I doubt Walt Disney ever imagined that his classic fairy tales would be shown in such brilliancy and vivid color but here we have it: a Blu-ray that delivers a picture that blows the original film’s colorful display out of the water. The 1951 classic cartoon rendition of a tale that was already considered classic when it was adapted from Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland with pieces from Through the Looking Glass comes to life on this new format. Yes we’ve since seen the modern answer to this timeless tale but Tim Burton’s outlandish twist on Alice’s journey will hardly stand the test of time the way this film has and will continue to for years to come thanks to this Blu-ray boost.
This trip into dreamland wherein Alice follows the White Rabbit right down the rabbit hole dances with oysters debates Tweedledee and Tweedledum paints the roses red celebrates her unbirthday with the Mad Hatter befriends the Chesire Cat and feels the wrath of the dreaded Queen of Hearts shows its age in voice and animation style only. Despite those factors the creatively animated adventure still holds steady as a lovely film to share with family or watch as an adult so you can relive the magic of childhood. The songs recall the wonder and beauty of your first viewing but are engaging enough to rein in a few first-time viewers as well.
The biggest bother with this 60th Anniversary edition is that now that widescreen televisions are the norm the film is forced to be presented with pillarboxes in order to fit on the screen. Up until 1954 all films were filmed in a standard aspect ratio of 1.37 : 1 to accommodate a standard optical soundtrack. What that means for modern viewers is that films from that time period cannot be viewed in widescreen because they were actually created in the narrower aspect ratio. Disney has a solution to help with those pesky black pillars on either side of the film though; they’ve added something called Disneyvision which decorates those plain pillarboxes with ambient art to help you forget they’re there. This works for most scenes but often makes the sweeping shots look a bit exaggerated. I’d opt for the regular boxes but I can see how the Disneyvision option might fare better with the young ones.
While Disney makes sure to note that this anniversary edition isn’t one of their “Diamond Collection” discs and thus we shouldn’t expect too many features the disc packs quite a punch. One interesting feature is a new take on the typical DVD commentary; the Blu-ray includes a commentary that weaves drawings historical information and talking heads style interviews with Disney experts allowing the commentary to accompany the film in a way that feels more like a documentary than a host of alien voices jumping all over the film as with most commentaries.
The Blu-ray disc also includes a Painting The Roses Red game that may be too hard for the littler tykes but could be fun for families to play together. (Yes it’s a DVD puzzle game that’s actually kind of fun.) The regular DVD also includes a game that gives you the chance to have a virtual Wonderland party; this one gets old faster but is a bit more universal.
Then we have a slew of featurettes; and for a Disney fan like me it’s the perfect way to spend a lazy evening. The videos are seemingly endless showing us long-lost animators’ reference footage featuring the voice actors actually acting out the scenes to help the animators get the motions right miraculously salvaged preliminary pencil sketches of Alice’s adventure a Disney television Christmas special hosted by the little lady who voiced Alice an Alice-inspired Mickey Mouse cartoon called “Thru the Mirror ” a deleted song for the Chesire Cat called “I’m Odd ” and plenty of other in-depth historical looks at a film that took years to come to fruition. The script was even done over by author Aldous Huxley at one point but he couldn’t pass the Disney standard – his version was too scary.
This list only scratches the surface of nuggets of Disney history that lie in wait in the special features of this anniversary edition. Any Mouse House fan can enjoy the old-fashioned magic of the hours of video features as well as the renewed beauty of the restored film itself. It may not have earned the Disney “Diamond” standard but it’s a classic that has finally achieved the level of care and attention it deserves.
