Rankin Bass' Alice In Wonderland

Strangely enough, Rankin Bass did two versions of Louis “Dodo” Carol classic. One is an animated special of the TV show of That Girl (the name of the show, not the vague specific.), and the other is a story to Family Festival Special episode 14.

Unfortunately, I can only find the opening and tea party scene in That Girl in Wonderland. So I’m reviewing other version.

Alice is bored of reality, until she sees a rabbit in a red coat going down the rabbit hole with curiosity. After figuring out which bottle is the correct size for her to be for the small door, she entered Wonderland. Wonderland is filled with everyone being backwards and mad; featuring the lazy caterpillar, the Cheshire Cat, the Mad Hatter, the barely “March” Hare, Mock Turtle, and the kingdom of the Red Queen of Heart.

Throughout my life, I was looking for a better version of the Wonderland story that isn’t the obvious Disney version I known the longest. The closest I found was a Betty Boop cartoon, the two versions of Lou Bunin’s stop motion version, an anime series, and a Christmas special of the Two Ronnies.

There’s a weird choice of what’s the best age for Alice to be in Wonderland. You have either an 8 year old that would cry too much in the Festival of Family Classics, or around 20 year old that knows too much to either sound pandering in That Girl In Wonderland or being as dull as a frozen piece of grass? Personally I would lean towards Marlo Thomas of That Girl in Wonderland in terms of design, voice, and cries the least than assuming Peggi Loder in the Festival of Family Classic version.

Weird enough, Disney’s version is probably the right age of 14-16. She’s not young enough to know little, but she not old enough, unless the remastered version would edit her lips rosie red to show an age difference somehow. It’s very similar to Judy Garland being Dorothy in Wizard of Oz. Both characters were originally a little girl in a blue dress at a magical world, but child actors were mostly difficult to work with at the time, with the exception of Shirley Temple as the one of the first choice of casting. So they use choose teen actors to play the character. If the actors are good, then they make a landmark, and both Garland and Kathryn Beamount has set the bar at their highest.

Wonderland’s background is decent, but naturally it’s inpassible to go beyond the background of Mary Blair. It went further with Wonderland being Wonderful than having Wonderland to just be a land of giant mushroom without inviting Mario Mario. Yet somehow they were closest to get the March Hare (voiced by Jerry Colona) to go by his name, and in a moment you’ll realize is creepy after his certain question. (Thanks, Bobsheaux!)

This is just a decent short TV version. The colors have more life than Golden Time’s mostly orange Wonderland or Tim Burton’s Grown Up Alice Return to Gray Underland and the foamed in sequel. It’s definitely more living than the animated 2010 MS Paint version with the 1940’s recording with Dinah Shore and Arthur Q. Bryan; the voice of Elmer Fudd.

If you can find That Girl in Wonderland in full, that would be something to be curiouser and curiouser to check out. If you’re interested to see the Festival of Family Classic version, you’ll have your short fill. Otherwise, it’s best to move down to a better door to a different Wonderland.

Next time, I’ll review a Robinson film, this time is Robinson Crusoe. There’s that awkward feeling again that’s slightly different here.