Adaptation Displacement: Not as common as with other Disney films. People at least seem to be aware there is a book, but many assume the elements of the film are from the book. Many people don't distinguish between Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass (or simply don't know that they're two separate books), and the film's mingling of the two exacerbates this. This is especially the case with the Queen of Hearts - whose Hair-Trigger Temper comes from the Duchess, but is assumed to be one of her key character traits. The Cheshire Cat likewise is thought of as a Troll or aloof thanks to this film making him an Adaptational Jerkass - whereas in the book he was one of Alice's only friends. It's sometimes forgotten that Alice was a bit younger in the books, around seven, but the Disney version appears to be portraying her as the same age as her actress Kathryn Beaumont (who was twelve). And many don't realize the doorknob only exists in the Disney version.
Were the Mad Hatter and March Hare "fixing" the Rabbit's watch as a cruel practical joke, or were they genuinely trying to help in their own backward way?
There are some parts of Kathryn Beaumont's performance that suggests Alice is really more like the residents of Wonderland than she seems to be. In fact, in the real world she seems to irritate her sister with her daydreaming. So in Wonderland it might be that Alice secretly likes being able to take the moral high ground and she slips up through moments like the unbirthday celebration.
Since the story's All Just a Dream, Alice's personality is a little different in Wonderland to the real world. In the real world she daydreams and longs for nonsense. In Wonderland she is the Only Sane Man. So perhaps the dream is Alice imagining herself as a sensible person Surrounded by Idiots as a way of processing how out of place she feels in the real world.
The King's line "Off with his head! Off with his head! By order of the King! You heard what she said!" In the book, it's revealed he pardons everyone behind the Queen's back. With that in mind, is it Adaptational Villainy and he's joining in with the Queen, or is it Sure, Let's Go with That?
Angst? What Angst?: Alice isn't too phased during her initial descent into Wonderland. Her first instinct while falling is to casually bid Dinah goodbye. Then when her dress opens like a parachute, she deadpans "Well, after this I'll think nothing of falling down the stairs."
Awesome Art: Every frame in Wonderland, from the rabbit hole down to the Queen's garden is a work of art in itself. For that, you can partly thank Mary Blair, who came up with the concept art for the film and set the tone. Take a look.
Big-Lipped Alligator Moment: Brief, but strange even for this movie, during the ending chase, Alice suddenly finds herself in a second Caucus race, together with the queen (who seems oddly happy about it), the king, the cards, Tweedle-Dee and Twiddle-Dum and, most bizarrely, both the Walrus and the Carpenter (who were only characters in Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum's story) plus a group of oysters (ditto, plus the fact that they were supposed to have been eaten by the Walrus). The moment Alice gets out of the nonsensical race, the chase continues. The Walrus and the Carpenter also appear among the group of characters chasing Alice in the final shot before Alice wakes up.
Creepy Cute: The Cheshire Cat is quite deranged looking but still fairly cute.
Critical Backlash: Critics slammed this movie when it came out, attacking Walt Disney for "Americanizing a great work of British literature." The man himself viewed it as a disappointment, comparing it to his first masterpiece and observing that viewers felt sympathy for Snow White's plight, but Alice didn't inspire any. In The '60s, though, it found its audience among stoners.
The Mad Hatter is only one of three characters in the un-birthday sequence, but is far more remembered than the March Hare or the Dormouse. At the parks he's usually with Alice.
The Cheshire Cat is another of the more remembered characters for his sheer weirdness (even by Wonderland's standards) and being a funny Troll. It's quite surprising since he only appears in four scenes.
Despite not appearing until the third act of the film, judging from the amount of fanart she gets online, the Queen of Hearts seems to be really popular as well.
The doorknob has very little screen time but is considered one of the more memorable characters. Doubly impressive since he doesn't exist in either of the books. Triply impressive in that compared to the rest of Wonderland, he's quite a Nice Guy who helps Alice realise it was all a dream.
Germans Love David Hasselhoff: Alice in Wonderland is loved in Japan, thanks to the movie's bizarre nature and Alice's cuteness.
