"Operation Wonderland" (HD, 11-minutes) is a newly upgraded featurette which follows Walt Disney during one of his visits to the production of the film as they were working on it. "Reflections on Alice" (SD, 13-minutes) is a short look at the development of the film. The majority of extras are located in the "Classic DVD Bonus Features" section. Not your average kid's game, this one can be tricky! Using your remote, you try to paint the Queen's roses red in a logic game where you have to toggle groupings of the flowers' colors. The only item in this section is the interactive "Painting the Roses Red Game". There are two more of these introductions, in the "Classic DVD Features" section. "Walt Disney Color TV Introduction (1959)" (HD, 1-minute) a never-aired introduction to the film by Walt Disney. The "Family Play" section contains just two items. "Reference Footage: Alice and the Doorknob" (HD, 2-minutes) is a brief sample of some of the live-action material that was filmed for animators to use as reference, and "Pencil Test: Alice Shrinks" (HD, 1-minute) is a very rare look at an original 60-year old pencil test for a classic sequence in the film. It's kind of like a "Maximum Movie Mode", and more than just a normal picture-in-picture. After a video introduction by voice actress Kathryn Beaumont, the film plays while various picture-in-picture content explores Lewis Carroll's life, his development of Alice, the history of Disney's version(s) of the film, animation production, music, song development, and so much more. Starting with "Backstage Disney", the new content starts with the biggest inclusion: "Through the Keyhole: A Companion's Guide to Wonderland" (HD, 76-minutes). All of the material from the DVD has been included here, as well as a few new goodies for the Blu-ray. The supplements for Alice in Wonderland are quite extensive. Considering the age of the source material, it certainly sounds quite solid, but won't hold much of a candle to recent animated films. Similarly, the film's 14 songs sound exceptionally clean. The music by Oliver Wallace sounds clean and takes advance of the full audio range. Dialogue is usually from the center channel, with sound effects and music taking up much of the sides and surrounds. Of course, a new dynamic English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track has been created for the release, and it sounds quite good. As this was one of the earlier features released by the studio, it is presented in a windowboxed 1.33:1 aspect ratio, but "DisneyView" lets one watch it with original artwork by Michael Humphries on the sides created for various scenes that gently support the color palettes.Īudio is presented initially in a restored Dolby Digital 2.0 mono track, which has been cleaned up sufficiently enough to satisfactory recreate a very solid but center-heavy presentation. While the animation style is decidedly 'old school', there is no grain to indicate the 24-fps film rate, and every inked line is solid and colors truly vibrant and bursting off the screen. Once again, we have now yet another classic Disney animated feature that looks like it was filmed this year. I don't know who does the restoration and cleanup on the Disney animated films for HD Blu-ray releases, but they should get an award for their efforts. It's a fun film to watch, and in time for the 60th Anniversary of its release, it comes out on Blu-ray with a new HD transfer and healthy number of extras. The sheer number of songs also stands out, with the film coming across more as a light opera than a musical. Classic moments - from the Mad Hatter (Ed Wynn) and his tea party, to the Queen of Hearts (Verna Felton) and her croquet game played with storks - are found in abundance in this film. And he succeed - the film is entertaining and light, even when it doesn't make sense. While the novels were clearly used more as inspiration for the storyline rather than a traditional straight-up adaptation, Alice in Wonderland was clearly Disney's attempt at trying to bring a literarily challenging work to a wider audience. In fact, Alice in Wonderland features the most songs of any Disney animated musical - fourteen musical numbers, to be precise. There she meets a variety of unique creatures in a seemingly endless array of situations and songs. A pet project of Disney's for years before being made, Alice in Wonderland follows the exploits of young Alice (voiced by Kathryn Beaumont) after she falls down a rabbit hole and ends up in Wonderland. Based on the classic Lewis Carroll novels Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its follow-up Through the Looking-Glass, Walt Disney's 1951 animated feature Alice in Wonderland remains one of the studio's most disjointed projects, even sixty years after it hit theaters.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |