Alice In Wonderland was first created in 1951 and is an American animated feature produced by Walt Disney Productions and based primarily on Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland with a few additional elements from Through The Looking Glass. The film was released in New York City and in London on July 26th, 1951.
The plot/content of the film is about a young girl named Alice. On the bank of a tranquil English river, she grows bored of listening to her older sister read aloud from a history book of William I of England. When her sister catches Alice daydreaming, Alice tells her cat Dinah that she would prefer to live in a nonsensical dreamland called Wonderland. Alice and Dinah spot a waistcoat-wearing white rabbit passing by, and Alice gives chase as she rushes off claiming to be late for an unknown event. Alice follows the rabbit into a rabbit hole and falls into labyrinth. Her dress balloons out and she begins to float. She sees the white rabbit dissapear through a tiny door and tries to follow but the door knob's voice tells her to alter the size of the door using a mysterious food and drink. She eventually manages to shrink and passes through the door into Wonderland. She meets several strange characters including the Dodo and Tweedledee & Tweedledum who recount the tale of "The Walrus & The Carpenter."
The White Rabbit, the Dodo and Bill the Lizard believe Alice to be a monster and try burning the house down where she finds the White Rabbit. Alice escapes by eating a carrot and shrinking down to the size of an insect. She meets and sings with some talking flowers, but they chase her away upon accusing her of being a weed. Alice is then instructed by the hash smoking caterpillar to eat a part of his mushroom to grow back to normal size. Alice then meets the Cheshire Cat who advises her to meet with the Mad Hatter, March Hare and the Dormouse. The three are hosting a mad tea party and celebrate Alice's "birthday" but it is a day when it's not her actual birthday.
The White Rabbit appears, but the March Hare and Mad Hatter destroy his pocketwatch and throw him out of the party. Fed up with all the wonderlandians' rudeness and wackiness, Alice abandons her pursuit of the White Rabbit and decides to go home, but gets lost in the Tulgey Wood. The Cheshire Cat appears and leads Alice into a giant hedge maze ruled by the tyrannical Queen of Hearts and her smaller husband, the King of Hearts. The Queen beheads anyone who enrages her, and invites Alice in a bizarre croquet match using flamingoes and hedgehogs as the equipment.
The Cheshire Cat appears again and pulls a trick on the Queen which she accuses Alice of doing, and Alice is put on trial. Just then, she remembers that she still has the remains of the Caterpillar's mushroom. She eats it and grows to an enormous height which the King claims is forbidden in court. Now a gigantic size, Alice feels free to speak her mind and in doing so she openly insults the Queen. However, she had hastily eaten both sides of the mushroom and shrinks to her normal size. She is forced to flee after the Queen orders her execution. Alice becomes pursued by most of Wonderland's characters until she finally reunites with the Doorknob, who then tells her she is having a dream, forcing Alice to wake herself up. The film ends as Alice and her sister head home for tea.
The history of Walt Disney's association with Lewis Carroll's Alice books (Alice in Wonderland, Through The Looking Glass) stretches all the way back to 1923, when Disney was still a 21-year-old filmmaker trying to make a name for himself in Kansas City. When his first series of short cartoons, the Newman Laugh-O-Grams, failed to recoup production costs, the struggling young producer tried to create other short films hoping that one of them would point the way forward. The last of these Kansas City works was called Alice's Wonderland featuring a live action girl (Virginia Davis) interacting with cartoon characters. While charming, the short failed to receive much notice, and so Walt Disney decided to abandon producing animated films, and left Kansas City to become a live-action film director in Hollywood.
In the late 1940s, work resumed on an all-animated Alice with a focus on comedy, music and spectacle as opposed to rigid fidelity to the books, and finally, in 1951, Walt Disney released a feature-length version of Alice in Wonderland to theaters, eighteen years after first discussing ideas for the project and almost thirty years after making his first Alice Comedy.
