By Randy A. Salas
Star Tribune (Minneapolis)
In case you haven’t heard, today brings the release of Tim Burton’s wild interpretation of “Alice in Wonderland.” Rival studios obviously know the buzz the Disney film has created, because no fewer than five previous versions of the Lewis Carroll classic arrived this week on DVD.
They prove that just about any cinematic trip through the looking glass is worth watching — even the pre-’70s black-and-white productions, which can be just as colorful as their modern counterparts. The most intriguing is a trippy 1966 version for the BBC, complete with music by Ravi Shankar — a must-have bargain disc whose extras add two more entries to the “Alice” canon. Even “Sesame Street” has gotten in on the act.
And if you’re wondering what happened to Walt Disney’s 1951 animated version — one that BBC director Jonathan Miller dismisses as “absurd” — a two-disc special edition ($30) actually is planned for March 30.