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A review by arnrockwell
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (Illustrated with Interactive Elements): & Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll
adventurous
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
I remember back when I was a child and I saw a film based on Lewis Carroll's classic story. No, not Disney's animated adaptation. It's alright but not anywhere near my favourites. I thought the live action film by Tim Burton was okay but again, just alright and not a favourite.
It was a film released in 1988 by Jan Švankmajer, a director from Czechoslovakia. It was released in English as "Alice." The original title was "Něco z Alenky," which translates to "Something from Alice." It's a feature-length film and combined live-action with stop animation. I absolutely adored it and it remains one of my favourite films to this day.
It was after watching that film more recently in the past year or two that I decided I wanted to one day read Lewis Carroll's stories, both of them. I wanted to learn more about the origins of some of my favourite pieces of popular culture. For context, one of my favourite video game series is also based on these stories: American McGee's Alice and its sequel Alice: Madness Returns.
You can imagine how thrilled I was to finally find this gorgeous collection of both tales: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland AND Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There. Most of the time, the first story is published alone and everyone seems to forget the second one even exists. As a consequence, there are a lot of elements from the second story that often influence adaptations that I feel people don't know the origin of.
Reading these classic stories has been a treat. Carroll seems to have had a good grasp of imagination, specifically a child's imagination, and how nonsensical it often can be. Not only are both stories quite imaginative and whimsical, but the artwork created by Minalima is beautiful, colourful, and helps to enhance my visualizations. Being a children's book, it also has some pages where there are pop-out elements, which are also well done.
This is my preferred definitive edition of these classic stories. A perfect collection and a must-read.
It was a film released in 1988 by Jan Švankmajer, a director from Czechoslovakia. It was released in English as "Alice." The original title was "Něco z Alenky," which translates to "Something from Alice." It's a feature-length film and combined live-action with stop animation. I absolutely adored it and it remains one of my favourite films to this day.
It was after watching that film more recently in the past year or two that I decided I wanted to one day read Lewis Carroll's stories, both of them. I wanted to learn more about the origins of some of my favourite pieces of popular culture. For context, one of my favourite video game series is also based on these stories: American McGee's Alice and its sequel Alice: Madness Returns.
You can imagine how thrilled I was to finally find this gorgeous collection of both tales: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland AND Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There. Most of the time, the first story is published alone and everyone seems to forget the second one even exists. As a consequence, there are a lot of elements from the second story that often influence adaptations that I feel people don't know the origin of.
Reading these classic stories has been a treat. Carroll seems to have had a good grasp of imagination, specifically a child's imagination, and how nonsensical it often can be. Not only are both stories quite imaginative and whimsical, but the artwork created by Minalima is beautiful, colourful, and helps to enhance my visualizations. Being a children's book, it also has some pages where there are pop-out elements, which are also well done.
This is my preferred definitive edition of these classic stories. A perfect collection and a must-read.