Disney Movie Challenge: Sleeping Beauty (1959)

DISNEY MOVIE CHALLENGE

Sleeping Beauty

WHAT IS THE DISNEY MOVIE CHALLENGE: With Disney+ making available almost all of their films from the vault I thought it was a good time to watch all the theatrically released feature length Disney Studio Animated films. That’s a lot of qualifications so what does it all mean? It must be a film developed and released under the Walt Disney Animation Studios (so no PIXAR or Tim Burton stop motion films). Must have been released in theaters (no direct to video releases). And feature length (no shorts that played prior to the features). Currently there are 58 films. Starting with Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1937 going to Frozen II in 2020. 

After having one of their biggest hits (box office wise) with Lady and the Tramp, Disney returned to another Princess fairy tale film.  Both Snow White and Cinderella had been huge hits for Disney so it seemed like everything was pointing to Sleeping Beauty being a big hit.  And because Disney wanted to make everything bigger he decided to film it in 70mm Super Technirama.  Unfortunately the cost of making the film was so huge that despite the success of the film it lost money and once again Disney was on the verge of shutting down the Animated Feature Film Department.  

The story of Sleeping Beauty has been told many times with the earliest version dating back to the 1300’s.   The Disney version adds it's own spin to the story.  The King and Queen have a daughter named Aurora. During the celebration of her birth 3 fairies (Flora, Fauna, Merryweather) begin to give their blessings on baby Aurora.  Flora blesses Aurora with beauty, Fauna blesses her with the gift of singing, and before Merryweather can present her gift Maleficent the evil fairy interrupts. She curses Aurora with death before her sixteenth birthday when she touches a spindle on a spinning wheel.  Since Merryweather hadn’t given her a gift yet she was able to change Maleficent's curse from death to enchanted sleep.  She will awake from the sleep when her true love kisses her.  But to be safe the King orders all spinning wheels to be destroyed and the fairies agree to hide Aurora in the woods till she turns 16.  Jump to 16 years later the fairies are getting ready to celebrate and tell Aurora (who now is going by the name Briar Rose) that she is a princess.  Before they can tell her she meets a man who she instantly falls in love with.  She doesn’t know but the man is Prince Phillip who she was betrothed to at birth.  But after 16 years of searching Maleficent finally finds Aurora and with only hours to spare before sundown tricks Aurora in touching a spindle.  She then captures the prince so he will have no change in kissing the princess.  The fairies spring into action and rescue the prince, help him destroy Maleficent, and finally lead the Prince to Aurora.  He kisses her and she awakes and everyone lives happily ever after. 

The first thing striking about this film is the way it looks.  The animation style is different from any of the other Disney films.   Eyvind Earle worked on the background painting and brought a unique Gothic and medieval style to them.  The backgrounds, which Walt Disney approved of, forced the other animators to rework their drawing so the characters felt part of the same world.  This led to stress on the animators and when Earle left prior to the movie being finished they went back and toned down some of the gothicness.  

The next thing that became apparent on watching the film is that Aurora is not the main character in the film.  She is only in the film for approximately 18 minutes,  sings two songs and has very little dialogue.  I recently listened to a Podcast that briefly discussed the difference between protagonist, main character, and hero (check out The Shame List Picture Show wherever you get your podcasts they are a fun listen). The definitions went something like this:

Main Character - The person or people we follow good or bad

Protagonist - The person or people propelling the story forwards

Hero - The “good guy”  

Aurora does not fit any of these descriptions.  The ones that fit all of these are the three fairies.  They are there when she is born and hatch the plan to protect her by hiding her away in the forest.  An argument could be made that Prince Phillip is the hero but it is the fairies that release the Prince from jail and the fairies that ultimately defeat Maleficent.  Just odd that the title character of the movie is not a large part of the actual movie.  

The last aspect I wanted to talk about is the Prince.  This is the third Disney Princess Fairy Tale movie and the first that gave the prince a name.  It is also the first to give the Prince something to do besides sing a song or dance.  Unfortunately it comes in a movie that really sidelines the princess and it will always be strange to me that it has to be a kiss that saves the princess.  

