Way Back Wednesday - Alice in Wonderland

Alice in Wonderland is one of my favorite books - I even did my college thesis on Alice from Alice' Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass. With the highly anticipated release of Tim Burton's version of Alice on Friday and my youngest daughter suggestions of Disney movies for Way Back Wednesday, I'm highlighting the Disney version of Alice in Wonderland.


Alice in Wonderland is an animated movie produced by Walt Disney, first released in 1951. Based on Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass, this film was made under the supervision of Walt Disney himself and is often regarded as some of the finest work in Disney studio history.

Most of you know the plot of this movie: Alice is resting on the bank of a river, listening to her older sister read aloud. Alice nods off to sleep and dreams of living in a world of nonsense. The next thing you know, she is following a talking white rabbit down a rabbit hole and ends up in the nonsense world of Wonderland.

Once in Wonderland, Alice meets all types of characters: the Caterpillar, the DoDo bird, Tweedledee and Tweedledum (who are actually in the book Through the Looking Glass), the Cheshire Cat, the Mad Hatter, the March Hare and the Red Queen, just to name a few.



Favorite quotes from the movie:

Caterpillar: Who... are... you?
Alice: Why, I hardly know, sir. I've changed so much since this morning, you see...
Caterpillar: No, I do not C, explain yourself.
Alice: I'm afraid I can't explain myself, you see, because I'm not myself, you know.
Caterpillar: I do not know.
Alice: I can't put it any more clearly, sir, because it isn't clear to me.

Alice: But I don't want to go among mad people.
Cheshire Cat: Oh, you can't help that. Most everyone's mad here.
[laughs maniacally; starts to disappear]
Cheshire Cat: You may have noticed that I'm not all there myself.

Tweedle Dum: If you think we're waxworks, you ought to pay, you know.
Tweedle Dee: Contrarywise, if you think we're alive you ought to speak to us.
Tweedle Dee, Tweedle Dum: That's logic.

Alice: Oh, pooh. I'm not afraid of you. Why, you're nothing but a pack of cards.

Alice: Curiouser and curiouser

Alice: I'm sorry I interrupted your birthday party. Thank you.
March Hare: Birthday? My dear child, this is NOT a birthday party.
Mad Hatter: Of course not. This is an unbirthday party.

Queen of Hearts: I warn you dear child, if I lose my temper, you lose your head. Understand?

The Rose: Just what species or, shall we say, genus are you, my dear?
Alice: Well, I guess you would call me... genus, humanus... Alice.
Daisy: Ever see an alice with a blossom like that?
Orchid: Come to think of it, did you ever see an alice?