Alice Through the Looking Glass (2016) Review!!

Synopsis – Alice returns to the whimsical world of Wonderland and travels back in time to help the Mad Hatter.

My Take – It took me a while to get around this one, mainly as the trailers of this studio cash grab flick really just seemed uninteresting and of course the fact that the film is one of the biggest box office disappointments of the year. Honestly, I enjoyed the kind of enjoyed the 2010 prequel Alice in Wonderland that had that unique Tim Burton touch to it. The 2010 film was a cocktail of over-cooked CGI and relied heavily on its main ingredient, another haughty creation from Depp who, thanks to his Jack Sparrow fame, wore the mantle of one of the most prominent character actors of our generation. At the time the visuals were considered a revelation, but where they succeeded the script severely lacked and a much loved story was exhaustively drawn out. But I wasn’t in any rush to get to see the sequel. Well, because just what more could there be to tell about this story? I’m rather surprised that this sequel didn’t come sooner than this. Considering that the first ‘Alice‘ film made over one billion dollars. So, of course this film was bound to happen. The sequel is expected to keep the fairytale- adaptation ball rolling. With stellar cast and assumed long- awaited return to the wonderland, it seemed like it was simply impossible for this film to go wrong. Right? Wrong! With James Bobin, (director of the two most recent Muppets films) at the helm instead of Tim Burton (who wisely chose to just produce it), This bloated mess of a film is a turgid psychedelic mess. Keeping only the title to Lewis Carroll‘s second eponymous novel about Alice attempting to keep her sanity in a world inhabited by clearly insane individuals, the film has little to offer other than a paper-thin plot penned by writer Linda Woolverton, whose previous work is considered more whimsical but subtle and sophisticated, yet somehow this film is an uninspired mess, and I can’t help but suspect that she really didn’t care about this at all. Even though it took six years to make a sequel it feels like it was rushed into existence. This is undoubtedly one of the most convoluted and nonsensical films I have seen in quite some time. But this one puts the worst Johnny Depp character of all time in the for front.

Loosely based on author Lewis Carroll’s 1871 novel ‘Through the Looking-Glass’, the story follows Alice Kingsleigh (Mia Wasikowska), now a buccaneering ship captain, who has just returned back to London after a 3 year high seas adventure. Upon arrival she learns that her jealous ex, Hamish Ascot (Leo Bill), has taken over her father’s company. He’s now trying to force Alice into selling her father’s ship to him, in exchange for her family home. While she is looking for options to solve this issue, she is summoned by Absolem (voiced by the late Alan Rickman) back to the whimsical world of Wonderland to cheer up the Mad Hatter (Johnny Depp) who is apparently dying from a broken heart since none of his friends believe that his presumably dead family might still be alive. With the Hatter being her “truest friend”, Alice decides to agree with the White Queen’s (Anne Hathaway) “unpossible” plan to go back in time to the day the Jabberwocky attacked to save Hatter’s family from being killed. Doing this requires Alice to steal the Chronosphere, a gold orb that is in the possession of Time (Sacha Baron Cohen), the human clock of Wonderland. The said orb transforms into a vehicle that will allow Alice to traverse the oceans of time. Not heeding Time’s warning that, “You can’t change your past, but you can only learn from it,” Alice will soon realize that her rash actions impose danger to the existence of Wonderland. This film is a prime example on why you should read the script before green lighting the project. Like how the last one was a political war film, Alice should not be a time travel story either. In a world that’s supposed to be illogical and nonsensical, time travel only sets more rules that make little sense. Not to mention that this film is really lacking much of the madness that the animated film has always gotten correctly. When a sequel uses time-travel as its gimmick, one can get the impression that a franchise may be starting to run out of ideas. What’s disappointing is that given the wealth of possibilities in Caroll‘s work, screenwriter Linda Woolverton chooses an antiquated trick that is best left to Back to the Future. I may have only read plot summaries of Caroll‘s work but that is enough for me to learn that this film is just loosely based on its source material. The only same thing that both happened in the film and the novel is that Alice slips through the liquid surface of a looking glass. Furthermore, it is rather odd to name the film after an object that plays such a small role in the film. The narrative is heavily flawed from the start of this 113 minute long slow motion car wreck. We spend the first 5 minutes hearing Alice go on about nothing being impossible only for her to go against everything she believes in another 5 minutes later.

The whole series of events that take place in this film could have been avoided if Alice had just stood up for what she believed in and wasn’t so fast to give up on her beliefs. There’s some enjoyable humor and the rare scene that gets you excited in the slightest, but not nearly enough to build up a memorable film. The narrative structure doesn’t give you any reason to care, there’s not enough passion from most of the cast to deliver heartfelt moments, and while the film has bits and pieces of exciting visuals, the over-saturation of CGI is a heavy weight dragging the film down from being a truly enticing fantasy film. The world of Wonderland is still creative and tries to throw a lot of visuals, but another problem is that the dilemma that Alice is trying to fix almost has no connection to her real world problem. In fact, the one time they go back to real world could have been cut out and nothing would have been missed! Much like its predecessor, this film has a lot of visual feasts to offer: lavish and intricate costumes, expensive production sets, dazzling cinematography, etc., but you never get that sense of wonder or escapism that you should get with a film like this because so much of the film is just people standing around bantering or delivering boring exposition. The film is loud and sometimes frantic but rarely fun or engaging. It’s a major disappointment and a major step back from “Alice in Wonderland” and Disney’s other recent live-action fairytale adaptations. What made Alice in Wonderland so appealing was the premise of such memorable characters. Mia Wasikowska seems to slip back into her role with ease, however, she had some practice playing a similar role in Guillermo del Toro‘s Crimson Peak (2015). It’s not to say that she is a one trick pony, but it is difficult to distinguish variety in her performances. The introduction of (a very reserved) Sacha Baron Cohen as Time and a new antagonist has a promising start and receives the majority of the laughs. Unfortunately, his character soon becomes second rate to Helena Bonham Carter‘s bellowing Red Queen and her painful over- acting begins to grate. Even Johnny Depp‘s Mad Hatter becomes a pathetic re-imagining as he limps through the film offering very little performance. Namely, his forced lisp which makes his voice sounds like a creepy, old man that forgot to put his teeth in. The real shame is the misuse of the rest of the original cast like Rhys Efans who are forced to provide mere cameos in comparison to the lead actors. This is the final performance from Alan Rickman before his untimely death and the only regret is that he is barely given enough screen time to make an impact on the film at all. Anna Hathaway, with her matching jazzy fingers, puts on a delicate performance that she almost fades in the background and Bonham Carter‘s shrieking voice of insanity is a welcome repeat. On the whole, ‘Alice Through the Looking Glass’ is a disappointing film let down by a messy, boring, lifeless narrative despite the presence of some delightful visual flair.