 | This article'slead sectionmay be too short to adequatelysummarize the key points. Please consider expanding the lead toprovide an accessible overview of all important aspects of the article.(February 2025) |
Alice, themain protagonist ofLewis Carroll's novelsAlice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865) andThrough the Looking-Glass (1871), has been adapted to several media.
The first professional stage adaptation ofAlice's Adventures in Wonderland andThrough the Looking Glass, themusicalAlice in Wonderland, a Dream Play for Children, in two acts, debuted on 23 December 1886 at thePrince of Wales Theatre in London, England, and continued until 18 March 1887, to good reviews;[1][2] it starredPhoebe Carlo as Alice.[2] The musical was laterrevived and performed at theGlobe Theatre from 26 December 1888 to 9 February 1889, with Carroll's friend,Isa Bowman, as Alice.[2] The musical was frequently revived during the "Christmas season," being produced eighteen times from 1898 to 1930.[2]Alice's Adventures in Wonderland has since been adapted for various forms of the stage, including "ballets, operas, experimental theatre, Broadway musicals, puppet plays, mime acts, and rock musicals."[2]
Directed and produced byCecil Hepworth, thefirst film adaptation ofAlice's Adventures in Wonderland debuted in Great Britain in 1903 as asilent film and in January 1904 in the United States.[3] Because of its nature as a silent film, "it circulated freely throughout Europe and America."[3] It starredMay Clark as Alice and Hepworth's wife as the Queen of Hearts.[3] TheBritish Film Institute hasrestored fourteen of the original sixteen scenes.[3] Two more silent film adaptations ofAlice's Adventures in Wonderland were produced:one in 1910 starringGladys Hulette, andanother in 1915 withViola Savoy as Alice.[4]Ruth Gilbert starred as Alice inthe firstAlice film with sound (1931), followed byCharlotte Henry (1933),Carol Marsh (1948),Anne-Marie Malik (1966) andFiona Fullerton (1972).[4] Alice In Wonderland was also later Produced by Joe Roth who wanted to recreate a modern Alice In Wonderland. It was directed by Tim Burton. This version was based on Through the Looking Glass therefore Alice returning to Wonderland at the age of 19.
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland had served as inspiration forWalt Disney's earlierAlice Comedies.[5] By 1931, he had "storyboards and sketches" for a film adaptation of the children's novel; however, the release ofanotherAlice film during the same year caused him to put the project on hold.[5] With the conclusion ofWorld War II, Disney considered the film again, planning it to be a combination of live-action and animation starringGinger Rogers as Alice.[5] In 1946, however, Disney decided to drop the live-action aspect of hisAlice film and make it completely animated instead.[5] For the voice of Alice, he wanted one "that would be English enough to satisfy British audiences and preserve the feeling of an English literary classic, but not so English that it would put off American audiences."[5] He found that in young actressKathryn Beaumont, when watching her inOn an Island with You.[5] Successfully auditioning for the role of Alice, Beaumont voiced the character and acted as reference material for the animators: her acting was recorded and used by them to animate the character.[5] During the recording of her voice acting, Beaumont dressed as Alice to better aid her with "getting into character".[5] Despite not being trained as a singer, she also provided Alice's singing voice, as Disney envisioned the songs as possessing a "childlike feel" to them.[5]
Alice is the main character ofAlice in Wonderland. Alice is portrayed as being very curious, often seen daydreaming and giving herself advice instead of listening to the advice of others. The closest thing Alice has to a friend is Dinah, her kitten, and not even she understands Alice's dreams of finding "a world of her own." Alice is well mannered, polite, courteous, mature and has an elegance and gentleness of a young woman, although once she falls intoWonderland she finds it harder and harder to maintain her composure. She is shown to be determined, but her determination is often overpowered by her temper, seeing as she does not give up on finding theWhite Rabbit until she gets frustrated, and is easily put off by rudeness. She wears a blue puffy short-sleeved knee-length wide-skirted dress, a white pinafore apron over-top and a black ribbon tied into a bow in her thick blonde shoulder-length hair on top of her head. Underneath her dress she wore frilly white ruffled knee-length bloomers over matching thigh-high stockings, a matching petticoat and black strapped Mary Jane shoes. She is voiced by Kathryn Beaumont, who later voice Wendy Darling inPeter Pan (1953).