The book has inspired nurmerous film and television adaptations. Some of the adaptations are Alice in Wonderland (1903 film), silent film, directed by Cecil Hepworth and Percy Stow, with May Clark as Alice, UK, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, (1910 film), silent film, directed by Edwin Stanton Porter, Alice in Wonderland (1915 film), silent film, directed by W.W. Young, Alice in Wonderland (1931 film), talkie, directed by Bud Pollard, Alice in Wonderland (1933 film), directed by Normand Z. McLeod, US, Alice in Wonderland (1937 TV Programme), directed by George More O'Ferrall, Alice in Wonderland (1949 film), live-action/stop motion film, animation directed by Lou Bunin, Alice in Wonderland (1951 film), traditional animation, Walt Disney Animation Studios, US, Alice in Wonderland 1966 animated Hanna-Barbera TV movie, with Janet Waldo as Alice, Alice (1988 film) live action and stop motion by Jan Svankmejer, Alice in Wonderland (1999 televesion movie) first shown on NBC and then shown on British Television on Channel 4 and Alice in Wonderland (2010 fim) directed by Tim Burton. The book has also inspired numerous comic book adaptations such as Walt Disney's Alice in Wonderland (Dell Comics, 1951), Walt Disney's Alice in Wonderland (Gold Key Comics, 1965), Walt Disney's Alice in Wonderland (Whitman, 1984) and The Complete Alice in Wonderland (Dynamite Entertainment, 2005.)
There are many targeted audiences for different adaptations of this particular fairytale such as the 2010 version by Tim Burton who it's target audiences are primarily for kids and families and kids that are somewhat older due to some of the scenes which involve drug use such as the hash smoking caterpillar. In this version Tim Burton uses much of the same dark, goth-type style of animation which we all know and love. Wheras Lewis Carroll's original version is targeted for mainly kids but is suitable for all ages.
(Information used as a reference from Wikipedia and IMB.)
Alice in Wonderland original trailer, 1951, Lewis Carroll.
Alice in Wonderland, 2010 trailer, Tim Burton.
Nightmare Before Christmas.
The Nightmare Before Christmas, often promoted as Tim Burton's Nightmare Before Christmas, is a 1993 American stop-motion musical fantasy film directed by Henry Selick and produced/co-written by Tim Burton. It tells the story of Jack Skellington, a being from Halloween Town who opens a portal to Christmas Town and decides to celebrate the holiday. Danny Elfman wrote the film score and provided a singing voice of Jack, as well as other minor characters.
The Nightmare Before Christmas originated in a poem written by Tim Burton in 1982, while he was working as a Disney Animator. With the success of Vincent in the same year, Disney started to consider developing The Nightmare Before Christmas as either a short film or 30-minute television special. Over the years, Burton's thoughts regularly returned to the project, and in 1990, Burton and Disney made a development deal. Production started in July 1991 in San Francisco, Walt Disney Pictures decided to release the film under their Touchstone Pictures banner because they thought Nightmare would be "too dark and scary for kids." The Nightmare Before Christmas was met with critical and financial success. Disney has reissued the film annually under their Disney Digital 3-D format since 2006.
Hallloween Town is a dream world filled with citizens such as deformed monsters, ghouls, ghosts, goblins, vampires, werewolves and witches. Jack Skellington (The Pumpkin King) leads them in a frightful celebration every Halloween, but he has grown tired of the same routine year after year. Wandering in the forrest outside the town centre, he accidently opens a portal to Christmas Town. Impressed by the style and feeling of Christmas, Jack presents his findings and his somewhat limited understanding of the holiday to the Halloween Town residents. They fail to grasp his meaning and compare everything he says to their idea of Halloween. He decided to play along and and announces that they will take over Christmas.
Christmas Eve arrives and Sally attempts to stop Jack with fog, but he embarks into the sky on a coffin-like sleigh pulled by skeletal reindeer guided by the glowing nose of his ghost dog Zero. He begins to deliver presents to children around the world, but the gifts (shrunken heads, Christmas tree-eating snakes, etc.) only terrify the recipients. Jack is believed to be an imposter attempting to imitate Santa, and the military goes on alert to blast him out of the sky. The sleigh is shot down and he is presumed dead by Halloween Town's citizens, but in fact he has survived the crash, landing in a cemetery. Although he is depressed by the failure of his plan, he quickly regains his old spirit, having come up with new ideas for next Halloween. He then rushes back home to rescue Santa and put things right.