Overall: A fun watch.  Great use of color and sound, and the style really stands out from Disney Films. The sequence at Maleficent’s castle is one of the most harrowing and suspenseful we have seen in a Disney movie yet.  The three fairies have really fun interactions. Songs are ok. but not really my style.  

Random Facts

There is a running bit of two of the fairies  arguing over the color of Aurora’s dress.  This is based on two of the animators arguing over the same thing and not being able to decide.  

The Black Cauldron (1985) is the only one other Disney animated film shot in Technirama.

One of the few Disney Princess Movies where both parents are alive (although the Queen barely speaks and isn’t part of the story). 

It would be 30 years before Disney made another fairy tale movie.  The next one would be The Little Mermaid in 1989.  

The movie took 7 years to make. A record for any Animated Disney movie. The only other movie that tied that record was The Black Cauldron (1985) which was also filmed in Technirama. 

George Bruns composed the score for the film.  He would go on and score the next 5 animated features for Disney. For this one he adapted the music from Tchaikovsky's Sleeping Beauty Ballet. He got an Oscar nomination for his efforts. 

Disney Movie Challenge Bonus: Lady and the Tramp (2019)

LADY AND THE TRAMP (2019)

2019 was a big year for Disney adaptations.  First there was Dumbo, then we had Aladdin and The Lion King, and finally Lady and the Tramp.  The biggest difference was Lady and the Tramp was released on the newly formed Disney+ instead of in theaters.  Disney had really built up anticipation for Disney+ which was going to have  classic Disney Animated films, Marvel Films, Star Wars films, and Pixar films.  In addition they were trying to promote brand new original films and shows that were premiering on the platform.  One of the biggest original movies they were promoting was the live action adaptation of Lady and the Tramp. The biggest obstacle it was facing was trying not to feel like a lesser direct to video film.  

The plot of the film is basically the same. It’s still a classy girl who meets a boy from the wrong side of town. The update moved the location to Savannah, Georgia from London. It also expanded Tramp’s back story, expanded the role of the dog catcher, and switched up the type of cats from Siamese Cats to Devon Rexes.  The most noticeable difference is that Lady’s owners are a mixed race couple which based on IMDB reviews is the worst thing ever. 

It’s not really fair to compare this to the original but when you watch them pretty much back to back it’s hard not to do.  So let's just get it out of the way.  The two things I think they did better in this adaptation are the expansion of Tramps backstory and the introduction of the rat early in the film.  One of the things we never got from the animated film is really what happened to Tramp.  We can guess what happened but this film really gets into it and helps us better understand him and also makes the romantic relationship more believable.  Introducing the rat early on makes sense from a storytelling perspective.  In the animated film it just pops up out of nowhere. Here there is at least foreshadowing. On the flip side there is something about this film that doesn’t quite capture the magic of the animated version.  When the photorealistic The Lion King came out one of the big complaints is that the lions didn’t really show emotion.  And maybe that's the problem with this film.  The voice acting is fine but it just doesn’t match with the emotions you are seeing on screen.  It’s kind of that uncanny valley when what you are hearing and what you are seeing doesn’t match up.   I will say the CGI work did a pretty good job. There were a few scenes where it was obvious it wasn’t a real dog but the big scene of them eating spaghetti looked fantastic.  

Overall: The movie was fine.  It didn’t capture the fun or magic of the animated film, but it wasn’t awful.  I was hoping for something more from the first big Disney+ feature film but we got what looked like a straight to video adaptation.  Obviously the modern sensibilities will trigger some that feel Disney is just promoting SJW values and if you read the IMDB comments you will see what I mean.  

