Alice Through the Looking Glass fails to shine through

Six years after Tim Burton brought his rendition of Alice’s adventures in Wonderland to the big screen, director James Bobin continues the peculiar tale in Alice Through the Looking Glass. It is a fantasy romp inspired by, but not quite based on, the well-known Lewis Carroll novel.

After sailing the high seas, the brave and worldly Alice (Mia Wasikowska) returns to London, only to find herself forced to choose between giving up her beloved ship and losing her mother’s house. But as luck would have it, once again, she finds her way back to her previous escape Underland, where she is reunited with familiar faces, including the White Rabbit (Michael Sheen), the Cheshire Cat (Stephen Fry), Tweedledum and Tweedledee (Matt Lucas) and the White Queen (Anne Hathaway).

The story sets its tone through Alices’ Underland friends being worried about the Mad Hatter (Johnny Depp), who has “grown darker, less dafter” and “denies himself laughter”. To save Hatter from fading away due to his sadness, Alice travels to Time’s (Sacha Baron Cohen) castle and borrows the Chronosphere he possesses to use it to travel back in time and save Hatter’s family from being killed; thereby, saving him while trying “not to break the past, present, or future”.

The perfunctory tale serves as an excuse to deliver the backstory of Hatter. Meanwhile, it explores the origin of the sibling rivalry between the White Queen and the Red Queen (Helena Bonham Carter) and explaining why the latter is as angry and (literally) big-headed as she is. The lessons that are dispensed along the way are as worn-out as the time travel plot itself.

The movie should have been a madcap laugh, filled with joy and whimsy, but the film-makers have robbed this quirky tale of its magic. They produced a dull, predictable slog instead and amplified everything that was annoying about its confusingly successful predecessor.

Although the cast could not do much with Linda Woolverton’s flat, lackluster script, some of the actors still tried to make the most of the material they were given. Carter and Cohen easily stand out and provide the most entertaining performances in the film. Wasikowska, who may not seem like the best choice for Alice, is still quite charming as a protagonist. It is also touching to hear the voice of the late Alan Rickman (to whom the film is dedicated) as the caterpillar-turned-butterfly Absolem. However, Depp is more subdued and does not really have anything memorable to do, although the actor does appear to be trying to deliver a performance. Hathaway, on the other hand, just seems to be going through the motions.

There are impressive visuals throughout this colourful film but there is no depth beneath its shiny surface. Ultimately, Alice Through the Looking Glass comes off as nothing more than an attempt to cash-in on the success of Alice in Wonderland (2010), which grossed a whopping $1 billion. It delivers an unnecessary backstory and fails to match the wit and playfulness of the ludicrous tale that inspired it.

 

Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars