Alice in Wonderland

Summary: Alice spots a white rabbit with a pocket watch and follows him down into a very strange, wondrous, possibly dangerous land.

Warnings: There is some smoking, most notably with the Caterpillar, who has a hookah and even rudely blows smoke in Alice’s face. There is some mild drug references (for example, Alice eats ‘magic mushrooms’ and drinks strange potions). There is general meanness, including threats of death. There is a story-within-a-story where a Walrus eats a group of cute, innocent baby clams which is disturbing.

Opinion: Definitely not my favorite Disney classic animation film. Everyone in this movie is mean to Alice, it seems. They yell at her, threaten her, endanger her, mock her, and otherwise are simply not nice. This is the main thing my own children came away from this movie thinking about, which isn’t a great testimony. The disturbing story of the Walrus and the clams down right horrified my sensitive seven year old to the point of tears.

On the good points, the different scenes do change rapidly, so Alice is rarely in any bad circumstance for very long, and the various encounters are very creative and vibrantly animated. This is a beautiful film, really. In the end, this whole movie is shown to be a dream, which can help alleviate some of the distress a child might feel over the atmosphere of this film.

Overall, if this wasn’t such a famous version of this book, I don’t think I’d recommend it.

Sequels/Remakes: There are many, many versions of this book, but this is hands down the most famous.

Educational Value: 1 out of 3 stars. Despite the minor moral lessons, nothing is really educational in this series.

Cultural value: 5 out of 5 stars. This is a very famous movie, and created several iconic images or songs. Most people know about the disappearing Cheshire Cat and un-birthdays and the “I’m late, I’m late, I’m late” White Rabbit.

Age rating: This show is appropriate for ages 6 and older, unless you have a very sensitive child who is easily upset, in which case I recommend waiting a year or two at least as this isn’t a kind film.

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