Other cinematic techniques that aided in the telling of the story was simplicity of the focus and frames. With modern computer animation, shots that pan, move in and out, or adjust focus without cuts are now as commonplace in animation as they are in live-action films. The older style of animation, in which backgrounds were often stationary and hardly ever shifted scale without a cut, is actually better suited to the telling of Alice in Wonderland. This keeps the focus on Alice and her experience in Wonderland, scaling everything to match whatever her current body size happens to be and relating importance and relationship by the placement of the various characters and background elements in relation to Alice within the frame. The film and therefore viewer's focus shifts, generally speaking, only when Alice's does, in keeping with the flow and construction of the novel. Another film technique employed in the Disney film that serves as an effective means of adaptation from the novel is the use of the cross-fade and the "dream" -- or more appropriately in this case "storytelling" -- sequence. The most prominent and memorable use of this technique from the film is the story f the Walrus and the Carpenter, which is told by Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee, but which is also acted out in the film during this "storytelling" sequence. In the novel, the story is just one of the many half-sensical story-poems Dodgson puts into the mouths of his characters, but it is easily one of the most enjoyable and unique sequences in the film -- Disney even ran the excerpt as a short in its morning cartoon line-up from time to time. The poems are all very witty and enjoyable whether being read from the age or heard spoken, but the film takes this latter option a step farther by allwing the action to be visually represented as well. The cut-away to...

The makers of this film were well aware of the power and necessity of the visual image, and they used it well.
All in all, this adaptation is one of the most successful book-to-film adaptations of any kind, animation or otherwise. Though some details of the story were changed, far more were rigidly adhered to, even down to actual lines of dialogue and seemingly meaningless actions, such as Alice's shelving of a jar during her descent down the rabbit hole (Dodgson, Chapter 1). Most importantly, the book remained true to Dodgsn's fanciful style and the inquisitive and irrepressible nature of the story's heroine. Character is key to good drama, and was the essential ingredient to hodge-podge of Dodgson's fantasy and logical departures that came to be his Alice books. The important personalities of the novel have been preserved in the Disney animated version, and with just those intact, the success of Alice's adventures is almost sure to remain intact.

Works Cited

Alice in Wonderland. Dir. Clyde Geronimi, Wilfred Jackson, Hamilton Luske. Disney, 1951.

Auerbach, Nina. "Alice and Wonderland: A Curious Child." Victorian Studies, Vol. 17, No. 1, the Victorian Child (Sep., 1973), pp. 31-47. Retrieved via JSTOR 12 January 2009.

Dodgson, Charles L. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. 1866. New York: Harper-Collins, 1992.

Levin, Harry. "Wonderland Revisited." The Kenyon Review, Vol. 27, No. 4 (Autumn, 1965), pp. 591-616. Retrieved via JSTOR 12 January 2009.

Shavit, Zohar. "Translation of Children's Literature as a Function of Its Position in the Literary Polysystem." Poetics Today, Vol. 2, No. 4,…