Alice (Neco z Alenky)

          Alice was directed by Jan Svankmajer in 1988 and is inspired by Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Svankmajer is a Czech surrealist known for his use of stop-motion animation. Alice combines stop-motion with live action to create a visually impressive retelling of the classic children's story. This film never strays far from the original in terms of plot, but it isn't really about telling a story. Above all, Alice is an art film. It uses Wonderland as an inspiration, but it's not actually about Wonderland, so much as about making a brilliant piece of surrealist animation.

          Unlike most adaptations of Wonderland, Alice never lets the audience get too comfortable in the setting. Take this scene for example.

          That probably seemed like a long seven minutes. This movie's pace borders on agonizing, which allows the bizarre nature of the film to really sink in. Also, take note of the sounds in this scene. There is no music and the sound effects are harsh and mechanical. The whole movie is like that. Furthermore, there is very little dialogue and every character is voiced by the same person. Altogether, this makes the movie sound just as unsettling as it looks.

          Another interesting touch is that nearly everything is made out of household objects. Where most versions of Wonderland have a setting and characters that are completely imaginary, Alice opts to take the familiar and make it strange. For example, the March Hare is a wind up toy, the King and Queen are cut out from playing cards...

... and the Caterpillar is a sock with googly eyes and dentures.
         The slow pace and dark tone makes Alice feel more like a weird dream than a fairy-tale. That concept may turn some people off, but I still recommend giving it a shot. We don't see a lot of stop-motion these days outside of Robot Chicken and this is as good an example of the technique as any. Even better, you can brag to your friends about how artsy you are afterward.