Alice In Wonderland Walt Disney Masterpiece Collection VHS

Posted In: Alice In Wonderland

Olive Sausedo says...

I love this film and it will forever be my favorite Disney film. I have always been a total off the wall funny guy who prefers nonsense to the everyday stressed and boring real world. Its amazing the stupid things people get so serious or stressed about in todays world; their job, driving, their relationships, etc, etc...

i can relate to Alice and her desire to escape to a wonderland of nonsense, but this movie delivers an important message about how you need a little bit of serious and nonsense. All serious or all nonsense is never tolerable.

This DVD is great for children or fans of the story. I am 23 and I still love this movie. The DVD has some great extras including some behind the scenes films of how the movie was made. Its amazing the amount of work that Disney put into his movies and it really shows in his old classics. His animators where far ahead of their time and the fluidity of the cartoons still outrank many of todays cartoons.

Posted on November 25, 2011

Shayne Rusert says...

Yup, I got it yesterday, and watched everything on it. Here's my feelings on this dvd.

The Prevews
I really liked the previews on this dvd. Mulan 2 is a great one, and so is Mary Poppins. Home on the Range is ok. There is also a preview for the Brother Bear dvd, but it is almost the same as the original theatrical preview. It also has the "hot tub" trailer from Lion King 1.5.

The Movie
This was a real refresher to me because I've only seen "Alice in Wonderland" once or twice when I was really young (like 3 or 4). My favorite part is when Alice sings "A world of My Own". I also like the singing flowers in "The Golden Afternoon" and "The Unbirthday Song" (I remembered both of those songs from the Sing-along tapes I would watch over and over when I was younger). Overall I liked the movie. I liked the smoking caterpillar! The only parts I didn't really like were the part with the Walrus and the Carpenter, and the croquet game followed by the Trial.

The Virtual Tea Party
I did not like this at all! I felt like I was watching an episode of Barney! The only neat thing I discovered was if you click on the index of activities, you'll see "cookie recipies". Click on that, and there are three recipies fro Chocolate chip, Peanut butter, and Oatmeal cookies. I like to cook, so that appealed to me.

The Sing-alongs
I really liked these since I have always loved Disney's Sing-along Songs. It's also neat beacause these sing-alongs (of "The Golden Afternoon" and "The Unbirthday Song") show the film before it was restored. Speaking of the restoration, It's WONDERFUL! They did such a great job!

The "Alice Set Top Game"
One word, boring. This was even lamer than the tea party! It shows you, like 5 objects. Then, it asks you a question like "What does the Mad Hatter wear on his head?" You would then click on his hat....see, lame.

"I'm Odd"
I liked the song, but I wish they created new animation and integrated it into the film. What they did was just use their animation of the Cheshire Cat that was in the movie, and try to make it fit the new song.The song itself though, is enjoyable and very pleasing to the ear.

"Thru the Mirror"
This Mickey mouse cartoon was cute and interesting to watch.

One Hour in Wonderland
I LOVED this! It was very enjoyable to watch. The story was, Walt had the Magic Mirror from Snow White, and he entertained the girl that voiced Alice and some other people with it by having the mirror show them parts of Disney movies and cartoons. These included, "The Silly Song" from Snow White, A Mickey Mouse cartoon where Mickey, Donald, and Goofy were all cleaning a big clock, Zip-a-dee-doo-dah plus a little more of Song of the South, and a Pluto cartoon where Pluto took a bone from a bulldog. After that, they showed Disney animators playing "Jingle Bells" with trumpets, tubas, and other wind instruments. That was very comical. At the end, it showed "The Unbirthday Song" from Alice in Wonderland. Throughout the show, it also showed old advertisements for Coca-cola, and they were amusing to see as well.

The Alice Comedy
I didn't think it was very good. It just showed a real girl, going through a dull cartoon world. I thought it got boring after the first 3 or 4 min, (it's 8 minutes total).

The Original Theatrical Trailers
They were nice.

Walt's TV introductions
They were nice too.