Disney Movie Challenge: Lady and the Tramp (1955)

DISNEY MOVIE CHALLENGE

Lady and the Tramp

WHAT IS THE DISNEY MOVIE CHALLENGE: With Disney+ making available almost all of their films from the vault I thought it was a good time to watch all the theatrically released feature length Disney Studio Animated films. That’s a lot of qualifications so what does it all mean? It must be a film developed and released under the Walt Disney Animation Studios (so no PIXAR or Tim Burton stop motion films). Must have been released in theaters (no direct to video releases). And feature length (no shorts that played prior to the features). Currently there are 58 films. Starting with Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1937 going to Frozen II in 2020. 

As the 1950’s rolled along Disney kept turning out would be classics.  Cinderella was a huge hit, Alice in Wonderland a huge disappointment, and Peter Pan somewhere in the middle.  Then 1955 came along and Lady and the Tramp came out.  This would go on to be Disney’s most profitable movie to date.  It is also one of the rare original stories for a Disney Animated film.  

The story itself is pretty generic.  A girl from an upper class family meets an orphan boy who lives on the wrong side of the tracks.  Just swap the characters out for cute dogs, a villainous dog catcher, and some mischievous cats and you got Lady and the Tramp.  Sticking to familiar story elements without having to be bound by preexisting material freed the animators up to be as creative as they wanted to be.  Lady is a female Cocker Spaniel who lives in a loving home. Things start to change when a baby comes and the Aunt that is there to watch the baby and Lady brings her cats.  The cats make Lady look bad and the Aunt takes her to the pet store to get a muzzle.  But Lady escapes and runs into Tramp who shows her how the other side lives “without a leash”. They have a memorable spaghetti romantic dinner and begin to fall in love.  Lady then learns that Tramp has had many loves in the past and decided to go back home.  Tramp comes to tell her that this time is different.  When a rat gets into the baby's room and Lady can’t get it because she is on a leash Tramp goes and kills the Rat.  When everyone realizes what Tramp was doing he is adopted by the family and they live happily ever after.   

The characters are fun and suck you into the story.  Lady and the Tramp probably has some of the most fully formed characters in a Disney film yet.  While it’s a quick romance you still feel that both Lady and the Tramp have personality, and while we don’t know a whole lot about Tramp’s history we can discern a lot by what he says. Even the side characters like Jock, Trusty, and Peg, while cliched, still feel authentic and characters  you could connect too.  Earlier Disney movies mostly focused on one or two characters and the side characters were even more one dimensional.   

The animation does a good job of creating the world.    The first thing you notice in the film is that it is shown from a dog’s point of view so you never see the human’s faces.  I thought it was a clever way to show perspective.  To do this the animators got creative and made a replica of the house so they could study what it would look like from a dogs perspective.  As the movie progresses it doesn't keep up the perspective and eventually you see Lady's owners faces.  The animators also did a great job of creating two distinct worlds. There is the  world of privilege with backyards, loving family, and plentiful food contrasted with the world of street dogs living by themselves and scrounging for meals.   

Part way through the animation process a decision was made to release the film on Cinemascope widescreen.  This created an extra challenge for the animators because they had to go back and fill up more screen so it didn’t feel stretched out.  They also had to redo it again because when it came time to release the film there weren’t many Cinemascope Cinemas around and to get a wide release they had to release another cut in traditional Academy ratio.    

Overall: This is one of the first Disney VHS tapes I had as a kid so it’s one of the Disney Films I am most familiar and have the strongest connection too so nostaligia might play a factor in my feelings for this movie.  I thought it was a fun movie that moves along well and the animation does a great job of creating a world that feels lived in. I really liked the beginning with the dogs point of view and kind of wish that they kept that up for the whole movie. I enjoyed this one as a kid and still enjoyed it as an adult, nothing earth shattering but simply enjoyable.  

Random Facts:

The first Disney Animated Feature released by Disney’s new distribution company Buena Vista Distribution. 

Hugely popular at the time. Second highest grossing Disney movie at the time of release, second only  to Snow White. Yet most critics did not like it.  

First animated film released in Cinemascope

Disney didn’t like the spaghetti eating scene but it has gone on to become one of the most memorable scenes in film history.  

