Alice in Wonderland: 60th Anniversary Edition Blu-ray, 2011

[Disneykid]

Cover art and preliminary specs on the front page!

The reference footage of Alice and the doorknob sounds really exciting as I was under the impression all of the live-action footage (save for what was shown in "Operation Wonderland") had been lost. I'm also really intrigued at seeing the pencil test animation. I still find it curious that "Through the Keyhole" isn't being called a Cine-Explore. Maybe there won't be a commentary but instead it's a series of PiP video clips and/or pop-up trivia. I guess only time will tell. Toby Bluth's artwork for the "DisneyView" function should look really nice, and I'll definitely check it out at least once.

I still lament the loss of the song demos, but I'm in the process of obtaining those and the other laserdisc features from someone, so I guess I can deal with it.

Oh, and I think the 60th Anniversary art is now my official favorite cover for the film. They used all the same character pieces from the UAE cover art, but re-arranged them in a matter that's less crowded, and they managed to fit in the Doorknob, to boot. The extra space gives the dark tunnel-like background some prominence that brings back the haunted quality of the Masterpiece Edition (something I admit was missing from the UAE). The only thing I'm not feeling is the skewed "60th Anniversary Edition" banner. If that were centered (and the Cheshire cat scooted more to the right), I'd feel better about it. Still, I'm sure this is only a rough draft. I'll feel more sure of whether or not this'll be my favorite when I see a high-res image of the final art.

[SmartAleck25]

I think it really does capture the dreamy quality of AiW, but Alice's position seems kind of awkward. I do agree with you that the 60th Anniversary Banner is kind of off.

[PatrickvD]

I've seen much worse cover arts. It's kind of nice. And always nice to see another classic on Blu-ray.

[Cordy_Biddle]

I do like the way that this cover gives a more, shall we say, "nightmarish" or surreal tone to the movie. It's not as cartoony as some of the Disney covers we've seen in the past. A nice change here, and mostly for the better. I'm looking forward to this BD!

[disneyboy20022]

I do like the way that this cover gives a more, shall we say, "nightmarish" or surreal tone to the movie. It's not as cartoony as some of the Disney covers we've seen in the past. A nice change here, and mostly for the better. I'm looking forward to this BD!

My time on BD...sorry this may be off topic but it's a fun fact anyway

You Know the first time I told my parents about BD Discs they asked? Michael we already know you have a Behavior Disorder called autism

[SwordInTheStone777]

I'll probably get it, but I hope this release means we get the special features this movie deserves.

This would be an interesting inclusion to add to this release.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPseHQ3PwSs


I found this a couple months ago.

[Flanger-Hanger]

Everything sounds good so far as much as I too would like to see all the laserdisc content included too.

Wasn't excepting it to show up in 3 months time, but can't say I'm upset about that.

[Wonderlicious]

Urgh! From the looks of that cover art, I don't think we're getting the correct colours for this film. Again. They really have tarnished this film, I can't enjoy it any more. This is what Alice in Wonderland looked like when it first came out in 1951, courtesy of a lobby card found on Google Images.


©2010 Google Images

See, Tulgey Wood was a warm, healthy forest, Tweedle-Dum and Tweedle-Dee wore blue, and Alice wore a nice red dress, as opposed to awful blue. Plus, they repainted AliDisney probably changed everything coz market research proved that parents wanted a fun, colourful film, full of modesty. Walking in a splintered Wonderland.



Okay, my unfunny attempt at parodying the Beauty and the Beast colour controversy aside. Well, I am looking forward to this, even though I still don't have a Blu-Ray player, as it would be one of the defacto films that I'd get on Blu-Ray even if I were allowed to buy only 10-20 titles on the format, Disney or otherwise. Having said that, after the Fantasia disaster, I'm still going to be cautious, and I'm a bit disappointed/worried that it won't be a two disc release. I'm intrigued by the "Through the Keyhole" feature, and hope it's something at least akin to Cine Explore. The animation and reference clips sound cool. I still would like to see some, if not all, of the laserdisc features. I honestly think a documentary on "The Alice That Never Was" (similar to what was found on the Cinderella and Peter Pan Platinums) would be an easy way of presenting the deleted songs, characters and plot points that featured only on the laserdisc. If only I had my secret links like Kelvin... I also hope that the TV specials from the Masterpiece Edition will feature again as well.