Alice appears inDisney's Villains' Revenge, where Queen of Hearts takes revenge on Alice by cutting off her head. The player encounters Alice's headless body walking through Queen of Hearts' maze, having to help her find her head.
Alice is featured as a character in the video game seriesKingdom Hearts. She is the secondPrincess of Heart encountered in the game (afterKairi), and herworld, Wonderland, is also one of the first Disney-based worlds visited. Alice also appears in the sequel,Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, as a figment of the memories ofSora, the game's protagonist. She is also present inKingdom Hearts coded, as a data-based version from Jiminy's Journal. Though she does not make an appearance inKingdom Hearts II, she, along with all of the other Princesses of Heart, was referenced. In the Japanese version she was voiced byMika Doi, and in the English version Alice was originally voiced by her original voice actress Kathryn Beaumont forKingdom Hearts, but following her retirement from the role, Alice was voiced by Beaumont's replacement Hynden Walch for the HD Cinematics ofRe:Coded inKingdom Hearts HD 2.5 Remix.
Wonderland is one of the four Disney movie-themed worlds accessible in theNintendo 3DS gameDisney Magical World, and several characters from the film appear in the game, including Alice herself. The player may also collect items and clothing pieces inspired by the Disney movie.
Alice appears inDisney Magic Kingdoms as a playable character to unlock during limited time.[6]
She also appears in many episodes ofHouse of Mouse and in the direct-to-video releasesMickey's Magical Christmas: Snowed in at the House of Mouse andMickey's House of Villains. She is now voiced byHynden Walch.[7] Alice can be seen as a meetable character in theWalt Disney Parks and Resorts. Alice can also be considered an unofficialDisney Princess, seeing as she appears in many instances of Disney Princess art, videos and other media (such as being a 'Princess of Heart' in Kingdom Hearts). In the filmWho Framed Roger Rabbit, Alice is mentioned as "Allyson Wonderland" on some graffiti written on the bathroom wall in Toontown.
Despite not being part of the officialDisney Princess lineup, Alice has appeared as a guest character in official Disney Princess art, and is included in the Disney Princess music video "It's Not Just Make Believe" and "The Perfect Princess Tea" with the then eight official princesses.
Alice Kingsleigh (Mia Wasikowska) is a 19-year-old girl "who doesn't quite fit into Victorian society and structure."[8][9] Her return to Wonderland – having previously visited it as a child, although she has since forgotten it as anything other than a dream, and now required to return to defeat theJabberwocky – "becomes a rite of passage as she discovers her voice and herself."[8][10] Screenwriter Linda Woolverton researched how young women were expected to behave in the Victorian era and then made Alice the opposite.[11]Independent columnist Liz Hoggard praised Alice as a role model for girls, describing the character as "stubborn, brave, [and] non-girlie."[11][12] Alice’s height varies throughout the film from six inches, two feet, eight and a half feet, to a maximum 20 feet (6.1 m).[13] Mairi Ella Challen portrays Alice as a six-year-old.[14] Wasikowska reprised the role in the 2016 sequelAlice Through the Looking Glass.
Besides the books and the Disney film, Alice has appeared in many other works:
A 1966 Hanna-Barbera animated special,Alice in Wonderland or What's a Nice Kid Like You Doing in a Place Like This?, is a modernized take on the book, withJanet Waldo as Alice.
Warehouse 13, a Syfy channel TV series, featured an evil version of Alice during the second half of season 1. In the show, Lewis Carroll's books weren't fake, but chronicles based on Alice's adventures in Wonderland masquerading as fiction. The mirror she passed through, after enough uses, made Alice go "Mad as a Hatter", turning her into a sociopathic killer.
A 1973Star Trek: The Animated Series,Once Upon a Planet, Alice asksLieutenant Uhura where the White Rabbit is.
In the 2009 miniseriesAlice, Alice (Caterina Scorsone) is a 20-year-old judo instructor. A man named Jack Chase gives her the Stone of Wonderland before being kidnapped by the White Rabbit. Alice follows Jack to Wonderland, set 150 years after the original adventure, where the Red Queen rules the land.
