Director Tim Burton is one strange individual, isn't he? Definitely one of the most quirky directors of our time, Burton is known for mixing strange visuals and memorable characters into very imaginative and visionary films such as "Beetlejuice", "Edward Scissorhands" and "The Nightmare Before Christmas" (which he didn't direct but created the story and the characters in the film). But sadly, whenever he decides to remake a classic film or story, things start to go array. Even the director himself didn't like his own interpretation of the "Planet of the Apes". And with films like "Dark Shadows" and "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory", it seems that remakes or reimaginings are not his forte. However, in 2010, his remake of "Alice in Wonderland", that garnered mixed reviews from both critics and audiences, grossed over $1 billion worldwide. Clearly, there was enough going on in the film that made people flood the theaters to see it on the big screen. But what would be a match made in heaven ended up being everything that the original Lewis Carroll "Alice in Wonderland" stories aren't. And now, 6 years later, Burton returns as producer in the "long awaited" sequel, "Alice Through the Looking Glass". Will the sequel improve on the original and give us more of the "Alice in Wonderland" feel?
"Alice Through the Looking Glass" stars "Johnny Depp, Anne Hathaway, Mia Wasikowska, Rhys Ifans, Helena Bonham Carter and Sacha Baron Cohen, and is directed by James Bobin. The film also features the voices of Alan Rickman (in his final film), Stephen Fry, Michael Sheen and Timothy Spall. 3 years after the events of 2010's "Alice in Wonderland", Alice Kingsleigh (played by Mia Wasikowska) has been sailing across the seas and returns to London from a trip to China. Upon returning, she follows Absolem, the blue caterpillar now turned butterfly (voiced by Alan Rickman), through a magic mirror and returns to the world of Wonderland. Soon after arriving back into the fantasy world, she discovers that the Mad Hatter is not fine and well. In order to save her friend, she meets the physical embodiment of Time (played by Sacha Baron Cohen) and steals and device that will allow her to travel through the history of Wonderland. For a film that is set in this magical world, "Alice Through the Looking Glass" sure does suck out the awe and wonder out of its imaginative setting. The film sadly is contrived, messy, uninteresting and, worst of all, lacking in creativity.
Mia Wasikowska returns to the role of Alice Kingsleigh that made her an international star and is, once again, not given anything interesting to say or do. Seeing Wasikowska in other films like "Jane Eyre" and "The Double", it is clear that, when given the right material, she excels greatly. Here in "Alice Through the Looking Glass", she is a bland and hollow reflection of who Alice was in the books. Wasikowska's age doesn't help this plotline either. The decision of making Alice returning to Wonderland as a teenager was charming and fun the first time in Tim Burton's film, however the sequel thats place 3 years later and she is a fully grown woman. The idea of an adult acting so childish, like saying she likes to think of impossible things before breakfast, ceases to be charming and becomes blindly naive. While this is in no way Wasikowska's fault, the filmmakers behind the film should have made the film sooner and not have set it an entire 3 years after the events of the first. Overall, Wasikowska is better in other films so to see her give a good performance, turn off "Alice Through the Looking Glass" and search iMDB to find her other works.
Last year, many film critics have pointed out that Johnny Depp's portrayal of Whitey Bulger in the superb gangster film "Black Mass" was an Oscar caliber performance and one of the most engrossing roles in Depp's career. Many audience members were tired of his long string of kooky characters like Barnabas Collins in "Dark Shadows, Tonto in "The Lone Ranger", Charlie Mortdecai in "Mortdecai" and, of course, the Mad Hatter himself in the 2010 "Alice in Wonderland". And now, in all his paleness, Depp returns as the insane hatter and is somehow even worse. While I found his performance tolerable in the first film, it seems that the direction Depp was given in the sequel was to be more insane and more over-the-top. The film also tries to give the character of the Hatter some backstory, which was a huge mistake on part of the filmmakers as it felt like an insult to the original source material. Hollywood's obsession with origin stories plague this film as we meet younger version of the Mad Hatter and his family throughout the film. While this bad performance, which could be his worst, may not be entirely Depp's fault, the decision to show every important aspect of the Hatter's past was entirely the director and screenwriter's fault.
As the White Queen, Anne Hathaway reprises her role from the 2010 film and, like Depp, is even more like a cartoon rather than a real performance. While the White Queen in the first "Alice in Wonderland" film was humorously over-the-top, this portrayal of the character might as well been from a Saturday morning cartoon. Much like the Mad Hatter, the film also focuses on the Queen's past, which turns out to be very uninteresting and bland. Showing us the split between the White and the Red Queen was entirely unnecessary as it reveals to us something that should have been left a mystery to us. Giving these characters more "motivations" do not make them more charming or endearing to the audience. Like Depp, Hathaway's unconvincing caricature of the White Queen was most likely due to horrible direction and not her own volition.