Peggy Lee wrote and performed songs for the movie.   She sings: "He's a Tramp", "La La Lu", "The Siamese Cat Song", and "What Is a Baby?". The character Peg who sings “He’s a Tramp” was named and designed to look like her.  

Peggy Lee sued Disney in 1988 for royalties from the sales of the VHS release. She ended up winning the court case and won $2.3 million when the case was finally over in 1991. Here is a great article about the court case. https://www.cartoonbrew.com/disney/peggy-lee-war-disney-lady-and-the-tramp-113688.html  

  

Disney Movie Challenge Bonus: Return to Neverland (2002)

Return to Neverland

In the early 2000's DisneyToons kept pushing out sequels to classic Disney Films. And they weren't going to miss a chance to make a sequel to Peter Pan.  But they decided they were going to release this one in theaters which is hard to believe since it has a direct to video feel to it.  

The sequel takes place long after the first one. Wendy has grown up and now has children of her own.  She still likes telling stories about Neverland to her children Jane and Danny.  They live in London during WWII and while their father is off fighting in the war Jane decides she will not believe in childish stories anymore and mocks her younger brother for believing in stories about Peter Pan.  One night Captain Hook shows up and confuses Jane for Wendy, and brings Jane to Neverland.  Still unwilling to believe in fairies and just wanting to go home she makes a deal with Captain Hook to set a trap for Peter Pan.  But she ends up learning to have fun with Peter and the Lost Boys and eventually she learns her disbelief is killing Tinker Bell. Despite changing her mind on the deal, Captain Hook manages to kidnap everyone. Jane goes back and starts to believe in fairies and Tinkerbell is resurrected.  With Tinks help Jane rescues everyone.  When she finally returns home she apologized to Danny and begins to tell him about her adventure.  Also instead of a crocodile haunting Captain Hook this time it's a giant octopus that shows up randomly.  

I had a lot of issues with the original Peter Pan but this one was just boring.  They thankfully avoided any Native American depictions so that was an improvement.  The believing in fairies bit hearkens back to the original play and was something that was ignored in the first film so that was a nice addition.  But it just felt flat.  There were some rock songs in the film which felt out of place in the Peter Pan universe (specifically the remake of "Do You Believe in Magic").  It sounds like the story went through a lot of edits and maybe not having a clear vision really hurt it. 

Overall: I think a girl living through a tragedy and then has to be reminded what it's like to be a child again could be a good story. Unfortunately this movie just feels flat and boring.  Tinkerbell also does not try to murder anyone so that is a good improvement also.  

Random Facts

 

Kathryn Beaumont, who voiced Wendy in the original, recorded all of her dialogues for the sequel, but then was replaces. 

Mermaids were given clothes in this film since they were considered to sexualized in the original.  

Disney Movie Challenge: Peter Pan (1953)

DISNEY MOVIE CHALLENGE

Peter Pan

WHAT IS THE DISNEY MOVIE CHALLENGE: With Disney+ making available almost all of their films from the vault I thought it was a good time to watch all the theatrically released feature length Disney Studio Animated films. That’s a lot of qualifications so what does it all mean? It must be a film developed and released under the Walt Disney Animation Studios (so no PIXAR or Tim Burton stop motion films). Must have been released in theaters (no direct to video releases). And feature length (no shorts that played prior to the features). Currently there are 58 films. Starting with Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1937 going to Frozen II in 2020. 

A selfish creepy stalker, attempted child murder, racism, and a hint of the Oedipus Complex .  Yup, we’re talking about Peter Pan.  Based on the play and later book by J.M. Barrie, Peter Pan tells the story of a boy who didn’t want to grow up and his adventures in Neverland. The film was a moderate success at the box office and had mostly positive reviews at the time.  As with other Disney Animated Films from the 1950’s Peter Pan would go on to be considered a classic.  