Alice is the central character in the 2013 fantasy seriesOnce Upon a Time in Wonderland (a spin-off toOnce Upon a Time) portrayed bySophie Lowe as a teenager and byMillie Bobby Brown as a child. The story is set in a fictional Victorian England-themed world and takes place after Alice has returned from Wonderland. Due to the stories she tells about the hookah-smoking caterpillar and Cyrus, played byPeter Gadiot, the genie she fell in love with and believed to be dead, she is declared insane and placed in London’s Bethlem Asylum. The doctors decide that the best treatment for Alice is a procedure that will make her forget Wonderland and all of the events that happened there. Alice, wanting to forget her painful past, agrees to the procedure. The night before the procedure, the White Rabbit, voiced byJohn Lithgow, and the Knave of Hearts, played byMichael Socha arrive in the asylum and tell Alice that Cyrus is not dead but may be in danger. Hearing this, Alice agrees to go back to Wonderland and help find her true love. It is later revealed that Cyrus is being held prisoner by Jafar (played byNaveen Andrews) who wants to use Cyrus’ magic to take over Wonderland and who is also working with the evil Red Queen (played byEmma Rigby). Throughout the series, Alice and the Knave of Hearts work together to try and rescue Cyrus and stop the Red Queen and Jafar from wrecking more havoc in Wonderland.[15]
An alternate version ofAlice is a recurring character in theseventh season of the fantasy seriesOnce Upon a Time, portrayed byRose Reynolds. She is the daughter of the Wish Realm version ofKillian Jones (played byColin O'Donoghue) andMother Gothel (played byEmma Booth). Alice is the lover of Robin, played byTiera Skovbye, who is the daughter ofRobin Hood (Sean Maguire) andZelena (Rebecca Mader). Her cursed identity in Hyperion Heights was "Tilly".
In 1987 filmThe Care Bears Adventure in Wonderland, Alice (voiced byTracey Moore) is a young and shy blonde girl with an apparent self-esteem problem, as she thinks that she is not "special," until the Care Bears decide she is the girl who more closely resembles the missing Princess of Wonderland, so Alice takes the place of the Princess and ultimately learns to believe in herself. In this film, Alice is shown wearing casual clothing (a white shirt with a pink stripe, purple pants, blue jacket and pink shoes) and having a ponytail in her hair.
The Czech surrealistJan Švankmajer retold the story in a very dark 1988 film titled simplyAlice. Kristýna Kohoutová portrayed her and her English dub was done byCamilla Power.Woody Allen's filmAlice, while not a direct adaptation, did follow a woman who has a series of surreal adventures.
Alice Fairchild appears as an aging woman and a 14-year-old girl inAlan Moore andMelinda Gebbie's 1991 explicit graphic novelLost Girls.
In Alan Moore andKevin O'Neill'sLeague Of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Alice is referred to asMiss A. L.
Alice Liddell is one of the main characters inAndy Weir andSarah Andersen's webcomicCheshire Crossing.
Alice appears as a college-attending teenager alongsideWendy Darling,Dorothy Gale, andSusan Pevensie in Chicago of 2005 and 2006, in the comic book seriesThe Oz/Wonderland Chronicles.
Alice Liddle is the main character ofZenescope Entertainment'sGrimm Fairy Tales: Return to Wonderland (2007–08),Alice In Wonderland (2012),Wonderland (2012–16), andWonderland: Down the Rabbit Hole (2013).
Alice has appeared in two manga byCLAMP:Miyuki-chan in Wonderland (1993)[16] andKey Princess Story: Eternal Alice Rondo[17]
In the mangaPandora Hearts had Alice as the heroine but has a twin sister the white hair Alice The Intention of Abyss who are also based on the Red Queen and White Queen as well as Alice and her sister. They had Oz the B-Rabbit and Cheshire Cat as companions were originally a stuff rabbit and a cat, but later become chains with human bodies. Their Mother of Lacie which is an anagram of Alice.
In the shoujo mangaAlice in Murderland, the main protagonists dresses up as the titular character.
In the 2011 animeBlack Butler season 2, the main character is readAlice in Wonderland by his butler while in a coma. As a result, Ciel dreamt that he was Alice.
In theOuran High School Host Club episode "Haruhi in Wonderland", protagonistHaruhi Fujioka falls asleep and finds herself in an adapted version of Wonderland.
