That flag... Are you sure she's going to Paris?
Alice of Wonderland in Paris is a 1966 animated film all about the adventures of Alice of Wonderland towards her journey to Paris. Directed by Gene Deitch and produced by William L. Snyder, two persons known for working on some of the Tom and Jerry shorts.
It all starts with Alice reading the book, Madeline and this causes her to dream of going to Paris and meet her. What keeps her however, is to how to get there since going to Wonderland only takes a Down the Rabbit Hole but going to Paris takes, well, money.
Suddenly, François, a talking mouse riding on a bicycle, appears on a hole on the corner of her room. He tells of the great cheeses that he has tested and promises to take Alice to Paris if she tells what her favorite kind of cheese is. Along the way, they tell each other stories that are known to be famous for children. The movie tells five short stories. Two of which are from Madeline.
Alice of Wonderland in Paris provides examples of the following tropes:
- Adaptational Nationality: It's never directly stated where Alice's home is, but she notes how difficult it is getting to France, and when questioned about her favorite cheese, repeatedly gives cheeseburgers as her answer—possibly implying that she's American in this version.
- All Just a Dream: As far as Alice adaptations go, this one is no exception after she floats away from Paris and wakes up asleep on her chair back in the bedroom.
- Cats Are Mean: Alice's cat, Dinah.
- Cheesy Moon: Alice thinks the Moon is made of cheese, but François dismisses this as nonsense. This leads into the "Many Moons" short.
- Down the Rabbit Hole: Or "Down the Mouse Hole" in this case.
- Family-Unfriendly Violence: The scene where Pepito is almost massacred by a pack of dogs after letting them chase him with a bag that has a cat in it. Of course, if it weren't for that, he wouldn't have gotten his Heel–Face Turn.
- Gay Paree: Alice imagines Paris to be like this, though we don't get to see much of the city as Alice and François spend more time telling stories to each other.
- Grass is Greener: Alice fantasizes about Madeleine and Paris, only to discover that Madeleine fantasizes about Alice and Wonderland.
- Gratuitous French: François speaks like this. The Anatole and Madeline segments also have characters peppering their sentences with random French words/phrases.
- Have a Gay Old Time: During the Madeline and the Bad Hat segment, Madeline says "Please don't molest us," to Pepito, which simply means "don't disturb us". Besides, they need that for the next line.
- Large Ham:
- François, a mouse who is very passionate about cheese.
- In the stories, every king is always very bombastic in their performance.
- Lawyer-Friendly Cameo: Madeline. Well, basically, all of the stories here are adapted from other authors. And due to copyright laws in Czechoslovakia being non-existent, as they were under communist rule at the time, they didn't run into any issues with it.
- Mirror-Cracking Ugly: The force of the Frowning Prince's frown is enough to break a full length mirror.
- Perpetual Frowner: The Frowning Prince proclaims this over and over by saying he has an "immovable frown". At the end, just as everyone finally believes him, he smiles with satisfaction.
- Serial Escalation: In "Many Moons", when the Lord High Chamberlain, the Royal Wizard, and the Royal Mathematician all say that the Moon is too large and too far away to get as a gift for the princess, each of them describes the Moon as larger and farther away than the last one.
- Stating the Simple Solution: Twice in "Many Moons", both times with the the Lord High Chamberlain, the Royal Wizard, and the Royal Mathematician giving the complicated answers and the Royal Jester finding the simple answer.
- When the King asks how to get the Moon as a present for Princess Lenore, the first three advisors tell him why it's impossible to do that. Then the Jester points out they don't have to literally get the Moon—they can just ask the Princess how big she thinks the Moon is, and what it's made of, and get her that. Lenore says the Moon is made of gold and a little larger than her thumbnail, so the Jester commissions a Moon-shaped pendant on a necklace for her.
- After this, the King fears that Princess Lenore will see the real Moon in the sky and realize she was given a fake. His first three advisors come up with elaborate solutions to hide the view of the Moon from her, which the King rejects because they'd all somehow make Lenore sick again. Then the Jester points out that Lenore will rationalize the difference herself, and they just need to agree with her explanation. When the Jester asks her, Lenore matter-of-factly explains that the Moon in the sky grew back, like a tooth or a flower.
- That Poor Plant: The Frowning Prince accidentally makes a plant wilt in the Grand Wizard's chamber, just by frowning at it.
- Unstoppable Force Meets Immovable Object: The Prince from "The Frowning Prince" insists he has an "immovable frown", and nothing the King does can make him stop. Then the King invites over a Princess from a neighboring country, who's said to have an "irresistible smile", that no one can look at without smiling themselves. When the two meet, the frown triumphs, as the Princess falters and frowns herself. Ironically, everyone else acknowledges that the Prince truly does have an immovable frown, and that's what makes the Prince finally smile.
- Weird Moon: Many Moons have all different speculations of the moon's distance, size and the material it is made of.
- The Wonderland: Paris in a mundane sense. We do not see any of the original Wonderland. Considering how her original story ended, she's probably back home.
- Wrong Turn at Albuquerque: François is trying to conduct a survey of the cheese preferences in Paris, but gets so mixed up in the sewers he winds up in Alice's house, outside of France completely.
