Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2 in VHS
• Released on: 2005-04-11
• Rating: Universal, suitable for all
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Animated, Closed-captioned, PAL, Colour, HiFi Sound
• Original language: English
• Number of tapes: 1
• Running time: 72 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Imaginatively rendered but slightly chilly, this 1951 Disney adaptation of the Lewis Carroll classic is also appropriately surreal. Alice (voiced by Kathryn Beaumont) has all the anticipated experiences: shrinking and growing, meeting the White Rabbit, having tea with the Mad Hatter, and so on. The characterisation is very strong, illustrating how hard the Disney team worked to bring screen personality to Carroll's eccentric creations. For a Disney film, however, it seems more the self-satisfied sum of its inventiveness than a truly engaging experience. --Tom Keogh

Synopsis
Based on the 1865 book by Lewis Carroll, this is the classic Disney animated version of Alice's adventures as she follows a white rabbit into a 'Wonderland' of her own imagination. On her journey, she encounters the Mad Hatter, the Cheshire Cat, and a host of other beloved characters brought to life with the usual Disney zest. Combining stellar animation with upbeat songs such as 'I'm Late', ALICE IN WONDERLAND garnered an Academy Award nomination for 'Best Scoring of a Musical Picture'.

Customer Reviews

Not for a Disney Collecter!!!
This review is for the DVD and not the movie. The movie is delightful and wonderfully animated with some of the best Disney songs and characters.

This DVD is superior in every possible way to the first issue, which had bad audio/video and lacked in bonus materials. This edition’s picture quality and audio presentation are simply stunning, as if it was drawn in the age of the Little Mermaid and Aladdin. The extras are quite entertaining too but I felt that it lacked the comprehensive ‘behind the scenes’ that other recent ‘Special Editions’ of classics such as Sleeping Beauty and Bambi had.

I am a Disney DVD collector, and bought the US versions of the Platinum edition Lion King, Aladdin and the recent Cinderella as they all came in superb gift boxes with film cells and character sketches. I was delighted to replace my old Alice in Wonderland DVD with this special edition, only to discover that the US (again) got a better version of this release. Titled ‘the Masterpiece Edition’ it comes in 2 Disks and features 2 hours worth of extras including vintage 1950 ‘One Hour in Wonderland’ making-of feature hosted by Walt Disney.

I find it quite irritating that as a Disney fan I need to buy copies of the same edition of a movie from both continents just to enjoy the extras- why release Special Editions if they aren’t as special as ones released in other countries? Does this mean that in a few years we will get yet another ‘Special’ Alice in Wonderland DVD in the UK?

And this is the only reason I am giving this DVD a 3 star rating to direct fellow Disney fans and collectors attention to the existence of a superior edition of this film [even though it is in Region 1]. The movie itself gets 5 bright and shiny stars.

Follow the white rabbit Neo - no sorry, I mean Alice
I just spent a couple of hours looking at this wonderful movie and the extra features. The aptly named Masterpiece Edition is worth every penny, and like The Matrix, should be included in any movie collection, whether you have a child to hide behind or not.

Beautifully adapted and animated from Lewis Carroll's highly imaginative, high-trippin' classic, the imagery and illustrated puns amaze and amuse, especially the little things like the rocking-horse fly, the bread-and-butter flies, the vultures, the pencil and hammer birds, the momeraths, and the bird in the tree (Queenie Leonard) yelling "Ser-peeeeeeeent !"

The animators drew each frame based on the portrayals by the actors voicing the parts, and the stand-outs are Kathryn Beaumont as Alice, Ed Wynn as the Mad Hatter, Verna Felton as the Queen of Hearts, Bill Thompson as the White Rabbit, and the very flexible and versatile J. Pat O'Malley as Tweedle Dum, Tweedle Dee, the Walrus AND the Carpenter, in one of the best scenes in the movie.

With fourteen songs, this is the most musical Disney around, but unfortunately, the songs are not very easy to sing along to, making me sound like William Hung every time I try to impress people with my thorough knowledge of the lyrics.

There are lots of interesting tidbits in the extras, such as the discarded Cheshire Cat song, and the fact that one of the songs was later re-worded for Peter Pan. There are other links between Alice in Wonderland and Peter Pan, but you'll have to watch the extras to find out just what, cause I'm not telling.

For those who don't want to watch the previews at the beginning of the DVD, just press "Menu" and get plugged directly into Wonderland.

Amanda Richards, July 18, 2004

wow
I hardly remember seeing Alice in Wonderland from childhood, I only bought this DVD on the strength of the disney brand name and because it was on sale (ahem!).
It quickly became my favourite disney film, rising above Aladdin and Pocahontas. Quite a feat for a film with little storyline, told episodically with a rather unlikeable main character. Alice is rude and obnoxious but infinitely more interesting than most Disney leads, (good girls and drippy princes). The songs are great, especially the deleted one which you can see on this special edition, "Beyond The Laughing Sky".
Why Walt Disney felt this was Disney's weak link and disowned it is beyond me, I love it.