Meanwhile, Sally attempts to free Santa, but is captured by Oogie. Jack slips into the lair and frees them, then confronts Oogie and unravels his outer covering to spill out all the bugs that live inside him. With Oogie gone, Santa reprimands Jack before setting off to deliver the right presents to the world's children. He makes snow fall over Halloween Town to show that there are no hard feelings between himself and Jack; the townspeople are confused by the snow at first, but soon begin to play happily in it. Jack reveals that he is attracted to Sally just as she is to him, and they kiss under the full moon in the cemetery.
There are many related media influenced by this movie such as a video game deveoped by Capcom, The Nightmare Before Christmas: Oogie's Revenge was released for Xbox and Playstation 2 on October 21st 2004 in Japan and on September 30th 2005 in Europe and October 10th and 2005 in North America. The Nightmare Before Christmas: The Pumpkin King was also a game produced by Tose. Co. Limited and was released for the Gameboy Advance in 2005.
A collectible card game based on the film was released in 2005 by NECA. The game was designed by Andrew Parks and Kez Shlasnger. It consists of a Premiere set and 4 Starter Decks based on four characters, Jack Skellington, the Mayor, Oogie Boogie and Doctor Finklestein. Each Starter contain a rule book, a Pumpkin King card, a Pumpkin Points card, and a 48-card deck. The game has four card types: Characters, Locales, Creations, and Surprises. The Cards' rarities are separated into four categories: Common, Uncommon, Rare, Ultra Rare.
A collector's edition The Nightmare Before Christmas themed Jenga game was issued with orange, purple and black blocks with Jack Skellington heads on them. The set comes in a coffin shaped box instead of the normal rectangular box.
The targeted audience for this particular animation would be for teenagers and above. It may also be targeted for young children but the concept of the film is dark and scary-like so young children may not like it beacuse they could get frightened.
(Some information used as reference from Wikipedia.)
The Nightmare Before Chistmas, 1993, Tim Burton.
Snow White.
Snow white is a German fairy tale known in many countys in Europe. The best known is a German version collected by the Brothers Grimm in 1812 as German: Schneewittchen und die sieben Zwerge - Snow White & The Seven Dwarfs. The German version features such as elements as the magic mirror, the poisoned apple, the glass coffin, and the seven dwarfs, who were first given individual names in the Broadway play Snow White & The Seven Dwarfs (1912.)
Once upon a time, as a Queen sits sewing at her window, she pricks her finger on her needle and three drops of blood fall on the snow that had fallen on her ebony window frame. As she looks at the blood on the snow, she says to herself, "Oh, how I wish that I had a daughter that had skin white as snow, lips red as blood, and hair black as ebony". Soon after that, the Queen gives birth to a baby girl who has skin white as snow, lips red as blood, and hair black as ebony. They name her Snow White, and soon after, the Queen dies.
Soon after, the King takes a new wife, who is beautiful but also very vain. The new queen possesses a mirror an animate object that answers any question, to whom she often asks: "Magic mirror on the wall / Who is the fairest of them all?" The mirror always replies, "You, my Queen, are fairest of all." But, when Snow White reaches the age of seven, she becomes as beautiful as the day, and when the Queen asks her mirror, it responds: "Queen, you are full fair, it is true, but Snow White is fairer than you." In another version of the tale, the mirror simply replies: "Snow White is the fairest of them all."
The Queen becomes jealous and orders a huntsman to take Snow White into the woods to be killed. She demands as proof that Snow White is dead, he return with her lungs and liver (in other versions, it was her heart). The huntsman takes Snow White into the forest. After raising his knife, he finds himself unable to kill her as he has fallen deeply in love with her. Instead, he lets her go telling her to flee and hide from the Queen. He then brings the Queen the lungs and liver of a boar, which is prepared by the cook and eaten by the Queen.
