Betty au pays des merveilles

One of the amusing Betty Boop black-and-white cartoon shorts from Fleischer Studios, "Betty in Blunderland" (reusing the "Blunderland" title from "Felix the Cat in Blunderland" (1926), which I have unfortunately been unable to see as of yet) crams as many references to Lewis Carroll's Alice books as it can in under seven minutes while all the while Betty sings "How Do You Do" to the books' cast of characters. Being Betty, this is also remarkable for introducing sexual humor to the famous children's narrative, including her skirt flying up as she falls down the rabbit hole.

Her Wonderland, or "Blunderland," adventure is framed, as per the books, as a dream--here, after she falls asleep working on a Wonderland jigsaw puzzle of Alice and the White Rabbit (a mise-en-abyme). The White Rabbit rises from the puzzle and enters Wonderland through the looking glass, with Betty in her dream state following suit. No time is wasted on Betty, like Alice, finding her surroundings confusing. Her passage to the dreamscape's populace is streamlined by a subway station through the rabbit hole and a cat serving as soda jerk for "Shrink-ola" to get through the tiny door. When the Jabberwock shows up and captures Betty, her adventure is soon over as the rest of Wonderland's inhabitants come to her rescue.

My grandmother gave me two videos when I was a child, one of Betty Boop and one of Popeye. I really liked them as a kid, and now I'm taking a history of animation class and we just went over some Betty Boop cartoons. It reminded my of that video so long ago, so in my paper I mentioned the movie. It's a very surreal and entertaining cartoon. I've always found the old animations to be creepy, only now have I realised why, they don't use any of the physical laws that the new cartoons tend to stick with. Nothing stays the same shape, everything is alive, it's quite creepy, and fun.

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 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.

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