these clips, we see a different take on the story as Mr. Waring's band takes over the score and songs of the movie, and a troupe of acting talent (including the films Alice, Kathryn Beaumont, and Mad Hatter, Sterling Holloway) takes us through some key scenes.

Altogether, what we have here is one of those rare instances in the DVD world where the release itself is quality, the extras included are quality, and most rare of all, there actually is justification behind a label like Masterpiece Edition.  And I haven't even touched on the digital remastering!  This is a great set of discs, and I say, chase this one down the rabbit hole for sure...you'll love where you end up!

-aaron-

 

Directed by: Clyde Geronimi, Wilfred Jackson & Hamilton Luske   Written by: Winston Hibler, Ted Sears, Bill Peet, Erdman Penner, Joe Rinaldi, Milt Banta, William Cottrell, Dick Kelsey, Joe Grant, Dick Huemer, Del Connell, Tom Oreb & John Walbridge   Based on the Works of: Lewis Carroll   Voice Cast: Kathryn Beaumont (Alice) Ed Wynn (Mad Hatter) Richard Hayden (Caterpillar) Sterling Holloway (Cheshire Cat) Jerry Colonna (March Hare) Verna Felton (Queen Of Hearts) J. Pat O'Malley (Tweedle Dee /Tweedle Dum) Bill Thompson (White Rabbit)

DVD Features: Full Frame - 1.33:1 Audio: English Dolby Digital 5.1, English Dolby Digital 2.0, French Dolby Digital 5.1 & Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 English, Spanish & French Subtitles   Disc 1 Virtual Wonderland Party Sing Along Songs "The Unbirthday Song", All In The Golden Afternoon" Wonderland Set-Top Game "I'm Odd" Newly Discovered Song "Thru The Mirror" Mickey Animated Short   Disc 2 One Hour In Wonderland TV Special Alice's Wonderland: An Alice Comedy Original Theatrical Trailers Walt Disney TV Intros Operation Wonderland TV Special The Fred Waring Show Excerpts Deleted Material: Songs & Storyboards Art Galleries Original Song Demo Recordings       All Photos: © Buena Vista Home Entertainment, Inc. All rights reserved.