The movie sounds like it’s a fair adaptation of the original play.  It starts with Peter Pan visiting Wendy and her brothers in London. Wendy is sleeping but knew Peter would visit because she had his shadow (how Peter lost his shadow there is never explained in the movie). While fighting with his shadow Peter wakes Wendy up.  After Wendy attaches Peter’s shadow, Peter explains that he loves listening to Wendy’s stories and wants her to fly to Neverland with him and be a mother to him and the Lost Boys.  Peter’s fairy friend Tinkerbell is instantly jealous of Wendy and doesn’t want her to come to neverland.   Wendy agrees to go as long as her brothers (Michael and John) could go also.  They fly to Neverland where they have an adventure of a lifetime.   As soon as they arrive Captain Hook tries to kill Peter Pan and Tinkerbell attempts to have Wendy killed. After Peter banishes Tinkerbell for attempted murder he introduces Wendy to the Lost Boys.   Saying they could do anything they want Michael decides he wants to lead  the lost boys and go hunting for Indians, Peter takes Wendy and introduces her to the mermaids who also don’t like Wendy.  Peter and Wendy rescue Tiger Lily from Captain Hook. When they return her to the Indians there is a big celebration.  Hook finds out about Tinkerbell's jealousy and attempts to use it to his advantage.  He kidnaps Wendy, her brothers, and the Lost Boys, then sets a trap to kill Peter Pan. Of course Peter Pan escapes the murder plot and saves everyone before Hook can make them walk the plank.  

There is a lot going on in this film.  Let’s start with the most cringeworthy, the portrayal of Native Americans.  Going in I knew it courted some controversy with its portrayal of the Indians in the film but then you hear the song “What made the Redman Red'' and it becomes clear what the fuss is about.  While Dumbo had its fair share of controversy I think Peter Pan is worse.   Maybe because we are in this trying time when America is wrestling with its racist past that this scene just comes across as icky, but I think it’s always been that way.  The term Redman is now considered derogatory, and I get that maybe it wasn’t, but the problem with the song and the scene go deeper than that.  They are portrayed as ignorant and women obsessed neanderthals.  A kind of less than modern men.  According to the song they say “how” because they know nothing,  and they first said  “Ug” when they met their mother in law.  To answer the question of why a redman is red, it’s because the first time they got kissed by a woman they blushed so hard they never stopped blushing.  The whole song just leaves you feeling gross.  There is an interesting history to the controversy.  There have been people calling out the whole portrayal of Indians since Barrie wrote the play.  But for the most part it’s been brushed away and excused because the story is told from a childlike point of view.  According to the theory children only see people as caricatures and stereotypes and not fully realized people. And from that point of view you can argue that is how children would understand Indians.   Barrie was also British so his understanding of Native Americans were cursory at best also.   I have never seen the play but I am curious how the scene plays out in the play.  Obviously the addition of the song “What Made the Redman Red”' adds a layer of racism that probably isn't found in the play.  

Moving on to another plot point of the film that gets gross if you think too hard about it is Peter Pan and Wendy’s relationship.  Why is Peter being creepy and watching Wendy outside her window? Why is he coming into her room when she is sleeping?  And yet all the girls seem to love him.   Tinker Bell gets instantly jealous of Wendy (the mermaids also get jealous of Wendy), then Wendy gets jealous of Tiger Lily, but Peter just loves the attention and remains clueless. I know he never wants to grow up but why is he so selfish?  He only thinks about himself and is oblivious to anyone’s feelings around him.  And I’m supposed to believe that all the girls love him for that?  But the extra layer of ickiness is that  he wants Wendy to be his mother but then Wendy ends up kind of falling for him which adds this weird Oedipus Complex layer to the story. 

The answer to both the Indian and romantic aspects is that Peter is portrayed with such a childlike innocence (he even asks “what is a kiss?”) that he doesn’t know any better.  Which I get but he never seems to learn anything.  Tinkerbell learns that her jealousy has hurt other people but Peter doesn’t seem to get his actions hurt other people, which even a child learns at an early age.   

Last but not least lets not forget that Captain Hook is trying to kill all the children.  It’s a fun fantastical film so no one ever feels like they are in grave danger,  which makes child murder the least disturbing thing in this film.   

