Whimsical, childish fantasy such as Lewis Carroll’s and A. A. Milne’s, often aimed as much at adults as at children. It is also sometimes satirical, as in Carroll’s and Adams’s works.
- Alice’s Adventures Everywhere
- Alice’s Adventures Underground includes Dodgson’s sketches, and Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland includes Sir John Tenniel’s. Through the Looking Glass contains merely Dodgson’s wonderful text.
- Cannery Row and Sweet Thursday
- These are the stories of cannery workers at their self-made “Palace Flophouse and Grill” in Monterey, magical stories full of adventure and nobility.
- City of Lost Children
- This French movie is filmed like a portrait in four dimensions. The disk includes both the anamorphic widescreen and the pan and scan version, as well as a commentary by the director and Ron Perlman. A beautiful movie, well worth seeing.
- The Complete Lewis Carroll
- Lewis Carroll’s work, like that of J. M. Barrie, is often disneyfied for children, but when read raw is complex and fascinating.
- The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
- One’s never alone with a rubber duck, you know. This is the most brilliant, inspired nonsensical satire since Lewis Carroll.
- Hook
- Peter Pan grew up and became a corporate raider with two kids. If this were a true extension of Peter Pan, he probably has two mistresses on the side and he might be a serial killer. But instead he’s just a poor imitation of a business geek.
- It’s my own Invention
- After a while the noise seemed gradually to die away, till all was dead silence, and Alice lifted up her head in some alarm.
- King of Hearts
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An incredibly quirky movie about an insane asylum in World War I: the townsfolk all leave as the invading army comes, leaving the inmates to take over the town. And a Scottish ornithology expert mistaken for an ordnance expert to interact with them while trying to find out how the Germans plan to blow up the town. - L.A. Story
- Steve Martin and Victoria Tennant star in this story about quoting Shakespeare in a magical Los Angeles. Recommended only for dreamers and lovers. The DVD has the most involved menu I’ve yet seen on DVD. You can watch it in with English or Spanish subtitles.
- Moonshadow
- A fascinating story, touching, silly, and funny, lovingly illustrated by Jon J. Muth, about a young boy who, after growing up in a small and insular community where he was an outcast, is cast into a universe which he can never call home.
- Oddville! and Land of Nod
- Flying babies from outer space, a paranoid town that hunts the baby down to kill it, and an eight-year-old superhero named “Jetcat”. What more could you ask for?
- Peter Pan
- Of all of the famous children’s stories coming from English authors in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, “Peter Pan” is the most clearly aimed at adults.
- Through the Looking Glass, and What Alice Found There
- The book that spawned Humpty Dumpty, innumerable literary chess games, and of course Tweedledum and Tweedledee.
- The Wizard of Oz
- This is a wonderful transfer of the 1939 classic musical. If you missed the 1998 re-release to the theaters, you’ve almost certainly never seen this movie this good. And the disk itself is chock full of wonderful extras. MGM’s “The Wizard of Oz” DVD is a great buy.
- The World of Pooh
- Very much like Peter Pan but without the depth and darkness, this book is suitable for children without Disneyfication. Like Pan, there is a longing for childhood within the book that only adults will recognize.
- Yellow Submarine
- I only recently saw this movie in the limited theatrical re-release. Very impressive. Good songs, great imagery, decent jokes (and bad jokes, too), and a very interesting and different animation style.
More Information
- The Complete Illustrated Lewis Carroll• (paperback)
- This appears to be a different version of the work I have. It contains the two major Alice books, the two Sylvie & Bruno books, and a plethora of poems and other writings by Carroll. (Lewis Carroll)
