Disney's Alice in Wonderland

[Azure Caterpillar]

~Advice from a Caterpillar~

I think they do sell the sondtrack for it... well on iTunes at least. You can probably order the CD online somewhere.

 

[Lady March Hare]

I checked ebay... I found the mp3's for downloading, but I'm too cheap for that. ^_^ And I'll continue my look for the CD... I haven't found it thus far, but I shall prevail! One day! scream

Okies... new discussion topic! I think fact number 1 was that the movie wasn't really received well by British critics. I knew it didn't do overly well upon it's release, but any ideas/perspectives on why it was so badly perceived?  

[Azure Caterpillar]

~Advice from a Caterpillar~

Apparently some critics thought it was too unlike the books or something like that. But I'm unsure on other reasons; I could try and find out more. Maybe because it was (compared to other adaptations before it was released) quite different in that sense.

I don't know if that made any sense. XD

 

[Lady March Hare]

Hmm... well, it being unlike the books is a valid argument, I suppose. But not if you look at Disney's overall history; they're always fiddling around with storylines. It's the story teller's way, haha.

According to my book, the animators and Walt Disney both found the story difficult to work with. "British critics assailed the liberties he (Disney) had taken and American audiences failed to respond." It goes on to describe how the animators and audiences described it as too mechanical to be up to Disney tastes... no development or real progression, or something like that.
--Disney's Art of Animation, From Mickey Mouse to Beauty and the Beast; 1991

I guess those are valid arguments... I mean, the movie could be somewhat depressing at some points. Actually, at a lot of points, haha. But mechanical... I guess the storyline could be seen like that. I always thought the transitions between story archs were a little forced, but mechanical seems a little harsh, haha. ^_^;  

[Azure Caterpillar]

~Advice from a Caterpillar~

Well the movie is very episodic; but there was really no other way to adapt it without turning it into something completely different. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is probably quite difficult to adapt... especially in a way that will please everyone. Of course there's also the fact the movie was quite ahead for its time; when I was younger I actually thought it was made in the 60's rather than the 50's.

 

[Sh0ur4i]

Lady March Hare

Hmm... well, it being unlike the books is a valid argument, I suppose. But not if you look at Disney's overall history; they're always fiddling around with storylines. It's the story teller's way, haha.

According to my book, the animators and Walt Disney both found the story difficult to work with. "British critics assailed the liberties he (Disney) had taken and American audiences failed to respond." It goes on to describe how the animators and audiences described it as too mechanical to be up to Disney tastes... no development or real progression, or something like that.
--Disney's Art of Animation, From Mickey Mouse to Beauty and the Beast; 1991

I guess those are valid arguments... I mean, the movie could be somewhat depressing at some points. Actually, at a lot of points, haha. But mechanical... I guess the storyline could be seen like that. I always thought the transitions between story archs were a little forced, but mechanical seems a little harsh, haha. ^_^;

Ah, too true. The only time that overly bothered me was with the Little Mermaid... When you change a story like TLM so much that's it's no longer bringing tears to your eyes nor a slight smile to your face (slight smile because her ending was happy, just not in the conventional way), something's wrong.  

[Azure Caterpillar]

~Advice from a Caterpillar~

I still think the movie was closer to the books than quite a few other adaptations.

Who voted no? Tell me... why...

 

[Lady March Hare]

@ Azure: Yeah, that's a good point. And it has flow... but not as cohesive a flow as other Disney movies. And she's kinda all by her lonesome... I always thought that was a bit sad. o_o But that's probably just me, haha. ^_^

@ Sh0ur4i: I see what you mean... but I guess it's never really bothered me much. I grew up on the verbal tellings of a lot of the Disney stories... which mean each telling was different depending on who was telling it. Even the Grimm's tales, which people accept as some sort of storybook cannon, were picked over and edited down for children before publishing. Someone probably just told me it was just a different storyteller and that made me happy, haha. I was a reeeeally simple minded kid. ^_^;;;;  

[Azure Caterpillar]

~Advice from a Caterpillar~

Yeah Wonderland is quite lonely for Alice; especially in the Disney movie. None of the characters understand her because their logic is so very different from the real world's. She is as strange to them as they are to her (one exception may be the Cheshire Cat).