I don't really like the cover art, though. Granted, it's probably better than the sugary sweet birthday look of the Un-Anniversary cover art, and I like the use of the maze. Yet I really don't like how it's another case of slapping a bunch of characters together and hoping for the best; the placement of the door/doorknob in particular looks a bit awkward. I really just wish that Disney would just generally go back to producing cover arts representing one iconic scene in the film and not featuring a bunch of floating heads and randomly placed characters. They did it for the Gold Collection, and for new films (sequel or otherwise) up until 2004/2005 at least, thus proving that they could do it again.

[UmbrellaFish]

I like the cover art. I think it looks nice.

But I'm really excited to be purchasing this one on Blu-Ray!

[zackisthewalrus]

Full list of Bonus Features via http://disneydvd.disney.go.com/alice-in ... ition.html.

-Operation Wonderland (now in hi-def)
-"I'm Odd" newly discovered Cheshire Cat song and intro
-Thru the Mirror Mickey Mouse animated short (now in hi-def)
-One-hour in Wonderland
-An Alice Comedy: Alice's Wonderland
-Original theatrical trailers (1951 & 1974)
-Through the Keyhole: A Companion's Guide to Wonderland: View the movie in this special mode and discover references to the original Lewis Carroll classic, introduced by the voice of Alice, Kathryn Beaumont
-Disney View: Watch the movie in this expanded viewing experience with new Disney art in the wings of the screen
-Painting the Roses Red game: Help paint the roses red in the Queen's garden. Careful, or someone could lose their head!
-Walt Disney color TV introduction (1959): A never-before-seen color TV intro by Walt
-Reference Footage: Alice and the Doorknob: Kathryn Beaumont, provides an introduction to this newly discovered reference footage of Alice talking to the doorknob
-Pencil Test: Alice Shrinks: Kathryn Beaumont introduces a newly discovered pencil test of Alice shrinking
-PLUS, Classic DVD Features:
-Reflections on Alice

[yukitora]

Boy will I be satisfied with that BD. I just hope Australia will retain all these bonus features!

[Disneykid]

Yet I really don't like how it's another case of slapping a bunch of characters together and hoping for the best; the placement of the door/doorknob in particular looks a bit awkward. I really just wish that Disney would just generally go back to producing cover arts representing one iconic scene in the film and not featuring a bunch of floating heads and randomly placed characters. They did it for the Gold Collection, and for new films (sequel or otherwise) up until 2004/2005 at least, thus proving that they could do it again.

See, and I don't like it when Disney focuses on one specific scene. I like my covers to represent the film as a whole, which is why I prefer both the Un-Anniversary and 60th Anniversary covers over the Gold Classic trial scene or the neverending string of mad tea parties during the VHS days. Alice is the probably the only film besides the Fantasias and the anthology features that can get away with randomly-placed characters since it's such a disconnected film to begin with.

As for my mysterious laserdisc sources, there's someone on YouTube who uploads clips from Disney LDs. I asked him if he'd upload the missing Alice supplements, particularly the song demos and radio broadcasts. He said that's be no problem but that it'll take a while. Once he does, I'm going to rip the clips off of YouTube and burn them onto a DVD. If the BD disc contains all of the UAE features, I'll discard the included DVD and stick my DVD-R in its place to make my own definitive edition.

As for the newly-released specs list:

I was wondering why they were including the Walt Disney TV Intro with the new supplements when we've already had two of them. Color me (pun not intended) surprised that it's actually a newly uncovered one.

I'm hoping Through the Key Hole isn't just about the original books. I already have the amazing Annotated Alice by Martin Gardner that dissects the books in a manner this feature never could. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we get film-relevant stuff here. I'm at least happy to see Kathryn Beaumont being featured so prominently on this set.