"Operation Wonderland"
I really liked this "Behind the scenes" of Alice. I always look foward to this kind of stuff on Disney dvd's.

The Fred Waring Show
I liked the first part of this, where Walt talked briefly abot Snow White, Cinderella, and Alice. After that though, I didn't like it at all. It was very weird seeing the people on the show act out some of the scenes in the movie. The Cheshire cat scene was particulary weird acted out with real people.

Deleted Materials
These were very good. "From Wonderland to Neverland-Evolution of a song was neat since "Second Star to the Right" was originally written for Alice with different words. "Alice daydreams in the park" was ok, and the "Song demos" were very fun to listen to.

Art Galleries
They are very nice pictures, but it would have been nice to see more.

Well, that's my review!I hope you enjoyed it!

Posted on November 26, 2011

Luise Elam says...

Back in the day, Disney made some great animated films.In fact, you know it's decent if it was made when Walt Disney was still alive.Now, it's a money grubbing corporation cranking out flix and merchandise for $$ like Full Moon Productions.I mean, c'mon!Lion King 2?Little Mermaid 2?Lady and the Tramp 2?Aladdin 3?Cinderella 2?At least twenty different versions of 101 Dalmations?Lets wake up here.Disney used to put out some fantastic films, and Alice In Wonderland is right there at the top.It's the most experimental and disturbing of the Disney features.It's also hilarious!Naturally it doesn't follow the book(s) 100%, but I don't think I've ever seen an adaptaion of Alice that has(if Terry Gilliam got ahold of the rights, THEN you'd see something spectacular!).Some reviewers whine about how this is "boring", "confusing" and "inappropriate for children."Grow up, will ya?It's Alice In Wonderland, not Eraserhead!What kind of adult is "confused" by a Disney film that my daughter can follow?Believe me, this movie will NOT corrupt or traumatize your child.You have the Stanley Runk guarantee on that.Unless your child is a genius and more educated in the ways of the world than you are, they will not pick up on any kind of drug references.And it won't inspire your daughter to smoke a cigar if she sees a talking walrus doing it.My daughter and I watch this all the time.We laugh, we sing, we quote it, we have more fun with this film than any other Disney film.To my knowledge she hasn't started smoking cigars yet.So put that in your hookah and smoke it, Mister!If you haven't seen this(unlikely), pick it up for sure.It's so enjoyable and made in a time when Disney took chances and didn't adhere to the moronic P.C. formulas they do today.

Posted on November 26, 2011

Steffanie Milot says...

Because of critics' reaction to Alice in Wonderland in 1951, it is written, Walt Disney actually apologized for the movie and soon after his television show became a hit a few years later, he showed it in itsentirety on TV, thus relegating it to his "minor film" category.The movie has never been able to shake this image, and that is a shame. Weshould remember that "Wizard of Oz" wasn't a giant box office hitin 1939, and only after it was made an annual event on television did itbecome a classic in the eyes of the public. "Alice in Wonderland"deserves far more attention than it has ever received. The characters arewonderful. The music is humable, even singable. It's a short film thattakes the viewer into a dreamland, and Disney's animated version stands upagainst any of the other live versions that have popped up over the years.It's time to give this movie the credit it deserves as a classic inanimation. Watch it from a child's point of view, with the amazing imagesof a cat that disappears, talking cards, and Alice constantly growing andshrinking. And then enjoy it as an adult for the dream world into which weare all swept. And furthermore, the DVD transfer is fantastic, with as manyextras as one will find on a Disney non-special edition disc. Take anotherlook at this one and be swept away.

Posted on November 27, 2011

Lena Parobek says...

This isn't the best adaptation of Lewis Carroll's "Alice" stories, but it's a charming, fun film with great animated set-pieces. I'm staggered to see how beautifully the film has been restored: a comparison of the old video with the new reveals all sorts of detail in dark areas, especially backgrounds. Certain scenes now take place in day when they originally seemed to be at night! Without a doubt, this is the best restoration of a classic animated film I've ever seen.

