Alice encounters Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum in the forest.
March 02, 2004
Alice in Wonderland
By Doug Pratt
Bottom line: The DVD's entire image is meticulously detailed and solidly presented with better framing, bringing in more picture information on almost all of the sides.
The new Disney DVD two-disc set release, "Alice in Wonderland The Masterpiece Edition," (33225, $30) clearly has more accurate colors than Disney's previous "Alice in Wonderland Gold Collection" release (14372), but is it better?
The colors on the earlier version are over saturated, but often delightfully so. Alice's hair is a bright lemon gold, the grass is a deep green and the roses are painted a vivid red. For the Masterpiece version, her hair is yellow-white, the grass is pastel and the roses -- well, they're red, but they're not RED.
The full screen picture on the new version has better framing, bringing in more picture information on almost all of the sides, and portions of the image that are too dark on the older version are fully revealed and detailed on the new version. The entire image on the new version is meticulously detailed and solidly presented. It just sort of reminded us of Alice's sister, while the older version, which we would never throw away, gives us a Cheshire Cat smile.
The Gold version of the 1950 feature had a 5.0-channel Dolby Digital mix, along with the film's original mono track. The Masterpiece version, while also retaining the mono track, has a 5.1-channel mix. Nevertheless, we could detect no significant difference in the bass response on the two DVDs, and both soundtracks seem alike, as do the mono tracks. The Gold version has an alternate Spanish track in mono, while the Masterpiece version has French and Spanish tracks in 5.1 Dolby. Both have optional English subtitles. The Gold version comes with an 11-minute black-and-white excerpt about the movie's production that originated in a 1951 broadcast of a Disney TV show. There is also a trivia test, a read-aloud segment, two sing-along clips and a trailer.
The first platter of the Masterpiece version contains a new four-minute segment about a song that was written but never recorded for the film, along with the classic 1936 Mickey Mouse color cartoon, "Thru the Mirror," two sing-alongs and two interactive segments for kids: a Mad-Hatter party with live actors who talk to the camera and do vaguely amusing things and an animated riddle game.
The second platter holds the 11-minute TV clip that was on the Gold DVD, and also contains the first Walt Disney TV program from 1950, a 59-minute black-and-white variety show promoting the film. Edgar Bergen also appears, and clips from Disney cartoons used in the program are presented in color, including a segment from "Song of the South."
There is also a 31-minute clip from "The Fred Waring Show," a music program hosted by the Big Band leader. The 1950 episode showcases the film's music. Disney's first eight-minute silent live action "Alice" short, "Alice in Wonderland," from 1923 appears, in which she visits an animation studio and then dreams that she has entered a cartoon land.
There are two trailers, two minutes of promotional clips from other Disney TV shows, another new seven-minute piece about a song originally intended for "Alice" that ended up with different lyrics in "Peter Pan," a two-minute clip of an alternate opening sequence in storyboards, an audio-only segment featuring 12 minutes of song demos that were recorded in the late 1940s, and a concise still gallery of developmental artwork, production photos and ad materials.
The complete database of Doug Pratt's DVD-video reviews is available at http://dvdlaser.com. A sample copy of the DVD-Laser Disc Newsletter can be obtained by calling (516) 594-9304.
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