'Alice of Wonderland in Paris' is one of three animated adaptations based on the classic Lewis Carroll novel I have seen so far, the other two being the Disney version (the best one) and the Hanna Barbera version I saw on Cartoon Network when I was younger. I have seen this version on YouTube a few times and it was adequate yet surreal.
This version has five mini-stories (the majority of which I hadn't heard of prior to seeing this film) that intertwine with the main plot of a 'businessmouse' named Francois escorting Alice to Paris and a couple of elements from the original novel such as Alice's cat Dinah and Alice shrinking when she bites into the cheese. My favourite stories were the Madeline ones because they reminded me of watching the 90s version of the cartoon, even though this film was made before. I didn't find the other stories as engaging but the 'Anatole' story had the clever addition of a lift inside a table leg. The camera movements were choppy as was some of the character animation while the character designs themselves were as straightforward as their lip sync. Due to the number of different stories intertwined in this film, the pace dragged on throughout, even though the film itself was less than an hour long. The music is pleasant and I like the authenticity of it in parts as well. One sound effect that was used in this was also used in the 'Tom and Jerry' shorts made between 1960 and 1962, which was understandable since this film and the shorts were directed by the same person. I also liked the voice acting, particularly from Alice and Francois, but it often sounded crackly. In spite of the crackly sound quality of the voices, I liked the clever if sometimes repetitive dialogue, especially when it linked to the five mini-stories. What surprised me was the fact that James Thurber wrote the story 'Many Moons' and another story he wrote that I'd heard of is 'The Unicorn in the Garden,' which was also made into a work of animation. I also liked Madeline's dream of meeting Alice because this gives the main plot some sort of a full circle if Alice wanted to meet Madeline in the first place.
Overall this is probably the most bizarre animated adaptation of 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland' I have seen with its music, Madeline segments, dialogue and voice acting as its most positive aspects. 7/10.
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