Alice May: “Alice Through the Looking Glass” (1987 Burbank Films animation)

Despite being produced by Burbank Films, this isn’t a sequel to their version of Alice in Wonderland – this was made a year earlier. Furthermore, this version is (a) a musical), (b) filled with celebrity voice actors, and © a much less faithful, more “modernized” version of the story than the studio’s rendition of the first book would be.

ThisLooking-Glassrevolves around a modern-day Alice voiced by Janet Waldo, two decades after she voiced the character in Hanna-Barbera’s 1966 cartoon, yet even at age 68 managing to sound girlish, though not childlike. Her journey through Chessland (a more concise but less poetic name than Looking-Glass Land) has the same goal as in the book, reaching the eighth square so she can become a queen. But the script takes free liberties along the way. Alice is given a friend and helper in the form of a magical jester named Tom Fool (voice of Townsend Coleman), clearly inspired by Lester the Jester from the 1966 Judi Rolin musical. The White Queen (Phyllis Diller) sends Alice on her quest, while the Red Queen (also Janet Waldo, showing off her versatility) is a villain who wants to stop Alice from succeeding. For this she employs the Jabberwock (Mr. T.), the Bandersnatch (Hal Smith) and the Snark (Clive Revill), who dwell in a land of monsters that Alice is forced to pass through. And the other characters Alice meets tend to bear little resemblance to Carroll’s versions. Tweedledum and Tweedledee (Jonathan Winters) are would-be athletes, Humpty Dumpty (George Gobel) is an unhatched dinosaur egg with saber teeth and a tail, and the White Knight (Alan Young) is a coward who thinks he’s brave.

(Once again, we have two cast members who also appeared in Irwin Allen’s 1985 Alice, and both in the Looking-Glass half too, but in different roles: George Gobel previously played the Gnat, while Jonathan Winters played Humpty Dumpty.)

In no way is this an essential version ofLooking-Glass. It’s not faithful enough to appeal to most fans of the book, yet not different enough to be fully respected as its own creative venture, and the animation is no better than an ‘80s Saturday morning cartoon. But all the same, it has charm. The characters might not exactly be Carroll’s, but they’re appealing in their own way and well-voiced by the starry cast. Meanwhile, the songs by voice actor and singer-songwriter Will Ryan (who also voices the Newspaper Man on the train) are solid, if not especially memorable.

I can imagine children enjoying this Looking-Glass very much if it were their introduction to the story. It’s not a personal favorite adaptation of mine, but still, I’m glad to have seen it.

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