Alice of Wonderland in Paris (1966) User Reviews

Typical non-Disney animation from the mid 1960's

[dbborroughs · 5/10 · 28 June 2009]

Alice goes to Paris with the help of a friendly mouse and interacts long enough to have various stories told.

I had seen this a while back while trying to see what stories were told since some one had told me this had versions of some children's stories in it (Madeline and some others)

It's typical animated feature animation wise of the Non Disney variety from the period. Very enjoyable, but not something you'll want to search out, then again if it was on there would be worse ways to spend an hour, or a buck or two on the DVD if you ran across it in a bargain bin.

5 out of 10 over all with some pieces better than others

Alice Wrapper for Other Stories

[Cineanalyst · 4/10 · 21 August 2020]

"Alice of Wonderland in Paris" doesn't have much to do with Lewis Carroll's books; indeed, this limited-animation feature has very little to do with itself. Seemingly, a connective outer narrative was created to bring together five otherwise separate cartoon shorts. Then, it was sold as a feature-length anthology film. This was still rather short for a feature, and so during its theatrical run, it was paired with another short cartoon. In the feature, Alice of Wonderland reads "Madeline" and so wants to visit Paris. She looks through the mirror, à la "Through the Looking Glass," and sees a French mouse appear. The mouse leads her to Paris after he tells the first unrelated inner story. Their trip to Paris is accomplished by Alice eating some magic cheese to make her shrink to a size able to fit through the mouse hole (as opposed to the rabbit hole of "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland"). The nested narratives include "Anatole," about another rodent cheese connoisseur; two Madeline stories: "Madeline and the Bad Hat" and "Madeline and the Gypsies;" and two especially-irrelevant royal fairy tales: "The Frowning Prince" and "Many Moons." Alice and the mouse take turns as storyteller. In the end, Alice discovers that Madeline of Paris is likewise reading about Alice of Wonderland. Small world, huh.

Delightfully weird. Very little to do with Lewis Carroll's heroine, however.

[mark.waltz · 6/10 · 2 February 2023]

There are some definite animated visuals in this very short cartoon feature that are much more adult in them, and even adults will have a difficult time deciphering what the purpose of the film is. They will also have a difficult time doubting the fact that the creators seemed to be on something when they made this as the flow from Alice discussing her desire to visit Paris and the animated sequences that follow is very strange. Alice seems to be intrigued with the character of the little French girl, Madeline, and indeed that little girl does appear for a little bit.

At times, it's easy to be so perplexed by what's going on that it becomes distracting, but a sequence involving a magician and a king has a list of weird things that resulted in some chuckles from me. Don't watch this thinking that it has anything to do with Wonderland or the Looking Glass even though both are mentioned, and it's a sign of things to come with the Harry Potter books and movies when the invisible cape pops up in the magician's list of weird things. Students of animation will definitely be intrigued by this, yeah it will never be a compared to the classic Disney films as well as other classic animated films and other Studios made during the golden age. A few voices are hard to decipher as the credited familiar names, but this is certainly an unforgettable trip, worth a view mainly out of curiosity than for any other reason.

"Alice of Wonderland in Paris" AKA "Alice in Paris" AKA "Alice in a New Wonderland"

[Bernie4444 · 5/10 · 4 May 2024]

Part of the Paramount "Family Matinee" series.

This is a Madeline story then a version of Alice. 1966 animation. And a gawd awful fake French accent mouse voice of Allen Swift.

Introducing stories by: Gene Deitch (also the director) Ludwig Bemelmans - stories "Madeline and the Bad Hat", "Madeline and the Gypsies" Crockett Johnson - story "The Frowning Prince" James Thurber - story "Many Moons" Eve Titus - story "Anatole"

I shan't go into details per se. But if you're expecting a version of Alice in Wonderland this is not the film for you. Alice does eat mushroom cheese.

However, if you're interested in Madeline and some interesting stories for kids this is not a bad animated film.

Legendary status?

[thewingman_inc · 7/10 · 21 April 2007]

Well, not legendary, however, timeless, maybe. My 3 year old and I just watched this film again, not that Digiview put it out on DVD, and she remained focused on the film from beginning to end. So, that says a lot! The story wasn't wonderful, but the way it grabbed my daughter's attention, was unique! I was also a bit amused as I watched this film. Realizing that I was watching this classic (meaning "old") of a film, and hearing Rob Reiner's voice was quite cool! Another rather cool thing is knowing that I can find films like this thru grocery stores like Walgreens & CVS. Although, one thing was...it was called something else. When I bought the film, it was called "Alice in Paris" but it was actually the very same film!

A quirky spin on a classic story

[Stompgal_87 · 7/10 · 29 July 2013]

'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.