I'm In A Dark Mood

So allow me to share with you this little tidbit I've been pondering about various versions of Alice In Wonderland. Specifically, everyone who says that the Tim Burton version was excessively dark?

Actually, it fits in perfectly with the old Disney adaptation.

What do I mean, you ask. Well, consider this -- in the book, while the Queen is shown ordering executions, the Gryphon explicitly tells us that they "never execute nobody" and the King is openly shown pardoning the players of the croquet game. The only time he and his wife agree on beheading a creature is when the Cheshire Cat has been annoying the King.

Now, in the original Disney animated feature, the absurdly small King is played up as a comic figure. But think about his dialogue.

He's going along with every execution. In fact, at least once, he tries to claim CREDIT for the idea. Even after asking for Alice to have a trial, once the Queen really blows her top, he's all for beheading Alice. And in this film, there's no Gryphon to assure us that the unfortunate gardeners and croquet arches are NOT going to be killed.

Yeah, Disney's AiW seems a bit Crap-Saccharine when you get into it, doesn't it?