I once commented on this short film without, regrettably, having even seen what I thought at the time was the whole film (just a couple of clips in a documentary on Disney's early career, which I thought were it). Seeing the whole short now on a rarity-Disney DVD collection is a nice revelation for what was to come for Disney, chiefly in his silent pictures.
He made a bunch of these little Alice shorts, which ran in the silent film days in between and before features, all starring a plucky little 5 year old girl played by Virginia Davis. I'm not sure if this one is the best or most funny or successful of the shorts as I've yet to see most of them. But as a kind of pilot episode, one setting up the broad strokes of the series, it could've been a lot worse. As it is it's a kind of early technical marvel, a great pinpoint of the further innovations throughout the century, however crude or slow the process would be, in having animation with live actors. Here, Alice starts off by watching Disney himself drawing some 'funnies' or animated comics. It's infectious for her, and she dreams in a kind of Cartoonland dream where all sorts of little animals and other creatures give her goofy delights (you even see a few with hats as the welcoming committee at a train station). But once the lions break out of the Cartoonland zoo, ho-ho, wackiness ensues!
This maybe isn't the greatest 'art', and it may have just been meant as filler in some way, but it might be closer to something artistic in its extremely absurd way. Ub Iwerks' animation, with Disney's direction, is perfect for the mindset of a little girl or other kid, and it even features little bits of true hilarity, like when a Lion takes out his upper row of teeth and files then down. It's a silent film with little quirks and pips in the soundtrack, and not for one mili-second does it take itself seriously. For that alone it should be recognized; it's a really neat work of repeated, crude but nice little cartoons, with a plucky Davis in the part.
