Alice in Wonderland stars a 16 year old Viola Savoy, who did only two films but became famous as THE Alice for a generation of children. The film is refreshing because it is pre-Disney and thus does not fall under the all pervading influence of his version of Alice. I do not wish to criticize Disney's version, but it is nice to see a different view also. The silent film is influenced by the actual books by Louis Carroll and the illustrations of John Tenniel. The makers of the film worked very hard to duplicate these illustrations. In fact you could say that this is an amimated live action film of Tenniel's illustrations.
The costumes are extensive and very elaborate. Theywould tax the skills of costume makers today, if they could even make them. Although not everything from the books is covered, it is amazing how much of it is in 20 some minutes,
The title cards are direct quotes from the book, even to quoting (and showing the action from) one of the poems. You get more of the sense of Alice's world as Carroll saw it, rather than an adaption. You also get much of Carroll's satire on human nature.
Aladdin is a different type of movie. It is faithful to the story, but instead of adults the main characters are children of about 8 or 6. They do a wonderful job of acting, and you can see they are really enjoying themselves.
Because they act so well, you can't help but com pairing them to adults. The silliness of that comparison adds a great deal of humor to the film. Whenever you see one of the kids plotting to do evil, falling in love, seeking revenge, defying authority and so on, you also see the childishness of adult actions. While being humorous, the film is also a bit satire of human nature.
But most of all, you see the fun the cast is having. It is obvious they (both child stars and the adult supporting cast) are having a ball doing this film. Their enjoyment is infectious and you can't help feeling that way yourself.
The British have a word, "Twee." It means sickeningly sweet sentiment. It comes from the way a child will say "sweet." Many of the "family films" I see today annoy me by being very "twee". Or they annoy me by having jokes that have a double meaning which is supposed to go over the heads of children but makes the adults laugh at some "adult" humor. Adult humor is alright in its place, but does it really have to be in children's films? You won't see either of those things in these two films. It is just a lot of good fun for kids, and the things that adults appreciate are not jokes with a possible sexual meaning, but a bit of satire on human nature that might make us a little wiser in the end - and trust me, the kids get it too.
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