Alice (1988)
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Alice Movie Review
Alice is a 1988 Czech surrealist dark fantasy stop-motion animated film directed by Jan Svankmajer. It is one of the director’s most respected works.
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“A film for Children. Perhaps!“
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Jan Svankmajer is one of the most renowned stop-motion animators and the most important Czech filmmaker working in animation. His films are surreal and more mature in style and atmosphere, which makes them limited in appeal, but perfect for the animation enthusiasts.
1988’s Alice is this very dark and horror-oriented adaptation of Lewis Carroll’s ‘Alice in Wonderland’. Most critics compared this movie favorably to the much more famous Disney version, but I am not going to do that. In fact, I find these comparisons horribly misguided and inappropriate as they just confirm the reviewers’ bias toward child-friendly storytelling. It is possible to praise this movie without trashing the classic Disney movie. I actually preferred the Disney version, but this one also has its merits.
Alice is an extremely dark fantasy that features an ominous atmosphere that grips viewers into submission. It’s quite creepy and otherworldly. My only issue here is that the atmosphere is so dark that the film was begging for the horror treatment, which unfortunately never happened as it only veered toward that approach without fully committing to it.
But still, it’s a gorgeous-looking movie that represents just how potent stop-motion can be in terms of storytelling, mood and world building. This is undoubtedly one of the best-looking stop-motion movies of all time. The character designs are particularly worthy of praise as the main Alice doll looked great and the other creations from the White Rabbit all the way to the more secondary Wonderland citizens looked both authentic and eerie.
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There is a sense of roughness to these creations that makes them more realistic and more disturbing. It was the perfect choice for this dark fantasy and the fact that it featured so many of these characters and locations made for such an ambitious undertaking. It’s a whole world that Svankmajer created and it was glorious to witness.
Alice is also strengthened by its impressive sound that is ambient and extremely immersive, making you feel like you entered this world yourself. The score is also strong, the editing is fantastic and the directing overall was superb. The pacing is slow and the movie requires patience from viewers, but it rewards you with an astonishing attention to detail and a riveting atmosphere.
My issues with the movie include the lack of characterization and the overemphasis on narration. Alice is well performed by her actress/voice actress. The movie mixes live-action with animation in some sections, which was well achieved and the actress is memorable in the role. My problem is that the character herself felt utterly underdeveloped. She was even more surface-level in that regard than the protagonist of the Disney version.
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But the narration was particularly problematic as it was excessive and quite annoying. I realize the merits of this meta approach and the character herself realizing that this is just a dream, but the problem here lies in the repetitiousness of that approach. Alice continued to explain what was going on the screen, which felt annoying and unnecessary. The movie would have been greater had it been entirely silent as it was just begging for such a treatment. This is why I find it to be pretty good, but not a masterpiece by any stretch of the imagination.
Jan Svankmajer’s Alice is one of the best-looking stop-motion animated movies of all time. Every creature here is superbly designed and quite creepy while the ambient sound and dark atmosphere made for such an immersive viewing experience. It offers impressive world building and very memorable imagery throughout, though the excessive narration was its biggest detractor as the movie was just begging for the fully silent treatment.
My Rating – 4
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