Major kudos to Disney for presenting Operation Wonderland and Thru the Mirror in HD, but why not One Hour in Wonderland? Where are the song demos (the released ones)? From Wonderland to Neverland? The other two Walt intros? The art gallery? The two deleted scenes? Those better not have been left out. Then again, Disney's specs lists are never the most reliable. We won't know for sure what's on this set till the reviews start coming in.

[Disney Duster]

BEST ALICE IN WONDERLAND COVER EVER.

Oh, and I think the 60th Anniversary art is now my official favorite cover for the film. They used all the same character pieces from the UAE cover art, but re-arranged them in a matter that's less crowded, and they managed to fit in the Doorknob, to boot. The extra space gives the dark tunnel-like background some prominence that brings back the haunted quality of the Masterpiece Edition (something I admit was missing from the UAE). The only thing I'm not feeling is the skewed "60th Anniversary Edition" banner. If that were centered (and the Cheshire cat scooted more to the right), I'd feel better about it. Still, I'm sure this is only a rough draft. I'll feel more sure of whether or not this'll be my favorite when I see a high-res image of the final art.

Agree, agree, and agree! Well, almost completely. There's still something about the Masterpiece I think I love a little more, but this is still probably the best cover as far as representing the whole film. But I have to add, they not only have the door, they have the table with the size-altering edibles on it! And yes, the dark, shadowy quality is very important to the film (and the idea that it's in her mind), so it's good they have it, too, like the Masterpiece Edition! And I completely agree on the skewered banner Move that cat over! The only other thing I don't agree on is I think this is final artwork. It looks really, really good, so I have no problem with it!

Wondy, I hope you know, we finally did figure out, from an interview with Don Hahn, that they did change Beauty and the Beast's colors. They made it brighter for the IMAX release because the transfer to film made it darker than they wanted.

I also can't believe you don't like this cover. And I don't like when they just have one scene. I like them to get artsy as well as show as much as possible (without looking bad, and this does not look bad).

But here's how it actually does look like a scene from the film:
It looks like this scene.

Or this one:

See, and I don't like it when Disney focuses on one specific scene. I like my covers to represent the film as a whole, which is why I prefer both the Un-Anniversary and 60th Anniversary covers over the Gold Classic trial scene or the neverending string of mad tea parties during the VHS days. Alice is the probably the only film besides the Fantasias and the anthology features that can get away with randomly-placed characters since it's such a disconnected film to begin with.

Agree, agree, and agree again! Except that I also would include the Masterpiece cover as one of the ones that doesn't represent only one scene, verbatim. I hope all Disney covers are like this...

Could I talk to that Laserdisc guy about features for certain other films...?

And I hope that with Alice's pencil test, Cinderella's Blu-ray can get a Pencil test of the dress transformation!

What was "From Wonderland to Neverland"?

[TheSequelOfDisney]

What was "From Wonderland to Neverland"?

From Kelvin's Masterpiece Edition review:

Under Deleted Materials we start with From Wonderland to Neverland: The Evolution of a Song (7 minutes). Like "I'm Odd", this feature begins with an entertaining introduction by Kathryn Beaumont who details the history of how the song "Beyond the Laughing Sky" became "The Second Star to the Right" from Peter Pan. After her intro, two song demos play (one of which is really a sung introduction demo while the other is the actual song) while beautiful pieces of Alice concept art are displayed. This is one of the most fascinating features on disc two, and "Beyond the Laughing Sky" is actually a better song than the one it ended up getting replaced with-"In A World of My Own."

[SmartAleck25]

But here's how it actually does look like a scene from the film:
It looks like this scene.

Or this one:

I think it looks more like she's wandering around in the Tulgey Wood, and all of the other characters happen to be watching her.

[Escapay]

As for my mysterious laserdisc sources, there's someone on YouTube who uploads clips from Disney LDs. I asked him if he'd upload the missing Alice supplements, particularly the song demos and radio broadcasts. He said that's be no problem but that it'll take a while. Once he does, I'm going to rip the clips off of YouTube and burn them onto a DVD. If the BD disc contains all of the UAE features, I'll discard the included DVD and stick my DVD-R in its place to make my own definitive edition.

