Comparing Disney's "Alice" and Svankmajer's "Alice"

This past week we viewed two very different of supposedly the same story. The first "Alice in Wonderland" was made by Disney. The second film we watched was "Alice" directed by Czech Republican director Svankmejer. These two films are vastly different. The Czech Republic film was very weird in my opinion. One major difference was the cutting of a lot of dialogue. In the Czech film it was all Alice’s expression and the stuffed animals action that narratred the film. also there was something chilling about the way there were close up of the girl's mouth when she who said something. But in the Disney film there were many characters that all had many lines and personalities. There were no “he said, she said” lines.

The colors in the movies also played a major role. In the Svankmejer film the colors were very muted and the whole film had a very dusty look. It made the adventure Alicec went on seem dangerous. In the Disney version, the colors were fantastically bright, full of pastels and hues that excited the eye.

The movement of both films also played a major role. In the Svakmejer film the scenes dragged on and all the movement was the stop-motion. It was too choppy for me personally. The repetition of the tea party scene bothered me. The constant stream of the tea dripping down, the shoes moving seats, then the hatter pulling the string of the eye of the hare dorm repeated over and over was not needed. I get that the constant movement went back to the parts in the story when the mad hatter always wanted a clean cup, but the number of times in the Svankmejer was a little much. As a contrast, the Disney scenes moved fast and were still complete.

With the animation factor, Disney was able to show more but I think it stayed truer to the story being told about a young girl. If the story was written for a young girl, Alice Liddell, then the film representing it should appeal to that age group. The Disney version achieved this. it was a fun adventure full of humor and fantasy. Svankmejer’s film, I felt, was geared towards a different audience. With the silence and small sounds of toys moving throughout the scenes, the film took on a darker tone.