Walt Disney's Alice in Wonderland
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Lenny's description:
Walt Disney picture book containing Jon Scieszka's text plus illustrations by Mary Blair - one of Disney's most brilliant conceptual designers. In this book, you can see the beginnings of the Disney characters of Alice, the White Rabbit, the Mad Hatter and the Queen of Hearts. Mary's gorgeous impressionistic paintings of them show the forms that would take shape later on, in the film.
Seller's description:
The fantastical tale of a young girl chasing her White Rabbit has delighted children since Lewis Carroll wrote it generations ago. Here his Wonderland shines anew, viewed through the looking glasses of two incomparable artists.Mary Blair’s vibrant art helped shape the look of Walt Disney’s classic animated film. Collected in a picture book for the first time, her illustrations capture the essence of such memorable characters as the Queen of Hearts and the Mad Hatter with stunning immediacy. Jon Scieszka’s captivating text celebrates all that is curious—and all that is nonsensical—about the world that holds Alice spellbound, from a deliciously absurd tea party to the spectacle of a kingdom of playing cards . Brimming with wit and wonder, this sparkling retelling will enchant readers from the moment Alice falls down the rabbit hole, whether or not they’ve made the journey before.
Product details:
Seller name: (¯`'·MELZ BOOKS·'´¯) (Shipping rates and seller details)
Item number (ASIN): 1423107284
Author: Jon Scieszka
Brand: Harper Collins
Creator: value: Mary Blair
Role: Illustrator
ISBN: 1423107284
Item Dimensions: 40 x 1080 x 860 (hundredths-inches)
Languages: English x English x English
Manufacturer: Disney Press
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 64
Package Dimensions: 30 x 860 x 1070 (hundredths-inches)
Publication Date: September 2, 2008
Publisher: Disney Press
Release Date: September 2, 2008
Binding: Hardcover
Add your own review!
The Blair/Scieszka version
Before I can review this book you may need a bit of background because not everybody is quite as obsessive as I am about Alice In Wonderland.
I don't think there is any doubt at all that the most famous screen version of Alice is the Disney animation. There are other versions that I like better and other animations that I think show more imagination but it's undeniable that the Disney version is by far the best-known.
Now the studio have released a book. This is, you may say, nothing new. There are dozens of editions featuring stills from the movie already. There are none like this one though!
This one collects the art of Mary Blair and adds new text by Jon Scieszka. Mary Blair was a conceptual artist for the Disney studios who worked on such features as Cinderella, Peter Pan and, of course, Alice In Wonderland. The job of a conceptual artist is to create the look of the film before the animators get to work. This edition of the book collects together her artwork.
Many of the illustrations are familiar from the finished product, however there are also striking differences. Blair's concepts were a little darker and a little more surreal. Had the studio embraced completely the look that this conceptual art had we would have seen a very different animation, darker and more sinister and altogether stranger. I have little doubt that it wouldn't have been a success, not everyone shares my particular tastes in art. Nevertheless it's great to have this edition as it shows an Alice of an alternate, and rather more nightmarish reality.
So what about the text in this new version. To begin with, there is very little of it. The general presentation of the book is good with sfull page illustration opposite pages with text. These text pages rarely run to more than a single short paragraph and in some cases have as few as twenty to thirty words. In one case only four! I have other versions with even fewer but they have been specifically abridged for very young children. This edition will, I think, appeal more to collectors - both of Alice and of Disney.
Is the text any good though? Actually, for what it is, it isn't bad. It owes very little to either Carroll or Disney. Instead Scieszka has very much put his own mark on it. It reuses some Carroll jokes and some Disney ones and adds some new ones and occasionally veers off in the general direction of an Abbot and Costello routine but on the whole does a fine job of accompanying the pictures - and make no mistake, the pictures are the important bit here.
So the final verdict? It's not my favourite illustrated edition but that's OK, it's not my favourite film version either. It is pretty good though and the novelty of seeing these pictures in print counts for a lot. The only real gripe that I have is that Lewis Carroll's name does not appear anywhere an the cover. It might be true that almost nothing in this version is directly connected with him but without him there would have been no Alice and no Disney version. His name ought to be there in letters at least as big as Disney's. That aside, it's a great edition to own for Alice collectors and Disney collectors alike.
(Note this review previously appeared in a slightly longer form on my own blog thehittingtheroadagainblues@blogspot.com (c) Robert Hale, Sept 2008)
- by tweedledammed on December 6, 2009
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