Overall: Peter Pan is a child's imagination come to life but it just didn’t sit right with me.  Maybe I’m overthinking it and that’s a possibility.  Maybe if I saw it as a kid I would have found the more fantastical features more entertaining and not think too hard about the subtext.  Anyway I know it’s an unpopular opinion but this movie didn’t work for me.  It’s also weird to me that Tinker Bell is now a beloved character.  First she tried to kill Wendy and then betrayed Peter Pan.  Granted she redeemed herself in the end but in my book she is up there with Jiminy Cricket as an overrated character.

Random Facts

Peter Pan was the last Disney Animated FIlm to be released by RKO Radio Pictures.  Starting with Lady and the Tramp Disney would release their films through their own distribution company Buena Vista Distribution.  

Was entered into the 1953 Cannes Film Festival 

In the book “Peter and Wendy” J.M. Barrie ends the film with the Lost Boys being adopted by the Darling’s and eventually Wendy ends up marrying one of the Lost Boy’s.  

Disney Move Challenge Bonus: Alice in Wonderland (2010)

Disney Movie Challenge Bonus

Alice in Wonderland (2010)

One of the first Disney Animated films to get the live action version was Alice in Wonderland in 2010 directed by Tim Burton.  This film was a huge box office success and won 2 Oscars one for costume design and one for Art Direction.  It starred Mia Wasikowska as Alice and a hugely talented supporting cast including Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Anne Hathaway, Alan Rickman, and many others. 

Even though this was a huge hit and Oscar winner I had not seen the film.  Going in I assumed that the film would just be a retelling of the Alice in Wonderland animated film similar to how Aladdin and The Lion King were straight adaptations of their animated films.  So I was pretty confused when the movie kind of did it's own thing until I realized that this movie is a sequel to the animated film not a different version of it.  Basically, Alice goes back to Wonderland but doesn't remember her first trip there.  All the characters recognize her but she doesn't know them.  Her first trip to Wonderland she dismissed as a dream and assumed it wasn't real.  This tracks with the ending of the animated film which ended with her waking up from a dream. After she returns to Wonderland she has to learn to be The Alice, the one who will slay the Jaberwocky.  

The movie takes a lot of the fantastical elements from the books and animated movie and expands on them.  Tim Burton never liked the book or the movie because he never felt an emotional connection to the material.  That is probably because the original story was nonsense literature and didn't have much of a plot and the animated film basically followed the same format.  I had a similar problem connecting with the material.  But the dark fantasy films is Tim Burton's wheelhouse and he decided to craft a story he felt more connected to.  This led to a more conventional story of a girl rediscovering herself and learning to be confident.  The bulk of the story is inspired by the poem "Jaberwocky" which is found in the original Alice in Wonderland book.  The poem is nonsensical but Burton does a good job piecing together elements to make it work.  

Overall: The film looks fantastic.  The production design and special effects work really well in creating the universe that feels unique and lived in.  I wish I had realized sooner that the movie was more of a sequel and then I probably wouldn't have been as confused. I feel I need to do a rewatch to full get the story.  And finally RIP Alan Rickman who played the Blue Caterpillar and even though he wasn't in it much really was one of my favorite's in the film.  

Disney Movie Challenge: Alice in Wonderland (1951)

DISNEY MOVIE CHALLENGE

Alice in Wonderland

WHAT IS THE DISNEY MOVIE CHALLENGE: With Disney+ making available almost all of their films from the vault I thought it was a good time to watch all the theatrically released feature length Disney Studio Animated films. That’s a lot of qualifications so what does it all mean? It must be a film developed and released under the Walt Disney Animation Studios (so no PIXAR or Tim Burton stop motion films). Must have been released in theaters (no direct to video releases). And feature length (no shorts that played prior to the features). Currently there are 58 films. Starting with Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1937 going to Frozen II in 2020. 

