If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense. Nothing would be what it is, because everything would be what it isn't. And contrariwise, what it is, it wouldn't be, and what it wouldn't be, it would. You see?
Number 13 in the Disney Animated Canon, this 1951 adaptation of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland was a long time coming. Walt Disney was a lifelong fan of the book and wanted to make it a decade earlier, but another production of the story was being produced elsewhere at the time, prompting the studio to shelf it for a while. Then World War II happened and they lost a lot of their budget on war films. Some years of Development Hell turned the film from into a more wacky, comedic cartoon in the same vein as The Emperor's New Groove and a very odd entry in the Disney canon.It performed poorly in theaters initially but over time fan appreciation of it as one of Disney's funniest grew. If you're looking for the 2010 Tim Burton film, also by Disney, visit here. It inspired three attractions in the Disney Theme Parks, most prominent being the famous spinning teacups ride, which each resort has a variation of. Disneyland also has a conventional dark ride based on the film, and Disneyland Paris has a Wonderland labyrinth. When Slave Labor Graphics had the licenses to produce different Disney comics, they published a sequel miniseries simply titled Wonderland, in which the White Rabbit's unseen maid Mary Ann gets her Day in the Limelight and has to save her boss when he is blamed for being responsible for the havoc Alice wrought on Wonderland.
Adaptation Dye-Job: Alice's hair color is never mentioned in the books, but her real-life namesake, Alice Liddell, was a brunette. Here, she's blonde. This follows the precedent set by Tenniel's illustrations from the books, which were based on a different model and not meant to look like the real-life Alice.
In Lewis Carroll's book, no one is actually in any danger of being executed by the Queen of Hearts. The King secretly pardons anyone she sentences to death, and it's implied that the inhabitants of Wonderland simply choose to humor her. The Griffin confirms that nobody is really killed.
Heck, the King himself, who's gone from pardoning executions to openly supporting them!
King of Hearts: [after the Queen sentences another card to death] Off with his head! Off with his head! By order of the King! You heard what she said! Later King of Hearts: [running after Alice using his giant crown as a megaphone] YOU HEARD WHAT HER MAJESTY SAID! OFF WITH HER HEAD!
The Walrus in "The Walrus and the Carpenter". While neither he nor the Carpenter were particularly good people in the original poem (Alice notes that the Walrus showed remorse for his actions but still ate more oysters than the Carpenter, while the Carpenter ate as many as he could), he was much more remorseful in the poem. Here, however, he's depicted as an arrogant, manipulative, greedyevil aristocrat.
Censorship by Spelling: A G-rated example. Alice spells out C-A-T in an attempt to stop the Dormouse from going berserk.
Chekhov's Gun: Subverted. It looks like the size-changing mushrooms will get Alice away from the Queen, but taking both of them at once (since she couldn't remember which piece would make her grow) almost immediately returns her back to her normal size just in time for a frenzied chase.
Closing Credits: The first picture in the Disney Animated Canon to include these (the only one until The Black Cauldron), a list of characters and their voice actors scrolls after the "The End" card.
The Queen of Hearts is a combination of the Queen of Hearts, the Duchess, and the Red Queen. The line "All ways are my ways" is from the Red Queen and is The Artifact here, as it refers to her being a chess piece who can go in every direction. Also, Pat's role is given to the Dodo.
The Dormouse has the Mouse's fear of cats.
The Hatter's "unbirthday" schtick, which replaces the novel's explanation for the Tea Party, is actually taken from Humpty-Dumpty's dialogue.
Darker and Edgier: This movie is clearly darker than the original book. Why? The cards that the Queen sentences to decapitation. In the book, the King pardons them. In this movie, though, they don't get any mercy like that.
DVD Commentary: The Masterpiece Edition DVD became Disney's first two-disc DVD, outside of the Walt Disney Treasures collection, not to include an audio commentary. This would eventually become rectified for the 60th Anniversary Blu-Ray, when historians of Disney animation and/or classic literature teamed up for a picture-in-picture commentary titled, "Through the Keyhole: A Companion's Guide to Wonderland."
Fan Disservice: When the Queen of Hearts falls down in her croquet game.
Fantastic Racism: The flowers are very nice and accommodating to Alice until they discover she is not a flower. Then they become hostile, having decided that if she is not a flower, she must be a weed.
False Friend: The Cheshire cat. He gives Alice horrible advice on who to ask for help, get her in trouble with the queen constantly, and causes a big chase scene at the end with everyone in Wonderland after Alice. Too bad Alice didn't realize this sooner about him..
Mind Screw: Aside from the obvious, there's the way Alice escapes from Wonderland; she wakes up by dreaming that her dream self is begging her real self to wake up.
Mood Whiplash: "Very Good Advice", in which Alice sings about her personal flaws and breaks into tears, feels out-of-place to some people, especially since it comes in between the parts where Alice explores the Tulgey Wood and the Cheshire Cat tells her to visit the Queen of Hearts.
Panty Shot: The Queen of Hearts' white, heart-printed, ankle-length bloomers are on display after the Cheshire Cat causes her to flip over and upside down, with a flamingo used as a croquet mallet or club to lift up her dress.
Parental Bonus: In "Painting the Roses Red," the Ace blames the Deuce, who blames the Trey. The queen echoes the Ace: "The deuce, you say?" The 1950 viewing audience would have recognized, "The deuce, you say!" as their older generation's slang term for "Bullshit!"
A furious carpenter turns red when he comes back to find the oysters had been devoured by the walrus and he chases after him with his hammer.
The caterpillar turns red twice. Once when Alice inadvertently offends him about his height and he hurriedly puffs away on his hookah before the smoke engulfs him and he turns into a butterfly; the other time after having become a butterfly and Alice bugs him with a question concerning directions.
The irascible Queen of Hearts gets red-faced twice. Once after having been turned upside down during the croquet game with a flamingo-for-a-mallet (thanks to the Cheshire Cat) and automatically presuming that Alice was responsible for the act, and accusing her of it; the other time when she shouts for silence at the trial.
Visual Pun: Several. Bread-and-butterflies, horsefly, and so on...
World of Ham: Wonderland is quite loud and dramatic, but Queen of Hearts and the March Hare stand out as the hammiest.
Would Hurt a Child: The Queen of Hearts is perfectly willing to have a little girl beheaded.
Yank the Dog's Chain: When Alice meets the mome raths, they help her find a path out of Wonderland. Unfortunately, as she runs down it and cheers that she will finally return home, a dog with broom bristles on its head and tail appears and sweeps the path away. It's hard not to share Alice's frustration afterward.