Time passes, and a Prince traveling through the land sees Snow White. He strides to her coffin, and enchanted by her beauty, instantly falls in love with her. The Dwarfs succumb to his entreaties to let him have the coffin, and as his servants carry the coffin away, they stumble on some roots. This causes the piece of poisoned apple to dislodge from Snow White's throat, awakening her (in later adaptions of the tale, the Prince kisses Snow White, which brings her back to life). The Prince then declares his love for her, and soon a wedding is planned.
The vain Queen, still believing that Snow White is dead, again asks her magical mirror who is the fairest in the land. Yet again the mirror disappoints her by responding, "You, my Queen, are fair; it is true. But the young Queen is a thousand times fairer than you."
Not knowing that this new queen was indeed her stepdaughter, she arrives at the wedding, and her heart fills with the deepest of dread when she realizes the truth. As punishment for her wicked ways, a pair of heated iron shoes are brought forth with tongs and placed before the Queen. She is then forced to step into the iron shoes and to dance until she drops dead.
Snow White comes from the fairytale first written down in 1812 by the Brothers Grimm, in itself drawn from older Europian traditions. The most well known version of the film is the Disney animated classic Snow White & The Seven Dwarfs (1937) which is the undisputed classic telling and from which almost all other adaptations of Snow White draw from. There have been some 20 or so other film versions ranging all the way from Snow White & The Three Stooges (1961) to Golan-Globus's cheap Snow White (1987) and in recent years other deconstructions/modernisations such as the excellent dark adult Snow White: A Tale Of Terror (1997), Hallmark’s Snow White (2001), the German comedy 7 Dwarfs: Men Alone In The Woods (2004), the modernised high school retelling Sydney White (2007), the animated parody Happily N' Ever After (2009) and the superb ballet adaptation Snow White(2010), while Snow White also turns up as a character in Grimm's Fairytale For Adults (1970) and Shrek The Third (2007) and in the modern world in tv’s The Charmings (1987) and Once Upon A Time while much of the Disney film is spoofed in Enchanted (2007) and a more recent adaptation Snow White & The Huntsman, 2012, directed by Rupert Sanders.
Snow White & The Seven Dwarfs, 1937, Brothers Grimm.
Snow White & The Huntsman, 2012, Rupert Sanders.
(Some information used as reference from Wikipedia.)
Beauty & The Beast.
Beauty & The Beast is a traditional fairy tale. The first published version of the tale was a rendition by Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve, in 1740. The best known written version was an abridgment of her work published in 1756 by Jeanne-Marie Le Prince de Beaumont. Variants of the tale are known across Europe. In France for example, Zemire et Azor is an operatic version of the story of Beauty & The Beast written by Marmontel and composed by gretry in 1771.
The plot of this particular story is about a wealthy merchant who lived in a mansion with his three daughters, all of whom were very beautiful, but only the youngest, at fourteen, is named Belle for being lovely and pure of heart; her sisters, in contrast, are wicked and selfish. The merchant eventually loses all of his wealth in a tempest at sea, and he and his daughters must therefore live in a small farmhouse and work for their living. After some years of this, the merchant hears that one of the trade ships he had sent off has arrived back in port, having escaped the destruction of it's compatriots; therefore, he returns to the city to discover whether it contains anything of monetary value. Before leaving, he asks his daughters whether they desire he bring them any gifts upon his return. His two elder daughters ask for jewels and fine dresses, thinking that his wealth has returned; Belle is satisfied with the promise of a rose, as none grow in their part of the country. The merchant, to his dismay, finds that his ships cargo has been seized to pay his debts, leaving him without money to buy his daughters their presents.
