Betty in Blunderland (1934) User Reviews

Weak Ending To A Good Betty Boop Cartoon

[ccthemovieman-1 · 8/10 · 26 March 2007]

Betty is relaxing on the floor putting a "Wonderland Jig-Saw Puzzle" together. After she gets one of the final pieces in, a rabbit, the grandfather clock reminds her it is time for bed. The rabbit gets up out of the puzzle and walks through a mirror. Betty follows it and winds up in "Blunderland," on this takeoff of the famous Lewis Carroll story.

Betty makes the famous trip that Alice did, with variations of course. There are some cute and funny sight gags in here, as she gulps down a "Shrink Ola" soda and enters the tiny world of wild sights and sounds.

This is very entertaining as Betty meets the Mad Hatter, Humpty Dumpty (huh?) and all kinds of characters. Of course, she entertains them all with song and dance and we get the usual chase scene at the end with a big bad creature hauling off with Betty.

That last part was weak, which was a shame because the first half of this made this look like it was going to be a spectacular cartoon. It was still good, but not as good as it appeared it was going to be.

It's hard to imagine that they crammed so much of the story into only about 6 minutes!

[planktonrules · 8/10 · 22 September 2013]

"Betty in Blunderland" is a visual delight. Although it is a takeoff of "Alice in Wonderland", it actually bears more similarity to the 1933 film version than the book--probably because BOTH were made by Paramount Studios. And, hard as it might seem, they actually managed to cram a lot into only about 6 minutes! The cartoon begins with Betty up late working on an Alice in Wonderland puzzle. Suddenly, the white rabbit pops out of the puzzle and disappears through the mirror--and Betty follows. What comes next are lots of characters and highlights from the story. As far as the story goes, there isn't a lot of it--it's more a visual feast as you watch all the craziness on the screen. And, combined with great animation, there is ample reason to give this one a look.

"Where ya going' bunny, huh?"

[Foreverisacastironmess123 · 7/10 · 5 June 2013]

While at first sight the very old animation style used here could appear to some as simple and perhaps even a little crude, I personally thought it wonderful and charming, ideally capturing the whimsical fantasy spirit of the realm into which Betty is whisked off into to make mischief this time! "Oi found a little rabbit's foot..." I love the odd clickety-clock that goes with her cute little lullaby song at the beginning! It must have been so much fun being the writer of Betty's dialogue, I mean seriously! How do we make her wonderment at this strange little land into a delightful rhyme? It was just so fun for me to listen to all the wacky ways in which she talks about things, y'know? I love her voice, it's so cute! She's so child-like at heart. And she looked so much better with the long hair! I love all the beautifully detailed rich backgrounds. The way all the cuddly wuddly "Blunderland" residents all danced and swayed in sync to Betty's song! That was so funny. I love the quick cool transition effect back to whatever temperamental "reality" Betty's cuckoo world is supposed to have! I found the effect fascinating, as all the fantasy characters all came tumbling down and hit the floor as the jigsaw pieces, revealing the whole creative fantasy sequence to have merely been her daydream-or was it? No! The animation still looks great to me, I especially like the slick little technique used with the White Rabbit as he melds with the jigsaw puzzle at the end. ::: It's definitely a benign and darkness-free Boop short, and lacks the sweet morphological terror that the earlier really insane offerings had. Like, for instance the three that featured Cab Calloway. It was my pleasure to review those prime examples of draconian surrealistic greatness. They had *real* creativity. I mean, in this there is a clock and a pair of feet that change, and a hopping jabberwocky that I thought was a little on the lame side, but the short was just not scary at all. It needs no colour. Something that I find kinda great about a lot of the Fleischer cartoons is how well they flourish in the black and white format. ::: I liked this cartoon a lot, because it was kind of simple and not big, it was fairly linear for the most part, but it's still a nice exploration of the more lighthearted Boop weirdness amid an interesting Alice in Wonderland setting. So it was small enough yet big enough too! Good 1930s Fleischer shorts are my sort of thing, and Betty in Blunderland, thanks to its peppy tone and lively pace, is a solid and satisfying adventure for the classic goyl, and that's all you can ever really ask for in any cartoon short. And we're done!

my childhood memory

[ZombiePan · 19 February 2004]

My grandmother gave me two videos when I was a child, one of Betty Boop and one of Popeye. I really liked them as a kid, and now I'm taking a history of animation class and we just went over some Betty Boop cartoons. It reminded my of that video so long ago, so in my paper I mentioned the movie. It's a very surreal and entertaining cartoon. I've always found the old animations to be creepy, only now have I realised why, they don't use any of the physical laws that the new cartoons tend to stick with. Nothing stays the same shape, everything is alive, it's quite creepy, and fun.

Betty Boop's Jigsaw-Puzzle Dream of Wonderland

[Cineanalyst · 7/10 · 4 August 2020]

One of the amusing Betty Boop black-and-white cartoon shorts from Fleischer Studios, "Betty in Blunderland" (reusing the "Blunderland" title from "Felix the Cat in Blunderland" (1926), which I have unfortunately been unable to see as of yet) crams as many references to Lewis Carroll's Alice books as it can in under seven minutes while all the while Betty sings "How Do You Do" to the books' cast of characters. Being Betty, this is also remarkable for introducing sexual humor to the famous children's narrative, including her skirt flying up as she falls down the rabbit hole.

Her Wonderland, or "Blunderland," adventure is framed, as per the books, as a dream--here, after she falls asleep working on a Wonderland jigsaw puzzle of Alice and the White Rabbit (a mise-en-abyme). The White Rabbit rises from the puzzle and enters Wonderland through the looking glass, with Betty in her dream state following suit. No time is wasted on Betty, like Alice, finding her surroundings confusing. Her passage to the dreamscape's populace is streamlined by a subway station through the rabbit hole and a cat serving as soda jerk for "Shrink-ola" to get through the tiny door. When the Jabberwock shows up and captures Betty, her adventure is soon over as the rest of Wonderland's inhabitants come to her rescue.

Betty Boop goes to Wonderland

[TheLittleSongbird · 9/10 · 15 January 2017]

As said many times, Fleischer were responsible for some brilliant cartoons, some of them still among my favourites. Their visual style was often stunning and some of the most imaginative and ahead of its time in animation.

The character of Betty Boop, one of their most famous and prolific characters, may not be for all tastes and sadly not as popular now, but her sex appeal was quite daring for the time and to me there is an adorable sensual charm about her. The Wonderland characters, the most memorable being the Mad Hatter, Humpty Dumpty and the Jabberwocky, shine very nicely too.

Only the ending disappoints a little to an otherwise extremely well done and hugely imaginative cartoon. It isn't as inventive as the rest, feels on the rushed side and its "scarier" (though it's somewhat tame now) and more action-packed tone is at odds a little with the more whimsical and oddball one of the rest of 'Betty in Blunderland'.

However, the best thing about 'Betty in Blunderland' is the animation which is outstanding, being so rich in detail and visual invention, my mind was in awe the entire time and the most imaginative moments were enough to make the jaw drop. Every bit as good was the music, which was very catchy, clever and will brighten anybody's mood after a hard day, especially Betty Boop's take on "Everyone Says I Love You".

What was immediately amazing was how much story 'Betty in Blunderland' crammed in into a short time and did it at a fast pace without feeling rushed and with so many highlights to count. Also with maintaining the oddball and whimsical nature of the original classic story 'Alice in Wonderland', while in keeping with the surreal and risqué one of the Pre-Code Betty Boop cartoons. All this combined, along with some riotous lyrics and dialogue and entertaining characters, made for a cartoon as rich in entertainment as rich as it was in visual style. The voice acting is very good.

In summary, wonderful cartoon and was very nearly one of the best Betty Boop cartoons before the ending weakened it a little. 9/10 Bethany Cox

Ninety-five Percent Great

[Hitchcoc · 9/10 · 8 December 2018]

Betty is doing a jigsaw puzzle featuring character from Alice in Wonderland. When the rabbit leaves the puzzle, Betty follows him through the looking glass. There she meets numerous figures from Lewis Carroll. The do their respective things and she sings and dances. It is going well, until this dragon shows up (I guess it's the Jabberwocky). But it turns this whimsical thing into another escape from a monster. Still, all that leads up to this is quite nicely done, with great art work and good animation. One of Betty's better features.

Betty In Blunderland

[dylan-ramsay91 · 22 February 2011]

This cartoon short is an interesting adaptation of a great children's story. Instead of Alice playing the lead role as always, we have Betty Boop living in Alice's Wonderland...or, more appropriately, Blunderland.

It starts off with Betty putting together an Alice in Wonderland jigsaw puzzle, when suddenly the White Rabbit in the puzzle leaps out and dashes into Betty's mirror, which Betty follows and is led into the Rabbit's world.

Filled with fun, song, and the one and only Jabberwocky, this little cartoon may only be entertaining for those who can watch an old black and white, while others who enjoy color might be disappointed and bored. But if you like Alice in Wonderland and Betty Boop, then why not?

Fast and Fun

[Michael_Elliott · 3 April 2013]

Betty in Blunderland (1934)

*** (out of 4)

Fast and fun short has Betty Boop putting together a Wonderland puzzle when the rabbit comes to life and helps take her to the real place. Once there Betty walks around meeting new creatures and getting everyone in the mood to sing. BETTY IN BLUNDERLAND isn't the greatest short ever made but it's certainly a very charming one thanks in large part to the imagination of Dave Fleischer who really keeps this thing moving. I think the best moments happen towards the end once Betty shrinks down to size and enters Wonderland. There are all sorts of great images including some dancing lobsters, the Mad Hatter and even the great Humpty Dumpty makes an appearance, although I'm not sure what he has to do with Wonderland. The film also contains Betty doing a terrific music number where she sings "Everyone Says I Love You" (which IMDb lists it as being sung as "How Do You Do?"). Fans of Betty should certainly enjoy this short as the animation is top-notch and there's no question that Betty is very charming throughout.