Okay, now THIS is a movie to watch while high. It’s part of the whole psychedelic, stoner, drug culture thing. The colors, the whimsical nature of it, the weird fanciful story, it all adds to the weed/psychedelic drug culture. But that hippie/hipster/druggie thing didn’t really seem to be the mainstream until the second half of the 1960s, but this movie came out in 1951. The early 50s were marked by extreme conformity. Men worked and women cooked, men wore suits and hats, women wore dresses, men had short hair, everyone was pro-U.S. and anti-communist, everyone lived in rows of houses that looked exactly alike. Deviation from the norm was highly suspect. So this movie is kind of ahead of its time, I would say. You’d think it would have been released in 1968. I get that it’s still a cartoon “kids” movie, but if there’s any Disney movie that’s a stoner movie, it’s this.
Anyway, Alice starts off by wishing that she could live in a world of nonsense, where there’s no rhyme or reason or logic at all. Then she immediately regrets it. She wanted a world without reason, then she’s mad like “Why is this talking doorknob not using logic? Why is he making no sense? Why is this smoking bird telling me to get dry by running around in the water? Why does no one make sense?” Girl, you asked for this.
There’s so many characters in this movie, and, even with small screentime, they make strong impressions. Like the Mad Hatter is not in the movie for the entire movie. He’s not in it all that much, but we really know the Mad Hatter, he’s a full side character, and this movie is full of full side characters. The Mad Hatter, the Cheshire Cat, the March Hare, the Walrus and the Carpenter, the Caterpillar, and the Queen of Hearts are all great full side characters.
I like the Walrus and the Carpenter the best. I used to love reciting his rhyming song/poem/dialogue. To talk of other things, like shoes and ships and sealing wax [I thought it was ceiling wax as a kid], cabbages and kings! I love that. Makes no sense, but it’s fun to say!
The voice of the White Rabbit is so funny to me. He’s perfectly frantic. And the way he calls Alice “Marianne!” [or Mary Anne?] adds a certain flavor to the nonsense that I like. Having someone think you’re someone else, and refusing to change their mind, is distressing and weird. Honestly, all of the voice acting is amazing. The Mad Hatter is perfect, the Cheshire Cat is perfect, the Walrus is perfect, the Queen of Hearts is perfect. I think it’s interesting that the voice of the Queen of Hearts is the same person as the voice of the Fairy Godmother. She’s so soft as the Fairy Godmother but in this movie she screams!
I like the dark aspects of this movie because they’re not as “in-your-face” as other Disney movies. With this movie it’s like it’s dark when you think about it a bit. Like the Walrus and the Carpenter scene portrays the oysters as like little kids, but then they just get devoured. Pretty dark, but it’s not presented in a dark way. It’s whimsical! Also they blast this lizard way up in the sky to his doom. And the bird just dismisses it like “There goes Bill..” And then there’s the Queen ordering executions by decapitation for trivial things.
I hate those flowers though, they’re assholes to Alice, making fun of her. Fuck them, especially that one flower that has glasses, she’s the worst. But the scene is still beautiful. Giving the flowers faces and personalities and musicality was done perfectly. And the song is lovely. The Caterpillar is kind of a dick too, screaming in Alice’s face.
There’s never a dull moment in this movie. The Mad Hatter scene has the most chaotic energy of the whole movie. There’s so much going on, so much being said, so much being done, and so much to look at. It’s awesome!
I think this is one of the best Disney animated movies of all time. It’s the most fun. Get high and watch it!
Lefty Forrester 