The supplements, though, are wanting. The kiddie features are simply atrocious. The "Virtual Tea Party" is probably the most noxious DVD extra I have ever, ever encountered. Watch as character impressionists and a bunch of kids cavort around a tea party set, torturing the viewer with awful songs and games. "We're Painting Our Noses Red" is actually one of the better ones.

Other 2-disc Disney titles have similar bilge, but boast commentaries, documentaries, and restoration featurettes - none of which are on <I>Alice</i>. As a result, there is next to no modern perspective offered on the film itself, or the twenty-year quest to get it made. Aside from the segments on deleted songs, casual fans are left to guess at the significance of most of the `grown-up' supplements, including TV specials and a 1923 silent short. What's here is nice, but only for those in the know.

This is a great release for fans of the film, because of the beautiful restoration. Try and find it cheap, though, because the second disc isn't worth all that much.

Posted on November 27, 2011

Tressa Mina says...

The story of the animated film is similar to that of the first book, but contains parts of the second book. Dozy Alice is so silly she follows trouble by chasing a talking rabbit down hs hole. At the bottom, she drinks an unknown substance which helps her get through a talking door into Wonderland. Here she meets the Dodo, TweedleDum and TweedleDee (who tell her the story of the Walrus and the Carpenter), the Talking flowers (watch out for the snobby Iris!), the Caterpillar and the Cheshire Cat. She even has un-birthday tea with the Mad Hatter and the March Hare. However, Alice gets caught up in a game of croquet with the Queen of Hearts, and later a trial. The whole thing becomes such a nightmare, Alice realises she's had a dream while she dozed off.

Firstly, I don't know why loads of people think this film is cheesy. I know Alice isn't for everyone, but when you look at the other films made based on Children's classics by Disney (eg- Jungle Book, Hunchback of Notre Dame), you'll see it's more faithful than those films to the original. However if you have read the books and haven't seen this film, some characters are missing (eg- Duchess, Mock Turtle, Knave of Hearts, White Knight). This may just think that Disney has ruined this classic forever. They haven't. It's the best adaption I've ever seen.

Although I actually have the PAL version, I suppose the movie is just the same over in North America. The best bits are the Walrus and the Carpenter, the garden of singing flowers and flamingo croquet. And the Mad Tea Party is still the funniest part of a Disney classic. So buy this movie. Wether it's a video tape or DVD.

(I also live near Carroll's birth place!)

Posted on November 28, 2011

Caron Kon says...

Disney's animated "Alice in Wonderland" is a mixed blessing.Fun to watch, but ultimately flat.It's also a beautiful, wildly colorful film.



Sadly, this "new" edition is a STEP BACKWARDS from the previous DVD release, called the "Masterpiece Edition."Snap it up now before it disappears.The colors and contrast on this new DVD are washed out and the image is a bit blurry.The colors are WAY off, and there's even a bit of shoddy DNR (digitalnoise reduction) that isn't apparent on the previous, far superior version.What a shame they don't consult Disney artists to fix these issues.



Even more sad is the fact that the Laserdisc release of "Alice in Wonderland" 10 or so years ago has FAR more supplemental extras, very few of which are included here--including two entire different versions of the film.



Instead, you get lame "interactive games," which aren't interactive, and aren't fun.The menus for the film are also piss-poor.



Disney, do better.Now.

Posted on November 29, 2011

Alvera Bocchini says...

Right from the stunning (hand drawn!) opening sweep of a verdant riverbank on a lazy summer's day, "Alice in Wonderland" is one of the most beautifully animated of the Disney films of the 1950s. Unfortunately, this film has always been one of the most maligned in the Disney canon.

Many books on the subject of Disney's animated films will often only devote a paragraph or two to the film, and in that short paragraph it will invariably mention how "Alice" was a financial flop, how Walt Disney himself wasn't very fond of it, how it's a chilly film. I don't find this film chilly, I find it refreshingly free of sentiment or cliche that can often weigh down other Disney films.

