Disney's 1951 feature is based on Lewis Carroll's immensely popular children's books "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" and "Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There," which Carroll wrote to entertain Alice Liddell, the daughter of his dean.
Alice, a young girl, gets very bored listening to her sister read from a text book, so she dreams of "a world of (her) own", a world of nonsense. She sees a White Rabbit and falls down a rabbit hole into a bizarre mysterious Wonderland. Through her encounters she meets some crazy bent characters such as the violent-tempered Queen of Hearts and the extremely nutty Cheshire Cat and becomes infuriated with their own twisted logic.
Alice in Wonderland is a great movie, especially if you're a fan of Carroll's books. It doesn't follow the original book faithfully. Certain characters are omitted from the original Wonderland and characters from Looking Glass make an appearance. But, that shouldn't quibble too many purists. It still retains the book's level of insanity and twisted humor through its unpredictable characters, hilarious dialogue, and vibrant animation.
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Characters in order of appearance:
Alice
The young protagonist of the story falls through the hole and meets all of the zany characters. She is brought up very properly, but she is also very imaginative, temperamental, and has a tendency to give herself good advice (though she seldom follows it)
VA: Kathryn Beaumont
Alice's Sister
Alice's sister is a prim sensible young woman who likes to read boring history books without pictures.
VA: Heather Angel
Dinah
Alice's pet cat is a mischievous curious little thing (kind of like her mistress)
VA: None
White Rabbit
He is the reason Alice falls through the hole and follows him. He is also the Queen of Heart's herald and is very panicky, and fussy, and constantly worried about being late
VA: Bill Thompson
Doorknob
The door helps Alice get through him and tells her about the bottle that says "drink me."(which makes Alice grow larger and smaller) He is very helpful, but given to too many door puns
VA: Joseph Kearns
Dodo
A seafaring old bird who thinks that the best way to get dry is to have a caucus race (run around in a haphazard manner)
VA: Bill Thompson
Tweedledee and Tweedledum
They are two bickering talkative brothers who love to recite poetry, such as "The Walrus and the Carpenter" and "You are Old Father William."
VA: Pat O' Malley
The Walrus
One of the characters in the Tweedle's poem, a pompous old walrus who entices little oysters into following him then sheds crocodile tears for eating them.
VA: Pat O' MalleyThe Carpenter:
The other character in the Tweedles poem, the walrus' stupid sidekick helps his friend get the oysters and wants to cook them.
VA: Pat O' Malley
The Oysters
They are little gullible creatures that blindly follow the walrus and the carpenter to their deaths.
VA: none
Bill the Lizard
The White Rabbit's silly idiotic henchman tries to get a gigantic Alice out of the Rabbit's house, but only gets kicked up the chimney as an answer.
VA: Larry Grey
The Flowers
They are a snooty, gossipy group of flowers that invite Alice to sing with them, but then ostracize her when they mistake her for a weed.
VA: Doris Lloyd (rose)
The Caterpillar
The slow spoken, spacey, hot-tempered caterpillar confuses Alice by constantly asking who she is, but then shows her the mushroom so she can grow. He is also very sensitive about his three inches high height.
VA: Richard Haydn
The Bird:
A fussy old lady bird that mistakes Alice for a serpent when Alice grows too tall.
VA: ?
The Cheshire Cat
This crazy cat is probably one of the more helpful creatures in Wonderland by pointing Alice to the way of the Hatter, Hare, and the Queen. He has two bad habits: making the Queen mad and disappearing leaving only his half-moon grin.
VA: Sterling Halloway
The Mad Hatter
True to his name, the mad hatter constantly throws tea parties that never end (because it is always tea time), asks riddles that have no answer, and loves to celebrate un birthdays.
VA: Ed Wynn
The March Hare
The Hatter's equally crazy partner enjoys tea and un birthdays as much as the Hatter. He has a tendency to the change the subject rather quickly and appears to have a weakness for the ladies.