If it's the same person on youtube that I'm thinking of (a******s1992), I'll likely do the same thing too. Heck, for the Beauty and the Beast Blu-Ray, I ripped a whole bunch of youtube extras (1992 doc, laserdisc extras, tv excerpts, etc.) and burned it to DVD with an LD rip of the film. Makes for a nice 4-disc set that fits well inside the Best Buy tin. Well, technically, my Beauty and the Beast set can be considered an eight disc set: the 2002 DVD (2 discs), the 2010 Blu-Ray (2 discs, excluding the DVD), the DVD-Rs (2 discs), the 2002 soundtrack (1 disc), and a CD-R of additional music (1 disc).

I was wondering why they were including the Walt Disney TV Intro with the new supplements when we've already had two of them. Color me (pun not intended) surprised that it's actually a newly uncovered one.

Based on Bill Cotter's Appendix B - The Anthology Series Schedule, the new Disney tv intro is from the Christmas, 1959 airing of Alice in Wonderland. Cotter's list also has April 5, 1955 and January 9, 1957 as broadcast dates for Alice in Wonderland, but they might have re-used the 1954 intro for those? I think what makes the 1959 intro significant is because it's being presented in color, when in 1959 "Disneyland" was still being broadcast in black and white ("Wonderful World of Color" was 2 years later). Granted, all of "Disneyland" should be available in color anyway since Walt made sure everything was filmed in color, to future-proof it for reruns later when color television would be the norm.

I'm hoping Through the Key Hole isn't just about the original books.

I just hope it's not just a glorified trivia track. I used to love them (the Star Trek ones were among the first I ever watched), but eventually they became far too bland and general, especially the Disney ones (101 Dalmatians and Sleeping Beauty come to mind).

Major kudos to Disney for presenting Operation Wonderland and Thru the Mirror in HD, but why not One Hour in Wonderland?

Because then we'd be given an HD presentation of Song of the South and the fan clamorings for it to be on Blu-Ray because it's on Alice in wonderland would shut down the Disney Customer Service phone line for days. Plus, there's no chance to see the lace collar in HD. So why bother?

Where are the song demos (the released ones)? From Wonderland to Neverland? The other two Walt intros? The art gallery? The two deleted scenes? Those better not have been left out. Then again, Disney's specs lists are never the most reliable.

I have a feeling "Classic DVD Features" has become the new "And Much More!"

It seems weird on the list Disney has on their page that "Reflections on Alice" comes below "PLUS, Classic DVD Features:" when it's relatively new, and the list makes it seem like it's a classic DVD feature. Technically it is, as it is something being ported over, but so are half of what's listed and yet they're not under the "Classic DVD Features" list.

We won't know for sure what's on this set till the reviews start coming in.

I'm looking forward to reading your review. Covering the same movie for the same website four times in a row counts as a record somewhere. Like in The Scaps Book of Crazy Internet Records.

albert

[Disneykid]

If it's the same person on youtube that I'm thinking of (a******s1992), I'll likely do the same thing too.

Yup, that's the one. As soon as stuff starts popping up, I'll post links here (after I've already ripped them in case the Disney police come by).

I just hope it's not just a glorified trivia track. I used to love them (the Star Trek ones were among the first I ever watched), but eventually they became far too bland and general, especially the Disney ones (101 Dalmatians and Sleeping Beauty come to mind).

A trivia track came to my mind, too, and honestly, I wouldn't mind one if it was really well made (I'm particularly fond of the Spider-Man ones, myself). However, I then remembered the BBFC classification. They don't classify subtitle tracks, so this is definitely a 77-minute video feature. What I'm wondering is whether this is a PiP track or if it's going to be like Prince of Persia and Beauty and the Beast's supplements where we seamlessly branch off into video segments. Either way, 77 minutes is a heck of a long time just to do a glorified book-to-film comparison, hence why I'm hoping behind-the-scenes material is thrown in there. Something akin to Walt's Story Meetings on Bambi would be freaking amazing.

