I’ve never been quite sure on this film, to be honest. I know that a lot of people love it and some people can’t stand it. But I’m sort of in the middle on this one. There’s some really good parts and some not so good parts.
Part 1 adapts Alice in Wonderland and part 2 adapts through the Looking-Glass. The screenwriter also adds a subplot about Alice wanting to be older and to grow up, and introduces the idea of her adventures teaching her a lesson. Although this might sound awful it is actually well executed for the most part and blends in well with the stories. Carroll’s dialogue is often watered down a bit, but this is a hollywood-ized version of the Alice stories if you will, so its sort of expected and not too annoying.
However the songs are quite a different thing, like the performances of the actors, the songs are either really good, OK or terrible. Unfortunately the worst song “I hate Dogs and Cats” sung by the mouse, is the first one we hear. The songs do get better and are really good in the Looking-Glass adaptation.
In terms of actors, Natalie Gregory’s Alice takes a long time to get used to as she is not Carroll’s Alice but by the time we get to part 2 we’ve warmed to her more. The acting again ranges from the good (Sammy Davis Jr as the caterpillar, complete with tap dancing “You are old Father William” sequence, surely one of the highlights of the Wonderland adaptation, also Ann Gilllian as the Red Queen is great, one of the best parts of the Looking Glass adaptation) and the not so good (Ringo Starr as the Mock Turtle)
I like the fact that this film attempts to adapt both books back to back and fully. We actually get a fully fledged adaptation of Through the Looking-Glass here, which is really nice to see. On the flipside Carroll’s dialogue is often thrown out of the window in some scenes.
For example when Alice talks to the gnat in the Looking-Glass act, he simply warns her not to go into the wood. I would have liked to have seen the conversation that’s in the novel about the looking-glass insects. But what is in here is very good, we get the Walrus and the Carpenter as well as You are old father william and The Lion and the Unicorn. Most of Carroll’s poems are here, if not all.
Overall, I have mixed feelings about this adaptation and despite its flaws, I really admire its overall ambition to dramatize more of Carroll’s stories.
