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How to Stream Alice in Wonderland: Your Family Viewing Guide

alice in wonderland

Disney

Stream Alive in Wonderland Now

Alice in Wonderland was released July 26, 1951, and is actually a combination of two Lewis Carroll books: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. The film took a while to come to screens. Walt Disney began working on concepts for the film in the 1930s, and then in the 1940s considered making it a live-action film in which only the magical worlds were animated.

In 1946, the company decided on an all-animated film, and this became the version that would release to theatres in 1951. Now fans can watch Alice in Wonderland online. Wanting to remain true to Carroll’s original poems, Disney commissioned songwriters Frank Churchill, Mack David, and several other top songwriters to create songs that were based on the original poems.

Considered a box office failure during the original release, Alice has since become a favorite and is considered one of the top animated films now; with the release of Disney + you can watch Alice in Wonderland streaming. To date, the film has earned $5.6 million; it was created on a budget of $3 million. Here’s how to stream Alice in Wonderland right now:

How to Stream Alice in Wonderland – Exclusively on Disney+

Alice in Wonderland is one of the fan-favorite Disney original movies that will be streaming exclusively on Disney’s new subscription streaming service, Disney+.

You can sign up for a 7-day free trial of Disney+ HERE, which will allow you to stream Alice in Wonderland and hundreds of other movies and shows on your computer, phone, tablet, smart TV or streaming device. If you extend past the free trial, the service costs $6.99/month. You may also opt for this discount bundle of Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+ for $12.99/month.

  1. 1. Sign up for Disney+ here
  2. 2. Go to Disneyplus.com or download the Disney+ app on your device
  3. 3. Log in using your information
  4. 4. Search for “Alice in Wonderland”
  5. 5. Tap on “Alice in Wonderland”
  6. 6. Tap the PLAY button

Disney+ also boasts a vast library of Disney-owned movies and series — plus several new original series coming soon. The service includes unlimited downloads so you can watch offline whenever and wherever you want. The list of compatible devices and smart TVs includes iPadsApple TV, Amazon devices, Amazon Fire TV, Android, Chromecast, RokuPS4, and Xbox One.

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Alice in Wonderland: Overview

Release Date: July 26, 1951
Creators: Lewis Carroll, Walt Disney, Winston Hibler, Ted Sears, Bill Peet
Director: Clyde Geronimi, Wilfred Jackson, Hamilton Luske
Starring: Ed Wynn, Kathryn Beaumont, Verna Felton, Sterling Holloway
Rating: G
Synopsis:
A young girl dreams of having a great adventure but when she stumbles into Wonderland she angers the Queen of Hearts and risks not getting home at all.

How Long Is Alice in Wonderland?

Alice in Wonderland has a running time of 75 minutes.


Alice in Wonderland Plot

Young Alice is bored with reading with her sister and wanders to the riverbank, dreaming of adventure. She sees a white rabbit, talking to himself about being late, and follows him into a burrow where she eats a biscuit that makes her grow very large. Alice cries. When the rabbit goes through at tiny door the doorknob tells her to drink from the cup so she can shrink and follow him.

She does and floats through on the river of hear tears. Along the way as she follows the rabbit, she meets Tweedledum and Tweedledee, who tell her the story of the Walrus and the Carpenter. Finally, Alice gets to the rabbit’s house, but she thinks she is his maid and sends her to find his gloves.

As she looks for the gloves, she eats another biscuit and again grows large. This frightens the rabbit, who gets the Dodo to get her out of his house. The dodo decides to burn the house down but Alice escapes when she eats one of the rabbit’s garden carrots and shrinks back to a small size. She meets Caterpillar next and is very upset to be the same size as he; this annoys the caterpillar who turns himself into a butterfly.

As he is leaving he tells Alice to eat bits of the mushroom to grow large again. Alice eats the mushroom, grows to her normal size, and follows the rabbit once more. In the woods, Alice meets Cheshire Cat who tells her the Mad Hatter or the March Hare can help her find the rabbit again. As she meets them, Alice also meets Dormouse who sings the unbirthday song for Hare. They celebrate the March Hare’s unbirthday and Alice’s but she is annoyed now because she wants to find the rabbit.

Rabbit appears finally, but he gets caught up in another unbirthday singing, and Alice decides to go because she’s annoyed with all of their nonsense. Alice gets lost but the Cheshire Cat finds her and tells her to go to the Queen of Hearts for directions. At the castle, the Queen is angry with the gardeners who planted white roses instead of red. She wants to behead the gardeners but upon seeing Alice become distracted with thoughts of a croquet match, which they play with live flamingos, card guards, and hedgehogs.

These beings try to rig the game for the Queen to win but the Cheshire Cat returns and tricks the Queen so that Alice will win. This angers the Queen who decides to kill Alice. The King intervenes and suggests a trial, and the rabbit, the Mad Hatter, and the March Hare are called as witnesses. They start singing the unbirthday song again, this time for the Queen, but their present turns into the Cheshire Cat and the court dissolves into chaos.

The Queen demands that Alice be executed but Alice has finally eaten all of the caterpillar’s mushrooms and is once again large. Alice flees and the royal family chases her through Wonderland to the small door. Doorknob tells her she is already outside and sleeping in the grass. Alice yells at herself to wake up and when she does, she and her sister return home for tea.

Alice in Wonderland Cast

Several Disney favorite appeared in Alice in Wonderland including Sterling Holloway and Verna Felton. Here are the main actors for the film.

Kathryn Beaumont as Alice

Alice, bored with reading, decides to follow a rabbit wearing a waistcoat on an adventure. Kathryn Beaumont won the role of Alice at the age of 10 and would continue to voice Alice throughout the Disney universe until her retirement from show business in 2005. She voiced Alice not only for the film, but also for video games and rides. Her other key role was as Wendy in Peter Pan.

