What is your favorite version of Alice in Wonderland?

[minor muppetz]

With the recent Alice in Wonderland movie out, I was wonderign what everybody's favorite versions of the Alice in Wonderland stories are.

Of course I figure many of us will mention the Brooke Shields episode of The Muppet Show (put that on my list), and maybe also Dreamchild, the Jim Henson Company's two-part movie based on the story, and Abby in Wonderland (I haven't seen any of those). But what else?

Though honestly, I haven't seen too many versions of the story, and the ones I have seen I haven't seen often. The only two I remember seeing are ironically the two that recently got reviewed at cinemassacre.com: The Disney version from 1951 and the 1985 two-part made-for-TV version.

I only remember watching the Disney version once, and I can't remember if I saw the whole thing. I have seen quite a few clips, in specials and Disney Sing-Along-Songs videos. My favorite character from that version is probably The Chesire Cat. I feel tempted to see it again, maybe even buying the DVD, but there are quite a few things I am more enthustiastic about getting (I know, I could just check it out from the library for free). WHile watchign some clips online I noticed that the walrus in the movie looks and dresses a lot like Tuskernini from Darkwing Duck.

The 1985 version, I only saw once, and only saw the first part. Last summer I went on wikipedia trying to figure out when it was made and relive details... I recall that it was a bit creepy, in addiiton to being filled with characters in bad costumes. Scenes I reemmber best are the first growing and shrinking scene, the scene where Alice grew while inside the White Rabbits house, the scene where the baby turned into a pig (talk about creepy! especially since the baby turned into a live pig), the scenes with the king and queen of hearts, and especially the very scary ending, with the Jabborwock showing up in Alice's house while, whiel her family is on the other side of the mirror and can't see or hear her.

That scene was scary for a number of reasons (and the Angry Video Game Nerd did a good job of explaining why). The rest of it was a bunch of goofy stuff with actors wearign badly-made costumes... and yet the Jabborwock was very realistic. I guess the scarriest things are most effective when they are least expected. When I recently saw the clip again it wasn't as scary as I remember, but it is creepy on first viewing. At the tiem I saw it I didn't realise it was a two-part thing... Maybe I wasn't old enough to be good at reading yet, or perhaps I didn't udnerstand the concept of "To be continued...", or maybe I was too scared to notice the "to be continued" credit.

After I saw that, I saw a special called The Best of Disney, and at one point peopel were listing things from movies thats cared them... One perosn said "the monster from Alice in Wonderland". But the jabborwock wasn't in the Disney version, though the Jabborwocky poem was. And I don't recall any monsters being scene... I wonder if that person was mixing up adaptations or what.

 

[SillyRed]

I liked Abby in Wonderland too!

 

[Drtooth]

The Abby in Wonderland one was the only kid's version with the GUTS to say that Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum weren't even IN Alice in Wonderland.

I really need to read these books everything was based on, but I never get around to reading anything I actually want to read.

 

[Gelfling Girl]

I haven't seen Abby in Wonderland, yet, but it seems pretty interesting from the clips I've seen. I really enjoyed the new movie when I went see it last week and a few summers ago saw two or three stage plays of it and the Brooke Shields episode of TMS was hilarious, however, I prefer the original two books over any adaptations.

 

[JJandJanice]

I really need to read these books everything was based on, but I never get around to reading anything I actually want to read.

Yeah that's the case with me as well and I actually have a copy of Alice in Wonderland as well as "Though the Looking Glass." At least I was able to read "The Wizard of Oz."

Anyhow, I do LOVE the Disney animated classic. Though it may not be 100% true to the original story.

 

[Yorick]

I know I saw multiple versions when I was little, but the only ones I've seen in the last ten years are the original Disney one from the 50's and the Svankmajer one from the 80's - however that's just called "Alice" or "Something From Alice" because it's not a wonderland. Other than Alice, it's stop motion but it would definitely give children nightmares. However, despite it's interesting atmosphere, I have to admit it's slow at times, and the lips that say "Alice said" are terribly annoying! But Svankmajer is still one cool guy who makes very strange films - and this is still worth watching because it's so different. And hey, I still like the 50's Disney one, too!

 

[redBoobergurl]

Does anyone remember the Disney short - Donald in Mathmatic Land? I believe this was based on Alice In Wonderland and I always loved it!

 

[Winslow Leach]

There's a very interesting, somewhat obscure version of Alice in Wonderland, released by Paramount in 1933. Despite an all-star cast, the film was a box office failure and was pretty much forgotten; it has rarely been shown on television and was never released on videocassette. It has finally been issued on DVD, to coincide with the Burton film.

The picture was co-written by future director Joseph L. Mankiewicz (All About Eve, Julius Caesar, Cleopatra, Sleuth) and starred Charlotte Henry in the title role, today probably best known as Bo-Peep in Laurel and Hardy's Babes in Toyland.

Most of Henry's co-stars were Paramount contract players, including Cary Grant as the Mock Turtle; Gary Cooper as the White Knight; W.C. Fields as Humpty Dumpty; Edward Everett Horton (veteran character actor who was the narrator on The Bullwinkle Show) as the Mad Hatter; Jack Oakie (Napaloni in Chaplin's The Great Dictator) as Tweedledum; Richard Arlen (who starred in the landmark silent film Wings) as the Cheshire Cat; Edna May Oliver (Little Women, A Tale of Two Cities, Romeo and Juliet) as the Red Queen; and Sterling Holloway (the voice of Winnie the Pooh and many Disney films, including the 1951 version of Alice, in which he voiced the Cheshire Cat).

 

[animalrescuer]

I haven't seen Abby in Wonderland, but I have seen the 1951 Disney version of Alice in Wonderland multiple times though I haven't seen it recently because of school work. I do like the Muppets adaptation of Alice in Wonderland in the Brooke Shields episode and that is pretty funny!

 

[Drtooth]

WHile watchign some clips online I noticed that the walrus in the movie looks and dresses a lot like Tuskernini from Darkwing Duck.

I noticed that Disney has a lot of stock animals/designs they used in future projects. I've seen lions from Ducktales (I think "The Money Vanishes") that were used in older Disney cartoons. There are a bunch of examples like that, but I can't really remember them all that well. Come to think of it, Tuskernini's Penguins look similar to the waiters from Mary Poppins, only more sinister.

I know I saw multiple versions when I was little, but the only ones I've seen in the last ten years are the original Disney one from the 50's and the Svankmajer one from the 80's - however that's just called "Alice" or "Something From Alice" because it's not a wonderland. Other than Alice, it's stop motion but it would definitely give children nightmares. However, despite it's interesting atmosphere, I have to admit it's slow at times, and the lips that say "Alice said" are terribly annoying! But Svankmajer is still one cool guy who makes very strange films - and this is still worth watching because it's so different. And hey, I still like the 50's Disney one, too!

Man, I've been waiting YEARS for someone who knows who Svankmajer is. I haven't seen any of his stuff for years, though. Very very deep and surreal stuff there.