Because then we'd be given an HD presentation of Song of the South and the fan clamorings for it to be on Blu-Ray because it's on Alice in wonderland would shut down the Disney Customer Service phone line for days. Plus, there's no chance to see the lace collar in HD. So why bother?

Oh yeah? Well...

<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/OvaU-CeAG_U?fs ... ram><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/OvaU-CeAG_U?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>

I'm looking forward to reading your review. Covering the same movie for the same website four times in a row counts as a record somewhere. Like in The Scaps Book of Crazy Internet Records.

I'm pretty sure Colin Jacobson at DVDMG has already beaten me to the punch since he's pretty much the only person who reviews on that site anymore, and covers re-releases often. Besides, I'm happy with my UAE review of Alice, so I'm just going to copy and paste everything over for the 60th review, modifying whatever's relevant. So it's really more like 3.5 reviews.

[Escapay]

If it's the same person on youtube that I'm thinking of (a******s1992), I'll likely do the same thing too.

Yup, that's the one. As soon as stuff starts popping up, I'll post links here (after I've already ripped them in case the Disney police come by).

Gimme the links before you post them then!

I just hope it's not just a glorified trivia track. I used to love them (the Star Trek ones were among the first I ever watched), but eventually they became far too bland and general, especially the Disney ones (101 Dalmatians and Sleeping Beauty come to mind).

A trivia track came to my mind, too, and honestly, I wouldn't mind one if it was really well made (I'm particularly fond of the Spider-Man ones, myself). However, I then remembered the BBFC classification. They don't classify subtitle tracks, so this is definitely a 77-minute video feature. What I'm wondering is whether this is a PiP track or if it's going to be like Prince of Persia and Beauty and the Beast's supplements where we seamlessly branch off into video segments. Either way, 77 minutes is a heck of a long time just to do a glorified book-to-film comparison, hence why I'm hoping behind-the-scenes material is thrown in there. Something akin to Walt's Story Meetings on Bambi would be freaking amazing.

True, I didn't think of that. I'd love if it were like the Story Meetings, especially since that's an option I want for ALL the animated classics. The stills and footage we see in Cine-Explore for Pinocchio and Sleeping Beauty are great, but I don't want to listen to the commentaries with them (I'm not fond of the Sleeping Beauty one since I'm still biased towards the 2003 one) and would rather have the audio transcripts/re-enactments.

Because then we'd be given an HD presentation of Song of the South and the fan clamorings for it to be on Blu-Ray because it's on Alice in wonderland would shut down the Disney Customer Service phone line for days. Plus, there's no chance to see the lace collar in HD. So why bother?

Oh yeah? Well...

<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/OvaU-CeAG_U?fs ... ram><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/OvaU-CeAG_U?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>

I'm looking forward to reading your review. Covering the same movie for the same website four times in a row counts as a record somewhere. Like in The Scaps Book of Crazy Internet Records.

I'm pretty sure Colin Jacobson at DVDMG has already beaten me to the punch since he's pretty much the only person who reviews on that site anymore, and covers re-releases often. Besides, I'm happy with my UAE review of Alice, so I'm just going to copy and paste everything over for the 60th review, modifying whatever's relevant. So it's really more like 3.5 reviews.

In that case, Colin Jacobson hasn't beaten you yet. Whenever he tackles a re-released title, his movie assessment is a copy-paste from the older review, while the Video/Audio is updated only if it needs changing, and there are new paragraphs about whatever are new extras. You've written three different reviews containing three different assessments at three different times for the same movie, so even if the Blu-Ray will be a 3.5th time reviewing Alice, it'll be more than Jacobson's.

albert

[Wonderlicious]

Yup, that's the one. As soon as stuff starts popping up, I'll post links here (after I've already ripped them in case the Disney police come by).

Gimme the links before you post them then!

Me too, pleeeeeeease.

Wondy, I hope you know, we finally did figure out, from an interview with Don Hahn, that they did change Beauty and the Beast's colors. They made it brighter for the IMAX release because the transfer to film made it darker than they wanted.