And to make a warm and fuzzy movie out of that is very difficult. I don't think Wonderland was meant to be very moralistic anyways. Its a nonsense world of whimsy.

 

[Sh0ur4i]

Azure Caterpillar

~Advice from a Caterpillar~

I still think the movie was closer to the books than quite a few other adaptations.

Who voted no? Tell me... why...

It was... *drum roll* Me. XDDD
Ha, no, I chose 'yes'. It was what first got me into AAiW as a child, after all.

Lady March Hare

@ Azure: Yeah, that's a good point. And it has flow... but not as cohesive a flow as other Disney movies. And she's kinda all by her lonesome... I always thought that was a bit sad. o_o But that's probably just me, haha. ^_^

@ Sh0ur4i: I see what you mean... but I guess it's never really bothered me much. I grew up on the verbal tellings of a lot of the Disney stories... which mean each telling was different depending on who was telling it. Even the Grimm's tales, which people accept as some sort of storybook cannon, were picked over and edited down for children before publishing. Someone probably just told me it was just a different storyteller and that made me happy, haha. I was a reeeeally simple minded kid. ^_^;;;;

Most of us are like that as children. In fact, a lot of the movies and stories I liked as a child I now happen to dislike. XDDDD  

[Lady March Hare]

@ Azure: I knoooow... I kinda wished she'd taken Dinah with her. >____> So at least then she would have had a kitty friend! <_<

Yeah... but the funny thing is that the book's (well, both books...) chock full of morals... everything from reciting lessons to manners. Maybe that just doesn't translate very well... poor Disney animators, haha. ^_^; I'm sure they worked really hard... and still got a tough bunch of criticism, haha.

@ Sh0ur4i: Haha, not me; I'm still mentally 6. XD Instead of growing up, I think I'm growing down! XD The only movie that's probably the exception is Bambi... it's waaay too much of a tear jerker. Then again, Godzilla's a tear jerker for me too... maybe I'm just a wimp. o_o;  

[Azure Caterpillar]

~Advice from a Caterpillar~

@Sh0ur4i: People are voting but not talking; that's no fun!

@Marchy: But wasn't that all a parody of Victorian society? In a way Alice was breaking away from all the rules at the end of the book. Wonderland kind of mirrored Victorian society in a nonsensical kind of way.... finding nonsense in sense so to speak... or something like that. The reciting of poetry or lessons was a main part of the education system back then; or so I've read.

 

[Lady March Hare]

Heeeey... you voting people! Get in here and talk with us! We're nice! Honest! O__< ... ^__^ *sets a trap and drags people in to talk*

: D

@ Azure: Yeah... pretty much. Lessons were kinda limited to writing and reciting... 'How Doth the Little Crocodile', for example, is a tongue-in-cheek rewrite of another well known rhyme that Victorian children were expected to learn. So it kinda makes me wonder if it was supposed to be a parody... I mean, it is, but was it written with that intention, or to please the little girls who's lessons were warped and rewritten to amuse them? I'm kinda inclined to believe the latter myself, just from what I've read. >_>

And you know, I've always wondered about that... by going to Wonderland, Alice is breaking away from Victorian society/her home, but during the entire story she is attempting to find her way back. And she almost always serves as the voice of reason during her adventures... say, for example, when she attends the Mad Tea party. So... is she running away or running towards that normalcy? I dunno... strikes me as a headache if I think about it too much!  

[Azure Caterpillar]

~Advice from a Caterpillar~

We are nice... we're very nice!

Anyway I think Alice at first is of course curious about the world but eventually gets rather annoyed by all the nonsense... or nonsense made sense by Wonderland. So she begins to try and find her way home.

 

[Lady March Hare]

Veeeery nice... *turns head around backwards all horror-movie like*

: D

Lol, I wonder how long it would take most people to get annoyed by Wonderland... *puffs on bubble pipe* I mean, Alice seems to do so pretty quickly in this version; she gets what she was daydreaming about in the real world and realizes she didn't want it after all.

You know what I've always wondered? Just what was the White Rabbit doing running across Alice's path in the first place?