Czech filmmaker Jan Švankmajer is known worldwide for his often surreal stop-motion animation films. In 1988, he made his version of Lewis Carroll’s Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Jabberwocky is also loosely based on Carroll’s work, especially the 1871 nonsense poem Alice reads in the Wonderland sequel Through the Looking-Glass.

Švankmajer and Carroll do have more in common. Both like to explore the irrational and sometimes dark corridors hiding behind reality. Švankmajer's films often show a world that is both unreal and more than real; surreal. In Jabberwocky, a great deal of children's toys are given a second life.