To start with, we have Alice. Unlike Cinderella or Snow White, Alice has a lot of personality. Who among us hasn't been very frustrated that Cinderella just took all the abuse from her stepmother and sisters and was powerless?Alice, on the other hand, is not one of the "shy little violets" and operates on more than just one emotion;she gets mad, befuddled, disgusted, amused, angry and, best of all, she stands up to adults (how odd for the 50's) and tells them when they are being ridiculous. This film has a subversiveness that may have been unintentional in showing how the world of adults, with its rules and logic, can be purely nonsense and that a child can be the only sane person in the lot. (To be fair, this sentiment is in keeping with Lewis Carroll's original books.)

Alice is beautifully voiced by Kathryn Beaumont (who did a similarly excellent job as the voice of Wendy in "Peter Pan" a few years after.) The real appeal of Alice here is that unlike many other Disney heroines,Kathryn Beaumont was a young girl when she recorded the voice and therefore, Alice looks and sounds like a girl of a certain age.Contrast that to Mary Costa's voice and the animated figure of Sleeping Beauty who looks as if she could be a 1950s pinup model despite only being 16.

The story itself is a wild trip through an ever shifting dreamscape most notable for the wild color schemes that anticipate the 1960's motifs. This is not implying that "Alice in Wonderland" is one big drug reference; it is not. Many people who worked on this film have commented that it felt like the film was getting away from them, that the characters took on lives of their own. This is evident as the film just gets wilder and wilder as it goes on with the introductions of the most bizarre and colorful characters Disney ever brought to life.

The only real flaws in the film include a scene when Alice breaks down and berates herself for never following her own advice, this moment stops the film cold in the middle of what has been a non-stop thrill ride.The extremely abrupt ending of the film is a very strange choice. I think even an extra 20-30 seconds between Alice and her sister at the conclusion of the film would have made the film a little stronger.

The DVD has some interesting extras, but again, I feel that the Disney studios still do not have a high regard for this film and just threw it together on DVD. I have heard that the LaserDisc version had many more interesting extras, and it would be my hope for this film to get a rerelease on DVD with some more extras restored.

Posted on November 30, 2011

Leo Eckley says...

This is one of the best DVDs to come out in a whlie. Though the movie it contains is not neccessarily Disney's most readily accessible title (except for during the sixties when they found out it had gained popularity on college campuses, know-what-I-mean, nudge-nudge) it is two discs of pure Disney magic.

Setting aside the feature, which we all know is one of the best adaptations of Lewis Carroll's works (and if not the most accurate, certainly the most "watchable," as it is just dark enough to keep that edge but...well, let me put it this way: have you SEEN another version of "Through the Looking Glass?" I need a stiff drink before getting into that) the real highlight of this disc is the special features.

Two TV introductions by Walt, a 1950's making-of featurette, vintage television programs includin the historic "One Hour in Wonderland" the first Disney TV show, a whole album's worth of demos for songs that were never used, concept art galleries and more. This disc is an essential for anyone, like me, who is in love with Disney animation.

If for no other reason than the "One Hour in Wonderland" show features a clip from "Song of the South." It's worth buying the whole disc just for that, since it's the closest that movie's ever going to come to a DVD release in this lifetime.

Posted on December 2, 2011

Connie Stuchlik says...

Just a quick note here - if you are thinking of purchasing a copy of Alice in Wonderland now, just wait a little longer.

As of January 27, 2004, Disney is doing a "Special Edition", two disc DVD release that will be similar to thier recent reissue of Sleeping Beauty.

With all of the features that will be on that DVD, people who buy this DVD now will be disappointed if they don't wait.

Disney will be including all of the "Making of", pre-production art, and other features that make their new "Special Editions" great, to this new edition.

There are three other "Special Editions" due in 2004 - Mary Poppins, Lilo and Stitch, and Pocahontas.Alice will be the first released in 2004.Also, there's the "Platinum" edition of Aladdin in October 2004.Worth waiting for in my opinion. You have been warned. :-)

Posted on December 5, 2011