Betty in Blunderland

As said many times, Fleischer were responsible for some brilliant cartoons, some of them still among my favourites. Their visual style was often stunning and some of the most imaginative and ahead of its time in animation.

The character of Betty Boop, one of their most famous and prolific characters, may not be for all tastes and sadly not as popular now, but her sex appeal was quite daring for the time and to me there is an adorable sensual charm about her. The Wonderland characters, the most memorable being the Mad Hatter, Humpty Dumpty and the Jabberwocky, shine very nicely too.

Only the ending disappoints a little to an otherwise extremely well done and hugely imaginative cartoon. It isn't as inventive as the rest, feels on the rushed side and its "scarier" (though it's somewhat tame now) and more action-packed tone is at odds a little with the more whimsical and oddball one of the rest of 'Betty in Blunderland'.

However, the best thing about 'Betty in Blunderland' is the animation which is outstanding, being so rich in detail and visual invention, my mind was in awe the entire time and the most imaginative moments were enough to make the jaw drop. Every bit as good was the music, which was very catchy, clever and will brighten anybody's mood after a hard day, especially Betty Boop's take on "Everyone Says I Love You".

What was immediately amazing was how much story 'Betty in Blunderland' crammed in into a short time and did it at a fast pace without feeling rushed and with so many highlights to count. Also with maintaining the oddball and whimsical nature of the original classic story 'Alice in Wonderland', while in keeping with the surreal and risqué one of the Pre-Code Betty Boop cartoons. All this combined, along with some riotous lyrics and dialogue and entertaining characters, made for a cartoon as rich in entertainment as rich as it was in visual style. The voice acting is very good.

In summary, wonderful cartoon and was very nearly one of the best Betty Boop cartoons before the ending weakened it a little. 9/10 Bethany Cox

Betty is relaxing on the floor putting a "Wonderland Jig-Saw Puzzle" together. After she gets one of the final pieces in, a rabbit, the grandfather clock reminds her it is time for bed. The rabbit gets up out of the puzzle and walks through a mirror. Betty follows it and winds up in "Blunderland," on this takeoff of the famous Lewis Carroll story.

Betty makes the famous trip that Alice did, with variations of course. There are some cute and funny sight gags in here, as she gulps down a "Shrink Ola" soda and enters the tiny world of wild sights and sounds.

This is very entertaining as Betty meets the Mad Hatter, Humpty Dumpty (huh?) and all kinds of characters. Of course, she entertains them all with song and dance and we get the usual chase scene at the end with a big bad creature hauling off with Betty.

That last part was weak, which was a shame because the first half of this made this look like it was going to be a spectacular cartoon. It was still good, but not as good as it appeared it was going to be.

This cartoon short is an interesting adaptation of a great children's story. Instead of Alice playing the lead role as always, we have Betty Boop living in Alice's Wonderland...or, more appropriately, Blunderland.

It starts off with Betty putting together an Alice in Wonderland jigsaw puzzle, when suddenly the White Rabbit in the puzzle leaps out and dashes into Betty's mirror, which Betty follows and is led into the Rabbit's world.

Filled with fun, song, and the one and only Jabberwocky, this little cartoon may only be entertaining for those who can watch an old black and white, while others who enjoy color might be disappointed and bored. But if you like Alice in Wonderland and Betty Boop, then why not?

Betty is doing a jigsaw puzzle featuring character from Alice in Wonderland. When the rabbit leaves the puzzle, Betty follows him through the looking glass. There she meets numerous figures from Lewis Carroll. The do their respective things and she sings and dances. It is going well, until this dragon shows up (I guess it's the Jabberwocky). But it turns this whimsical thing into another escape from a monster. Still, all that leads up to this is quite nicely done, with great art work and good animation. One of Betty's better features.

"Betty in Blunderland" is a visual delight. Although it is a takeoff of "Alice in Wonderland", it actually bears more similarity to the 1933 film version than the book--probably because BOTH were made by Paramount Studios. And, hard as it might seem, they actually managed to cram a lot into only about 6 minutes! The cartoon begins with Betty up late working on an Alice in Wonderland puzzle. Suddenly, the white rabbit pops out of the puzzle and disappears through the mirror--and Betty follows. What comes next are lots of characters and highlights from the story. As far as the story goes, there isn't a lot of it--it's more a visual feast as you watch all the craziness on the screen. And, combined with great animation, there is ample reason to give this one a look.