AliceNeco z Alenky is my first experience with famed Czech animator Jan Svankmajer. It's a surrealist retelling of classic children’s fairytale Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland. I'd been hearing of Svankmejer’s work for years. It sounded right up my alley as a big fan of surrealism and stop motion animation which I heard he utilised very well. But for some reason I didn't investigate until today. And I'm very glad I did because Neco z Alenky (better known simply as Alice, but which sounds cooler to you?) is a terrific piece of work. Neco z Alenky mixes stop motion and live action quite effectively to tell Lewis Carroll’s iconic story. Alice is played by a small young blonde girl who visually fits the role quite well. Her narration is somewhat repetitive, the frequent cuts to close ups of her lips informing us of which character said what. It's also dubbed into English quite poorly. These elements were my only gripe in an otherwise excellent film. I don't know if a subtitled version is available, but that would certainly have been preferable. It seemed out of place in such an artistic film. Now onto the films finer points. The visuals are consistently interesting and more often than not, flat out stunning. Stop motion rabbits and caterpillars were the most mesmerising thing in the film for me, the bizarre stop motion animation technique ideal for such a dreamlike story. Alice's struggles are captured in an intense manor, that make you feel as though you are there, trapped in the weird world with her. The sound design is also great. There is little to no music used, but lots of eerie background noises such as dripping water and slow footsteps. Alice’s high pitched narration is a tad grating but helps add to the fairytale atmosphere, as it is being told from a child’s perspective. A child who has been plunged into a bizarre, scary world and attempts to do her best to get out of the situation. Overall I'd look past the poor quality dubbing (no fault of the creators of the film I suppose) and check this film out, especially if you're into surreal cinema, or are a firm believer that stories which make perfect sense are for books, not cinema - a visual art form. The film is not quite as perverse and gruelling as some make it out to be though I certainly wouldn't recommend it for particularly sensitive children who are only familiar with the Disney adaptation. The Australian DVD is barebones. No extras at all, though the transfer is perfectly acceptable.
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