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Rating: 
Summary: Beware the Jabberwocky!
Review: I had seen this back in the 80's and was surprised as to the stars involved in the project. It almost plays out as a who's who of stars from the time. I especially liked Natalie Gregory as Alice. She played the role well as the naive little girl who wants to grow up but childhood wants to keep just a little longer. Sit down and enjoy it with your kids some rainy day and you all will enjoy the warm glow of family again
Rating: 
Summary: Take a walk with the dream child.
Review: If you long to be carried away to a world of nonsense and magic, talking beasts and flowers then Alice is the best tour guide you can employ. This is a book that will find a place close to the heart of a reader of any age that has a place inside reserved for whimsy and childlike wonder. As Alice travels through Wonderland and meets many unexpected characters your imagination will soar. Run a race with a dodo bird. Have tea with the doremouse and his friends the mad hatter and the march hare. Thrill at the "Jabberwocky". Alice proves to be a very level headed young lady indeed as she encounters things that become "curiouser and curiouser!" The story meanders through forests and chessboards that are life size never ceasing to amaze the reader with charm and wit. Lewis Carroll completed a masterpiece of fantasy and social comentary in this classic tale. The book is truly a gift to any one who hopes to hold onto childhoods magic.
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Summary: Brilliant fun, a little something for everyone.
Review: Its hard to imagine anyone not enjoying this brilliant book. Whether you're a young child or an experienced reader, you can't help but marvel at the charm that Lewis Carrol creates. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass (The Alice books as they are often collectively referred to as) are two of the most enduring children's stories of all time. However, at the same time, they both are considered to be literary achievements in the adult crowd, due to the many societal critiques hidden withing the text.Alice's Adventures in Wonderland begins with the classic scene of young Alice falling down the rabbit hole. Soon she finds herself lost in an insane world. Drinking things make her grow into a giant or shrink to the size of a mouse. Best of all, are Alice's conversations with the many eclectic characters that inhabit Wonderland. Unfortunately, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland comes to an end within the one hundred page mark (it is a children's story, after all). Fortunately, this collection holds the book's sequel Alice Through the Looking Glass. In this Alice stumbles through a looking glass and finds herself in Wonderland again. This time around she becomes a pawn in a giant game of chess. The reader follows her adventures as he tries to become a queen by making it to the eighth square. This chessboard element proves a very intersting way of advancing the storyline. What truly gives this book its lasting charm is its characters. Whether its the Mad Hatter telling Alice about his friend Time, or the disappearing Cheshire Cat, every character is impossible to forget. Many such as the White Rabbit, remain popular icons today, well over a century later. Conversations held with these characters often prove laugh out loud funny, as Alice tries to make sense of and explain herself to these characters. From beginning to end, the reader will have a goofy grin plastered across his or her face. Behind all these fun adventures, Carroll manages to slip in a large amount of social commentary. Some characters represent types of people, such as the overzealous monarch, to display in an exaggerated sense the foolishness of such extremes. His many poems throughout the book often have larger meanings as well: The Walrus and the Carpenter are clearly a condemnation of modern religion. Even the wild effects of drinking and eating can be interpreted as a moral on temperence. As the Duchess in the Wonderland said "Everything's got a moral, if only you can find it." Likewise, Alice is rife with various morals. So what makes this book a classic? Reading through other people's comments, its hard to find a single person that didn't give it five stars, much less didn't like it. However, it was hard to find a definite consensus on what made it so good. Some stated its entertainment value, other enjoyed the commentary. Perhaps what makes this book so brilliant is that it has whatever you're looking for. If you want escape and adventure, it has it. If you want to laugh, there's humor. If you want intellectual thought and prose thats there too. What will the reader take away from reading is whatever they are looking for. Definitely a book that deserves its recognition as a classic of English literature.
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Summary: A Wonderful Book
Review: Wonderland is a truly fascinating place to read about.
I love the illustrations in the original versions---and HATE the later illustrations that were done as the book was published over and over. In fact, I once tried to read a copy from the 1980's but I couldn't go on with it because the pictures were bothering me. Luckily, there's really only one freaky illustration in the original version, and that's the picture where Alice's neck is very long. It's a bit disturbing.
But the book is well written and a good adventure story, too.
I love the characters. They're very interesting. "'Well, then,' the Cat went on, 'you see a dog growls when it's angry, and wags its tail when it's pleased. Now I growl when I'm pleased, and wag my tail when I'm angry. Therefore I'm mad.'"
- "The Chesire Cat", Alice In Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll Come to think of it, the Chesire cat illustration is actually quite creepy as well. But it's not a big deal or anything.
The whole book's just weird fun. Where in the world did Mr. Carroll think of all this? The Mad Hatter? The Queen of Hearts? The Duchess and her pig baby?
Alice herself is a considerably strange character.
All in all, aside from a couple of creepy illustrations, the book is wonderful. Everyone should read it once in their lifetime---it's worth it.
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