Yes, I know. I just wanted to parody the fact that there still are some diehards who are still complaining to the max about said colours (or at least last week there were). But anyway, let's not go there.

See, and I don't like it when Disney focuses on one specific scene. I like my covers to represent the film as a whole, which is why I prefer both the Un-Anniversary and 60th Anniversary covers over the Gold Classic trial scene or the neverending string of mad tea parties during the VHS days. Alice is the probably the only film besides the Fantasias and the anthology features that can get away with randomly-placed characters since it's such a disconnected film to begin with.

I also can't believe you don't like this cover. And I don't like when they just have one scene. I like them to get artsy as well as show as much as possible (without looking bad, and this does not look bad).

Good lord, the world is against me! First of all, I'm not 100% against multiple scene covers, and I don't mind single scene covers taking a slight artistic licence by incorporating characters who technically weren't in that scene (like this to highlight the prominence of the kids in the film, who don't enter cartoon land), placing characters above the title banner (like this to highlight the villain), or maybe even creating a newish scenario in an otherwise concrete environment (some non-US editions from the 90s of Alice in Wonderland went down this route with cover art). What I think the random image covers have the potential to do when not done well is to just end up seeming like a bunch of random characters slapped together. Something like the Peter Pan Platinum cover could be seen in my eyes as an example of folding different elements together well; Peter rose out of the sky like a ghost, but the scene below him was a plausible image of Neverland. Likewise, the Cinderella and Lion King covers (again, just examples), use different images but a background overall the same (at least in colour), and all clicks well together. I understand that Wonderland is an ambiguous dreamy place and not a concrete location like Neverland, Cinderella's kingdom or Pride Rock and its environs, but I don't think that the cover just looks all that great, and doesn't seem to me to be an adequate representation of the film.

First of all, I don't like the use of what appears to be fairy dust. At not one point in the film did I recall a speck of such stuff. I don't mind people calling Alice a fairy tale (since it can be considered so in some ways), but it does not contain fairies, magic wands, pixies, elves or anything. The idea of back-lighting the characters also doesn't work for me, and I dislike how the characters seem to be just floating against a navy blue backdrop; I just find it sloppy and disorganised. The fact that they included some stepping stones as though there's some base for them to lie upon doesn't help, as it seems like they thought "ooh, we've at least implied there's a floor with them, the public will understand, let's not make a whole floor". If anything, they could have at least added a chessboard-esque floor so that the characters don't look like they're floating together against a blue abyss. The Caterpillar feels a bit shoved in, and the Mad Hatter and March Hare look as though they're popping up randomly behind Alice as though they're shouting "Hey, come and join the party!". Of all the things, though, the door and the table look really out of place, and I particularly dislike how the door seems to back onto some leaves/grass (and I really don't like the constant use of the giant leaves/grass, as the majority of characters would tower over it otherwise, though at least they didn't use goofy toadstools). I also agree that the Cheshire Cat should move along a bit to make the "60th Anniversary" banner fit in a bit better.

Now, I should add that I have similar problems with the Fantasia/Fantasia 2000 Blu-Ray cover. Random characters just seem like they're dancing in mid-air around Mickey, and I don't like it, as it seems sloppy, disorganised and reasonably unoriginal. Compare this to the separated images on the original Fantasia 2000 VHS/DVD cover or the separate release that the first film is seeing in some countries (cover here), both of which I think work better.

That's not to say that I hate every single aspect of the cover; it ultimately seems less claustrophobic than the Un-Anniversary cover, and I'm glad they included the maze (even if it looks a bit dimly lit and more akin to something out of a mathematics book). Anyway, I ultimately don't give that big a damn about the cover. As long as we get a good Blu-Ray, there's nothing to get that steamed up about. And just be glad I didn't say something like this:

I didn't think it was possible to rape an eyeball! How wrong was I!

http://www.dvdizzy.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=414175

[SmartAleck25]

First of all, I don't like the use of what appears to be fairy dust. At not one point in the film did I recall a speck of such stuff.

There's something like it when Alice looks up at the Dormouse floating down with the umbrella singing Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Bat (but it's really just birthday candle sparks, I guess).