Ed Wynn as Mad Hatter

The Mad Hatter helps Alice on her adventure but also frustrates her because he wants to celebrate all of the unbirthdays. Ed Wynn was one of the premiere actors for his day; he was also a renowned clown. He would appear in many Disney classics in addition to Alice in Wonderland, including Mary Poppins and Babes in Toyland.

Jerry Colonna as March Hare

March Hare is called as a witness against Alice when the Queen decides she must be killed. Jerry Colonna was a well-known songwriter, comedian, and actor who appeared in 44 films and TV series during his career. His most notable roles including Alice in Wonderland, Kentucky Jubilee, and Atlantic City.

Sterling Holloway as Cheshire Cat

The Cheshire Cat likes to pull pranks and tease people, and nearly gets Alice killed. Sterling Holloway is no stranger to Disney films. A well-known character actor in his day, Holloway appeared in more than 180 film and television roles, many of them Disney classics. His most notable roles include The Jungle Book, The Aristocats, and The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh.

Bill Thompson as White Rabbit and Dodo

The White Rabbit leads Alice on her adventure; she spots him by the river and follows him into Wonderland. Bill Thompson appeared in many Disney films throughout his career including Peter Pan, Lady and the Tramp, Sleeping Beauty, and Alice in Wonderland.

Verna Felton as Queen of Hearts

The Queen of Hearts is spoiled and easily angered and often says, “Off with their heads!” Verna Felton was a well-known voice and character actress who appeared in more than 45 film and television roles. She began her career as a stage and radio actress before moving into film, where she would star in several Disney favorites including Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, and Lady and the Tramp.

Alice in Wonderland Songs and Soundtrack

Walt Disney became a fan of the Lewis Carroll books as a child, and wanted his film to be as true to those stories as possible. As such, he hired well-known composers and Tin Pan Alley songwriters, tasking them with creating songs that were similar to Carroll’s original poems from the stories. The soundtrack would include tracks written by Sammy Fain, Bob Hilliard, Mack David, Al Hoffman, Jerry Livingston, Oliver Wallace, Ted Sears, Gene de Paul, and Don Raye. Oliver Wallace would also score the film, and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture.

Twenty-three of their original songs were included on the soundtrack, making it the Disney film with the most original songs and music. Alice’s original theme, Beyond the Lightning Sky, would be rewritten for Peter Pan a few years later, and instead Alice’s theme song would be In a World of My Own.

Alice in Wonderland at the Box Office

Initially, Alice in Wonderland was considered a box office bomb, so much so that Disney would air a heavily edited version as one of the original episodes of his TV series The Magical World of Disney; a radio broadcast based on the film, and starring the main actors reprising their roles, would also be broadcast.

In the 1960s, as part of the counter-culture movement, the movie began to gain a second wind, and is now considered a cult classic. It would be re-released to theatres in 1974. Made on a budget of $3 million, and would only earn about $2 million during the initial box office run. The film has now earned more than $5 million.

Alice in Wonderland Reviews – What the Critics Said

While critics didn’t pan the film, many did note the differences between the Disney animated version and the original sketches and drawings and the divergence from Lewis Carroll’s original works. Walt Disney didn’t seem to mind that critics didn’t like the film, because he had intended it as a family film, and not as a homage to the original books and artwork. The film holds an 81% positive rating on the Rotten Tomatoes site.

Where Alice in Wonderland Fits in the Disney Movie Pantheon

Alice in Wonderland was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Scoring and for the Golden Lion award at the Venice film Festival. But while it was widely panned during its debut, and not recognized at the major awards shows, the film lives on and remains a decent seller for Disney properties.

In addition to a ride at Disneyland, and the characters recurrence through games like Kingdom Hearts, Disney Infinity and Disney’s Villains Revenge, and their presence in other televised Disney products, two live-action remakes, by Tim Burton, were released and saw success at the box office. Characters from the original film, including Alice, Cheshire Cat, Queen of Hearts, and Mad Hatter, appear at Disney’s theme parks. The film was one of the first that Disney made available for the home rental market.

Alice in Wonderland Trailer

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Alice in Wonderland Fast Facts

Of all the Disney animated Alice in Wonderland, which is a combination of two Lewis Carroll books, has the most songs and the most characters. Here are five fast facts about the film:

1. Which Alice Character Wasn’t in the Book?

There are a lot of characters in Disney’s version of the Lewis Carroll tales, likely because the studio combined both Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass to be a single movie. There is one character who isn’t also in the books, though, and that is Doorknob.

2. Beaumont Reprises Role for Ride

Kathryn Beaumont, who played Alice in the film, reprised her role on Disneyland’s Alice in Wonderland ride. She narrates for park-goers as they traverse the ride.

3. Disney’s Duplicated Dates

In the 1951 film, the dates during the Walrus and Carpenter scene are for March 2010. Those are the same dates as when Disney’s live-action remake, Alice in Wonderland, starring Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, and Mia Waskowska was released.

4. Alice is Disney’s First Televised Film

Alice in Wonderland would be the first of Disney’s animated classics to be shown on television; it was aired in an edited, one-hour format, for The Magical World of Disney program in 1954. Clips from the film were shown in the Disney special One Hour in Wonderland, which aired in 1950. The film is also the first Disney film to wait 20 years for an official re-release in theatres.

5. Alice Stars Reprise Roles for Radio

Kathryn Beaumont, Jerry Colonna, and Ed Wynn would reprise their Alice in Wonderland roles for a radio broadcast. Lux Radio Theatre broadcast an hour-long radio adaptation on December 24, 1951.

Stream Alive in Wonderland Now