During the merchants return, he finds himself lost in a forest. Seeking shelter, he enters a dazzling palace. He finds inside tables laden with food and drink, which have apparently been left for him by the palace's unseen owner. The merchant accepts this gifts and stays the night. The next morning as the merchant is about to leave, he sees a rose garden and recalls that Belle had desired a rose. Upon picking the loveliest rose he finds, the merchant is confronted by a hideous beast, which tells him that for taking his most precious possession after accepting his hospitality, the merchant must die. The merchant begs to be set free, arguing that he had only picked the rose as a gift for his youngest daughter. The beast agrees to let him give the rose to Belle, only if the merchant will return, or his daughter goes to the castle in his place.
The merchant is upset, but accepts this condition. The beast sends him on his way, with jewels and fine clothes for his daughters, and stresses that Belle must come to the castle of her own accord. The merchant, upon arriving home, tries to hide the secret from Belle, but she pries it from him and willingly goes to the beasts castle. The beast receives her graciously and informs her that she is a mistress of the castle, and he is her servant. He gives her lavish clothing and food. Each night, the beast asks Belle to marry him, only to be refused each time. After each refusal, Belle dreams of a handsome prince who pleads with her to answer why she keeps refusing him, and she replies that she cannot marry the beast because she only loves him as a friend. Belle does not make the connection between the handsome prince and the beast and becomes convinced that the beast is holding the prince captive somewhere in the castle. She searches for him and discovers many enchanted rooms but never the prince of her dreams.
For several months, Belle lives a life of luxury at the beast's palace, being waited on hand and foot by invisible servants, having no end of riches to amuse her and an endless supply of exquisite finary to wear. Eventually she becomes homesick and begs the beast to allow her to go and see her family. He allows it, if she will return exactly a week later. Belle agrees to this and sets off for home with an enchanted mirror and ring. The mirror allows her to see what is going on back at the beast's castle, and the ring allows her to return to the castle in an instant when turned three times around her finger. Her older sisters are surprised to find her well fed and dressed in finery The grow jealous of her happy life at the castle, and, hearing that she must return to the beast on a certain day, beg her to stay another day, even putting onion in their eyes to make it appear as though they were weeping. It is their wish that the beast will grow angry with Belle for breaking her promise and will eat her alive. Belle's heart is moved by her sisters false show of love, and she agrees to stay.
Belle begins to feel guilty about breaking her promise to the beast and uses the mirror to see him back at the castle. She is horrified to discover that the beast is lying half dead of heartbreak near the rose bushes her father had stolen from and she immediately uses the ring to return to the beast.
Upon returning, Belle finds the beast almost dead, and she weeps over him, saying that she loves him. When her tears strike him, the beast is transformed into a handsome prince. The prince informs Belle that long ago a fairy turned him into a hidious beast after he refused to let her in from the rain, and that only by finding true love, despite his ugliness, could the curse be broken. He and Belle are then married and live happily ever after.
There is also another version of this which is Villeneuve's tale which includes several elements that Beaumont's omits. The beast was a prince who lost his father at a young age, and whose mother had to wage war to defend his kingdom. The queen left him in care of an evil fairy, who tried to seduce him when he became an adult; when he refused, she transformed him into a beast. Belle's story reveals that she is not really a merchants daughter but the offspring of a king and good fairy. The wicked fairy had tried to murder Belle so she could marry her father, the king, and Belle was put in the place of the merchants dead daughter to protect her. She also gave the castle magic,
This particular fairy tale has had many adaptations such as screen, stage, prose, and television over the years. Some of these adaptation include Beastly by Alex Flinn who sets the story in modern day, Manhattan, Belle: A Retelling of the Story of Beauty & the Beast by Robin McKinley, a 1952 animated feature film The Scarlet Flower directed by Lev Atamanov in 1987, a 1962 version by Edward L Cahn, in 1991 Walt Disney Feature Animation produced a musical animated film entitled Beauty & The Beast, directed by Kirk Wise and Gary Trousdale and Fashion Beast, a 1980's screenplay by Alan Moore.
(Some information used as reference from Wikipedia.)
Beauty & The Beast, 1991, Gary Trousdale, Kirk Wise.
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