Alice Through The Looking Glass Is Not As Mad As Its Predecessor
Alice Through The Looking Glass is child’s play compared to its predecessor Alice In Wonderland. Based on the characters by Lewis Carroll, this new Disney flick lacks in plotting and doesn’t manage to capture the same fun, playful, whimsical feel of Tim Burton’s 2010 creation.
In this sequel, Alice, played once again by Mia Wasikowska, finds that her life of adventure is coming to a screeching halt when her mother sells their home in order to secure Alice a future. Not pleased with this new revelation, Alice runs off only to find herself face to face with Underland’s go to oracle, the newly evolved butterfly Absolem. Voiced again by the deeply missed Alan Rickman, he informs her she must return to Underland in order to set things right.
Climbing through the looking glass, Alice reunites with her rag tag group of friends where she learns that the Hatter, played beautifully by Johnny Depp, is fading away. From there Alice is literally in a race against Time (a mediocre Sasha Baren Cohen) as she travels into the past to stop major Underland events from occurring in order to keep the Hatter from fading away.
What could be a riveting film falls quite flat in execution. Unlike its predecessor, that thrived off the weird and fanciful, this barely scratches the surface of either. The film is filled with far too many scenery distractions (beautiful as they are), forgettable new characters, and a snail’s pace plotting.
Screen time for veteran characters such as Helena Bonham Carter’s wonderfully fun Red Queen and Anne Hathaway’s flowery White Queen, are set aside for characters that are far too serious for a world based on hallucinations. And once you think the story is about to really take off, scenes become rushed and some even end abruptly as though the writers were the ones out of time.
Overall, Alice Through The Looking Glass is a decent way to fill a day with Summer vacation on its way. However, a matinee is all you should pay. There is no need to waste money on seeing it in 3D or IMAX, no matter how pretty the colors in the film are.
Grade: C+