What a weird and trippy movie this is.  After the huge success of Cinderella Disney released Alice in Wonderland on the world the following year.  The movie failed to live up to the success as Cinderella and was one of Walt Disney's biggest disappointments.  After failing at the box office he severely edited it and released it on TV for his new one hour show.  The movie would not get an official theatrical re-release (as many other of Disney films did) until 1974 when it was marketed as a movie for the "psychedelic times".  They even used Jefferson's Airplane song "White Rabbit" to promote the film.  The movie would of course go on to be hugely popular and was one of the first Disney Films released on VHS.  

Alice in Wonderland is adapted from the Lewis Carroll books Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Alice Through the Looking Glass.  Similar to the movie the first book wasn't a huge hit on initial release. The story features a young girl, Alice, who follows a White Rabbit down a hole and falls into a bizarre universe.  There she meets a series of fantastical creatures including the Mad Hatter, March Hare, Cheshire Cat, a mahuker smoking caterpillar, and the Queen of Hearts.  Eventually she tires of the craziness and just wants to go home, but first she goes on trial for embarrassing the Queen of Hearts who wishes to take off her head.  In the end she sees herself sleeping and realizes it's all been a dream.  

The story is a series of events with very little narrative driving the story.  Initially it's just her search for the White Rabbit that keeps her going but then it is her desire to go home.  This little thread is enough to keep the story from feeling too episodic.  But the lack of narrative actually goes back to the way the book was written.  Lewis Carroll helped popularize a form of literature called  "Literary Nonsense".  Literary Nonsense is pretty much what it sounds like. It is a story that doesn't have to follow normal rules,  sometimes uses gibberish, and often defies logic.  Literary Nonsense is often found in children's literature and examples can be mother goose rhymes or Dr. Seuss books.  One of the most famous uses of Literary Nonsense is the poem Jabberwocky which is in the Alice in Wonderland book but was omitted from the movie (although the poem heavily influenced the 2010 Tim Burton version).  The best example found in the movie is during the Mad Hatter Tea Party.  There dialogue is spoken quickly and hardly ever makes sense. Another common element found in Literary Nonsense is the nonsensical riddle.  The most famous being when the Mad Hatter asks Alice "Why is a raven like a writing desk?".  Carroll admitted that he purposely wrote that as nonsense and there is no answer.  

Since this is a children's movie I did spend some time trying to figure out what the moral of the story is.  While I will probably need to watch it a few more times to really nail it down I think there is one there.  Alice is constantly making bad choices and eventually she sings a song "Very Good Advice" about how she never follows the good advice she gives herself.  But this actualization never seems to play a role the rest of the film and the film just ends with her waking up and we are never sure if she learned anything.  Is there a lesson in the film? Let me know your thoughts.  

OVERALL: Hard to describe this movie as anything other than trippy.  Despite the episodic nature of the story I enjoyed it more than Pinocchio which was also episodic.  I think there is just enough to feel like there is a reason for Alice to keep going, and the fantastical nature of everyone she meets makes it more interesting.  I will admit that the nonsensical aspect keeps me from loving the film but there is no doubt that the Mad Hatter Tea Party scene is one of the best in the film.  The fantasy aspect is fun and the characters are all memorable even if they are only in the film for a short time.  

RANDOM FACTS:

Rumored to have the most characters and songs of any Disney film.  Not sure if this is true but definitely could be. 

The first Disney animated film to feature the voice talent in the credits.  

For a majority of the film there is no villain.  The Queen of Hearts becomes the villain but Alice only meets her towards the end of the movie.  

One of the few Disney films that feature a female lead with no romantic interests.  

The strangest theory I read about the story is that it is a metaphor for childbirth. It goes something like this.  Alice travelling down the rabbit hole represents conception.  Growing in a confined space represents pregnancy.   Drinking potions represents the amniotic fluid. Finally escaping to explore the scary world outside on her own is childbirth.

At the time over 20 Years is the longest any Disney had gone without a theatrical rerelease. 

A very trippy poster was used to promote the psychedelic aspect for the 70's rerelease. Check it out