Upon recommendation of a friend I decided to see this film and I'm not quite sure what to make of it, now, having finished it.
I'm unsure whether I should call this version of Alice in Wonderland so bad, it's good, or call it secretly a work of genius. I don't mean the latter ironically either. There are certain exchanges of dialogue that say things indicative of the political times it came out in, but in a way so offhand and so nonchalantly that it comes off as a film that isn't trying to share anything profound but does so anyway. By its delivery it isn't something that is done by accident, which leaves me to believe that, perhaps, there may be something more to this film.
The comedy aspect of this version of Alice in Wonderland is also a bit bizarre, but again, in a good way. The film feels like it shares a lot in common in a comedic sense with Monty Python's Flying Circus, especially at the end of the film, starting with the court scene. Most of the comedy from the first half of the film didn't move me very much, but the second half was so absurd and the jokes so frequent that it was actually quite funny.
If my memory serves me correctly there are seven explicit scenes in this film and, strangely enough, despite their being the reason people visit this film (I assume) they were the weakest aspect. Maybe it's just me, but I felt that those scenes went on for too long and hurt the pacing of the film. They are shot exactly the way you would expect a film from the 70s calling itself X-Rated to be shot and I'm sure many people would appreciate that, but I didn't really feel like it was necessary for them to go on for as long as they did.
As far as the musical numbers go, they are mediocre. Some of the editing negatively impacts the timing of the musical numbers and they sometimes feel like they are patched together with certain segments of the songs completely missing. That isn't to say that the musical numbers would necessarily benefit from that since they aren't really very special sounding. The music is average 70s movie musical stuff and I wouldn't be surprised if the scores they got for this film were rejected drafts of songs for other movie musicals and reworked to fit this film.
Alice in Wonderland: An X-Rated Musical Fantasy is something to behold. It's a clever take on the original story despite the kind of industry known for making X-Rated films are known for their terrible parodies of popular films, this one seems to actually have something to say and it says it genuinely, yet with still a sense of self-awareness and a lack of self-seriousness that it left me very confused over whether this film is brilliant or a happy accident. I'd recommend it for anyone who is curious about what this film is.
I'm unsure whether I should call this version of Alice in Wonderland so bad, it's good, or call it secretly a work of genius. I don't mean the latter ironically either. There are certain exchanges of dialogue that say things indicative of the political times it came out in, but in a way so offhand and so nonchalantly that it comes off as a film that isn't trying to share anything profound but does so anyway. By its delivery it isn't something that is done by accident, which leaves me to believe that, perhaps, there may be something more to this film.
The comedy aspect of this version of Alice in Wonderland is also a bit bizarre, but again, in a good way. The film feels like it shares a lot in common in a comedic sense with Monty Python's Flying Circus, especially at the end of the film, starting with the court scene. Most of the comedy from the first half of the film didn't move me very much, but the second half was so absurd and the jokes so frequent that it was actually quite funny.
If my memory serves me correctly there are seven explicit scenes in this film and, strangely enough, despite their being the reason people visit this film (I assume) they were the weakest aspect. Maybe it's just me, but I felt that those scenes went on for too long and hurt the pacing of the film. They are shot exactly the way you would expect a film from the 70s calling itself X-Rated to be shot and I'm sure many people would appreciate that, but I didn't really feel like it was necessary for them to go on for as long as they did.
As far as the musical numbers go, they are mediocre. Some of the editing negatively impacts the timing of the musical numbers and they sometimes feel like they are patched together with certain segments of the songs completely missing. That isn't to say that the musical numbers would necessarily benefit from that since they aren't really very special sounding. The music is average 70s movie musical stuff and I wouldn't be surprised if the scores they got for this film were rejected drafts of songs for other movie musicals and reworked to fit this film.
Alice in Wonderland: An X-Rated Musical Fantasy is something to behold. It's a clever take on the original story despite the kind of industry known for making X-Rated films are known for their terrible parodies of popular films, this one seems to actually have something to say and it says it genuinely, yet with still a sense of self-awareness and a lack of self-seriousness that it left me very confused over whether this film is brilliant or a happy accident. I'd recommend it for anyone who is curious about what this film is.