VA: Jerry Colona
The Dormouse
The Hatter and Hare's friend is their polar opposite: while they are loud and energetic, he is quiet and lethargic. He spends most of his time sleeping in his teapot until the word "cat" is mentioned
VA: James McDonald
The Card Painters
The Queen of Heart's terrified gardeners who accidentally planted a white rose bush instead of red and paint it to cover their mistake
VA: Bill Lee, Thurl Ravenscroft, Bob Stevens, and Max Smith
The Queen of Hearts
An obnoxious bad-tempered ruler who gets her delights in ordering her subjects about and executing them. She puts Alice on trial after the girl insults her.
VA: Verna Felton
The King of Hearts
The Queen's henpecked husband acts as judge during Alice's trial, but it is clearly his wife who pulls the strings
VA: Dink Trout
Trivia:
(Interesting information about the Carroll book and the Disney movie)~ Characters who were in the Carroll books and were supposed to end up in the movie but made it to the cutting room floor include, the Jabberwocky, the Gryphon, the Mock Turtle, the Duchess, and Humpty Dumpty (sequel anyone?)
~ The poems "You Are Old Father William" and "How Doth the Little Crocodile" are parodies of Victorian-era poems that were written with the intent to instill proper model behavior in young children. "How Doth the Little Crocodile," makes fun of "How Doth the Little Busy Bee" and "You Are Old Father William" is a parody of a poem about a wise virtuous old man.
~ The Queen of Hearts was written to be a thinly disguised parody of Queen Victoria, known for her dumpy stature, her uptight morals, and her bad temper. (Queen Victoria is also the inspiration for the Duchess in "Wonderland" and the Red Queen in "Looking Glass")
~ The "painting the roses red" scene is a commentary on the War of the Roses- the English Civil War that occurred in the 15th century. Two houses, The House of York and The House of Lancaster fought for the throne of England. Both sides chose a rose (red for Lancaster white for York) as their emblem. The "painting" refers to nobles who dropped their allegiance and joined whichever side appeared to be winning.
~ The Mad Hatter, The March Hare, and the Dormouse are supposed to be parodies of the wealthy, foppish, dandy, Englishmen.
~ The phrases "mad as a hatter," "mad as a march hare", and grinning like a Cheshire cat" were not inspired by Carroll's book. In fact, they were common clichés in his day.
~ Why is the Mad Hatter mad? In the olden days, hatters would use mercury to help fashion their hats. Mercury was very poisonous and would get into the hatters' systems while they were working. Quite often this resulted in madness and very rarely death.
~ Why is the March Hare mad? Hares are often in heat during the month of march and this results in hyperactive insane behavior.
~ There are actually two answers to the infamous "why is a raven like a writing desk?" riddle: The first is because Edgar Allen Poe wrote on both. The second (supplied by Carroll himself) is they are both flat and used for notes.
~ There are two possibilities to the symbolism of "The Walrus and the Carpenter" poem
The first is religious in nature by comparing the carpenter to Jesus Christ and the walrus to Peter and the oysters to the disciples who are willing to follow Jesus to the end.
The second (more probable theory) is of a more political nature. The Walrus and the carpenter are supposed to represent England, while the oysters represent all of the small colonies and territories that England conquered during the Age of the British Empire.~ The "William the Conqueror" passage that Alice's sister reads from is actually lifted from a textbook that was in frequent use during Carroll's day.
~ "Alice in Wonderland" has been criticized for its constant references to drugs, but keep in mind: many of the drugs that are now illegal, such as cocaine, morphine, and opium, were not only legal in Carroll's time, but heavily encouraged for medicinal purposes!
Favorite links:
Lenny's Alice in Wonderland Home Page
It is a marvelous site with information about the Carroll book and the Disney movie, also where the pictures and most of the trivia came from.
~ Auburn Red
Fanfic:
Disney quest by Sarah
This page created by Auburn Red