Alice in Wonderland (Geronimi, Jackson, Luske, 1951)

Wandering through the stacks at UBC's Walter C. Koerner library a few months ago, a title caught my eye. I was not reading a book at the time, so I decided to grab it. Once I had finished Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland I had to go back to see the Disney film, Alice in Wonderland (Clyde Geronimi, Wilfred Jackson, Hamilton Luske, 1951)

Upon watching the film, I was disappointed to find out that it takes episodes from both the aforementioned novel, as well as Carroll's other Alice story, Through the Looking-Glass. There are several adventures that I rather enjoyed from the novel that are left out as well, such as the flood in the room with the table and the locked door or her encounter with the Mock Turtle and the Gryphon. 

The film takes instances from two stories and weaves them into a wonderful story all its own. It does not quite tackle the existential turmoil that Alice experiences in the book, nor does it contain the play with words or science to the extent that Carroll does. It does not leave these out completely though. Along with the beautiful animation and score Alice in Wonderland stays true to Carroll's work as well as making it truly Disney (and not in a bad way).