In theCardcaptor Sakura, episodeSakura and Sakura from Wonderland, the majority of the episode pays homage to the story, withSakura Kinomoto playing Alice.
In the sequel seriesCardcaptor Sakura Clear Card, Akiho Shinomoto invites Sakura Kinomoto and Tomoyo Daidouji to her home to visit her library, where Akiho picks up a book titledAlice in Clockland.
In July 30, 2011Alice in the Country of Hearts was released.
She appears inAtlus' 1992video gameShin Megami Tensei as a mini-boss, and has since become a staple demon in theMegami Tensei series. Her appearance and abilities are based on Carrol's character and popular media depictions, while her violent behavior and demeanor are said to be based on a European legend used to scare unruly children into behaving. The myth describes a deceased girl's spirit, who kills misbehaving children so that they can be friends in death.[citation needed]
In the 2000 PC gameAmerican McGee's Alice, Alice is portrayed as an older, dark-brown haired girl with emerald green eyes. In the game, Alice is a tortured young woman, who at a young age was orphaned when her parents and her sister were burned alive in an accidental fire caused by her cat Dinah. Afterward, she falls into acatatonic state, and is condemned to Rutledge's Asylum for treatment. There she remains for many years, faced with her ownsurvivor's guilt and the mistreatment of patients in the mental hospitals of the time. Then, the White Rabbit arrives in her cell and tells her she must return to Wonderland and save the creatures there from the tyrannical Queen of Hearts. By doing so, she not only saves Wonderland, but her own sanity.
In the 2011 sequel,Alice: Madness Returns, Alice is again tormented by hallucinations of a corrupted Wonderland, being destroyed by the mysterious Infernal Train and increasingly blending with reality. Throughout the game, she battles the mysterious Ruin, a mark of the Train's influence on Alice's mind, while struggling to piece together her repressed memories of the fire that killed her parents and sister. The second game gives her last name as "Liddell," which is the last name of the little girl rumored to have inspired Alice. American McGee's Alice hasSusie Brann voicing the titular character.
In the 2003 video gameAlice in the Country of Hearts.[18] which got a manga adaptation.[19]
InSunsoft's 2006mobile gameAlice's Warped Wonderland (歪みの国のアリス,Yugami no kuni no Arisu;Alice in Distortion World), Alice is re-imagined as a sixteen-year-old Japanese girl namedAriko Katsuragi, also called "Alice" by the Wonderland denizens (as "Alice" sounds similar to "Ariko" in Japanese) and to her younger self in the real world as well. In this game, Ariko is a quiet, normal girl that is constantly bewildered by the bizarreness of Wonderland. Ariko suffers from suicidal depression after losing her father in a fire at age four, enduring years of abuse from her mentally and emotionally unstable mother, and nearly killing herself after witnessing her mother almost murdering her fiancé during one of her psychotic episodes. Throughout the game, Ariko and theCheshire Cat chase after theWhite Rabbit, unlocking the tragic memories she suppressed in her mind and regaining her will to live on the way. In this iteration, Ariko is stated to beWonderland's creator (but not the ruler) and is beloved by all the residents (though her depression greatly warped many characters' love for her), as Wonderland is her coping mechanism to deal with her traumatic childhood. In the bad endings of the game, Ariko can die by the hands of the other characters, have a complete mental breakdown, or kills herself since she is unable overcome her trauma.[20][21]
InFrank Beddor's 2004 novel,The Looking Glass Wars, an adaptation of theAlice books, Alice is re-imagined asAlyss Heart, the rightful heir to the throne of Wonderland and a warrior princess with magical powers of her own. The preface of the story is that Alyss fled to Earth where she met Lewis Carroll and told him her story. He turned it into a nonsensical fairytale in which he even misspelled her name.
Alice is a rebellious teenager inRaul Alberto Contreras dark-humored novelAlice's Bloody Adventures in Wonderland.
In theTokyo DisneylandDreamLights version of theMain Street Electrical Parade, Alice is voiced byKat Cressida.
Alice appears in the Mad T Party at Disney's California Adventure park. She is portrayed after Tim Burton's version of Alice. She is often found onstage doing vocals in the Mad T Party band alongside the Mad Hatter.
InMattel's Doll franchiseEver After High, Alice has a child named Alistair Wonderland.