Verna Felton voices a character who prefers things to be red. In one of her next Disney films, she also plays a character who wears red and gets very particular about a dress being pink. And the two characters couldn't be more opposites; the Queen of Hearts is a villain with a Hair-Trigger Temper, Flora is a heroic fairy.
Speaking of Felton, this isn't the only time she voiced a Disney character that would later be portrayed in live-action by Helena Bonham Carter.
Walt himself didn't like this movie, and while it's not clear if he meant the movie or character, he said "Alice lacked heart." Years later, she's a Princess of Heart.
Random characters telling the Queen to shut her trap seems to be pretty popular.
Alice face palming during the trial was used by the Unshaved Mouse whenever he encountered stereotypes or problematic elements in the older Disney films.
"I relate to Alice so much. She just goes around randomly eating and drinking in the hopes it'll make her life better."
Moe: Alice is a very polite, curious little girl with an adorable appearance in a young English Rose sort of way.
Narm Charm: "In a World of My Own" falls a little short of being the typical Disney "I Want" Song, mostly because Kathryn Beaumont is not primarily a singer. However that almost adds to the charm of it.
Once Original, Now Common: At the time, the story of Alice was defined visually by the John Tenniell illustrations from the original book. Disney choosing to go for the modernist art style of Mary Blair was a shocking change, and was one of the many aspects which brought on the accusations of 'Americanization'. After decades of Alice adaptations that use surreal or bizarre imagery, this might be lost on modern viewers.
The film is popular with autistic children, who relate to Alice feeling out of place in the world. The story itself is often used as an allegory for autism. And there is a fan theory (as seen on the WMG page) that each of the Wonderland residents represent a different aspect of the condition.
Together with Fantasia, Alice in Wonderland became hugely popular with college-age hippies and stoners in the late '60s and the early '70s thanks to its surrealist imagery. Disney responded by re-releasing both films in theaters with psychedelic marketing geared towards these demographics, which helped the company recoup their longstanding losses on them and made them more acceptable to younger Baby Boomers, who'd previously been dismissive of the studio. This in turn led these audiences to show Alice in Wonderland to their own kids when they grew up, helping it achieve "classic" status by the late '80s.
Tear Dryer: Alice bursts into tears when she thinks that she's stuck in Wonderland. Then the Cheshire Cat appears to put her in the right direction.
The animals in the Tulgey Wood, especially all the strange looking birds. Who's a cute widdle living birdcage?
The Glasses Birds are pretty much Adorkable personified (as birds).
Uncertain Audience: While it has since been Vindicated by History and is now considered a classic, it quite heavily fell victim to this reaction when it was first released into theaters in 1951. Fans of the original novel heavily criticized the Americanized themes, the character designs being so much more cartoonish-looking compared to John Tenniel's original illustrations in the aforementioned original novel, and how the film incorporated multiple elements from the novel's sequel Through the Looking-Glass. And at the same time, many viewers who weren't hardcore fans of the original novel and thus wouldn't have minded these deviations were turned off by the unlikeable characters and lack of a proper story with a traditional narrative.
The film opened to a lukewarm box office and mostly hostile reviews in 1951. Walt himself voiced Creator Backlash against the film and famously declared that it had failed because "Alice lacked heart" (it's somewhat unclear whether by "Alice" he meant the film or the character). In the decades since, it has become better regarded by both critics and general audiences and is now thought as something of a minor classic. In fact Alice was one of the first Disney films released to home video.
This version of Alice herself. Walt felt she "lacked heart" (although he could have been referring to the film itself) but these days, she's considered one of Disney's most popular heroines. Kathryn Beaumont herself is seen as one of the most spirited and entertaining Alices (especially in comparison to Disney's own live-action version). Alice is even sometimes included with the Disney Princesses due to her popularity.
Alice has her moments, especially in the "Very Good Advice" sequence. In many scenarios, she's happy to be involved and wants to enjoy Wonderland - but 90% of the characters treat her so horribly it's no wonder she just wants to go home.
The three cards painting the roses red. They know they've screwed up big time by planting white roses and that their lives are on the line for doing so. It helps that they're the only Wonderland residents who are genuinely nice to Alice, and they avoid pinning the blame on her when the Queen finds out. Alice also tries pleading to the Queen to go easy on them, to no avail.
