The Cage Bird is a character from the 1951 Disney animated feature film, Alice in Wonderland. It is a large bird-like creature with a birdcage for its torso that Alice encounters in Tulgey Wood.
Background[]
The Cage Bird, as its name suggests, is a large bird-like creature with a yellow birdcage for its torso and no wings. Its head has a red plumage, an orange beak, and on the bottom of its cage are two long brown legs. When Alice unawarely encounters it, she accidentally causes it to fall and let two of its small birds escape their birdcage, causing the Cage Bird to notice in shock that two of its birds are escaping, indicating that it is sensitive to protecting its birds from getting lost into any part of Wonderland.
Role in the film[]
The Cage Bird is encountered after Alice observes a Shovel Bird digging in its spare time to which as Alice attempts to find her way home, she accidentally bumps into the Cage Bird which is sleeping on a branch to which upon doing so, its cage opens, letting two small birds come out loose, much to the Cage Bird's worry. The Cage Bird later chases the two birds and upon doing so, it leaps in front of the birds and swallows them, bringing the birds back to their own cage just as the Cage Bird happily sighs of getting its birds back in its cage. Later, the Cage Bird is seen amongst the other creatures of Tulgey Wood during the "Very Good Advice" musical sequence where it and the other creatures approach Alice and observe her. Soon as Alice cries, all the other Tulgey Wood creatures observing Alice tearfully react to Alice's sadness, just as the Cage Bird and the other creatures of Tulgey Wood suddenly disappear. The Cage Bird makes no further appearances throughout the rest of the film.
Disney Parks[]
Alice in Wonderland[]
A statue of the Cage Bird is one of the creatures encountered in the attraction's Tulgey Wood sequence. Two of the birds inside the Cage Bird's birdcage torso are seen flapping their wings to give the scene some expression. In the original 1958 version, the bird's head and feet are flats, while the cage itself is sculpted. (At least two different illustrated flats were used during that period, among the version's various minimal updates.) The 1984 revamped version for 1983's New Fantasyland has it fully sculpted (with its head given a noticeable "feather-cut"). According to the "E Ticket" magazine issue from Spring 1999, the two little birds instead have actually been retained from the original 1958 version.
Alice's Wonderland Bakery[]
Cage Birds make sporadic appearances in the series, including the episodes "Cheshire's Cat-Astrophe", "Croquet Away", and "Jacques Turtelle’s Soup".
Trivia[]
- During the scene where Alice encounters the Cage Bird, its two birds are seen inside its cage but during the "Very Good Advice" sequence, it is seen without two birds in its last onscreen appearance. This is likely an animation error oversight or if it is a different Cage Bird.
- The Cage Bird is one of the few Tulgey Wood creatures who doesn't cry during the "Very Good Advice" sequence.
Gallery[]