Helena Bonham Carter, what have they done to you? Much like Depp and Hathaway, this ear numbingly bad performance is, once again, most likely to Carter's fault. It seems that director James Bobin, who helmed the two most recent Muppets movies, just wanted to turn the entire cast into cartoon character. While Carter's portrayal of the always screaming and always angry Red Queen was somewhat true to the character [although they do confuse Red Queen with Queen of Hearts in the film], in "Alice Through the Looking Glass" she is annoying, tiresome and just plain loud. Once again, like Depp and Hathaway, a large portion of the film is dedicated to the relationship between the Red and the White Queen, which felt watching a tedious soup opera. Probably one of the performances in the film, second to Depp, Carter is here to collect another million dollar paycheck from Disney as she goes through every scene she is in screaming at the top of her lungs.
The only character that somehow survived the horrible direction James Bobin has given the entire returning cast was Time, played by Sacha Baron Cohen. Because his backstory and origin are never explained in the film, it makes the character of Time fit in the illogical world of "Alice in Wonderland" novels, although Time is not a character in the book series. Cohen's wit and charm transcends the horrible material and direction he was given and with an admittedly cool design, he was the only one in "Alice Through the Looking Glass" that was truly worth watching. As the main antagonist in the film, his motivations are clear and his actions are surprisingly more justified than Alice's. Explaining that her actions will destroy the course of history and stop time itself, Time must go after her and get back the device she stole. It's very unfortunate when the filmmakers behind the film even makes the protagonist unlikable to the point where the main "villain" seems more right than wrong.
As many film fans will know, "Alice Through the Looking Glass" was Alan Rickman's final film as he voiced the character of Absolem before his untimely death on January 16th, 2016. While he only has a few lines in the entire film, hearing his voice for one last time was rather tragic and sad. As the beautiful blue butterfly flew away off screen, it was though as if we were saying goodbye to the legendary actor.
With Tim Burton working on the film as producer, it was director James Bobin and screenwriter Linda Wolverton, who wrote the predecessor, that crafted this film and it truly is a jumbled mess of ideas. While the first film did not feel like the Lewis Carroll novels, at least it had one contained narrative of Alice sleighing the evil Jabberwocky. Here, there are so many twists and turns in to the film's plot that makes it very annoying to have to sit through the entire 113-minute, which felt like an eternity. The film's narrative is never smooth as stops from one place in time to another as we jump back and forth between the younger versions of the Mad Hatter, the White Queen and the Red Queen. Although Tim Burton's "Alice in Wonderland" is not a perfect film, seeing "Alice Through the Looking Glass" would make audiences members appreciate Burton's skill as a storyteller. While lacking in quality, Burton's "Alice in Wonderland" at least felt like a true experience through a fantasy world of his imagination. "Alice Through the Looking Glass" on the other hand often feels like an uneven ride at Disney World.
The cinematographer on 2010's "Alice in Wonderland", Dariusz Wolski, returns behind the camera in "Alice Through the Looking Glass" and manages to create a surreal experience full of vibrant colors and beautiful imagery. While the CGI throughout the film is very noticeable and, at times, very unimpressive, the costumes and sets along with the cinematography does look very beautiful in IMAX 3D. With that being said, without Tim Burton's insane vision, the designs of some of the landscapes, buildings and rooms are very uninspired when comparing it to the first film. Without the quirky and strange wonder that Burton brings to all of his films, this sequels feels mostly flat in imagination, ingenuity and inspiration.
The common trend this film has is the word "unnecessary". It has unnecessary backstory to some of the most beloved characters in literature. It has unnecessarily bad, cartoonish performance. And the existence of this sequel is entirely unnecessary as most critics and audiences didn't like Tim Burton's "Alice in Wonderland" [although it did gross over $1 billion so making the film was entirely a cash grab]. Even the score by Danny Elfman this time around was less inspired. Although Sacha Baron Cohen as Time was entertaining, the rest of the cast sleep [or scream] their way through the entire picture, never fully grabbing us emotionally. With uninspired visuals, lackluster performances, pretty but empty sets, a humdrum score and bad direction/writing, this is not a sequel that should have been made. Sorry to say that this is not a film I'll be recommending as I give "Alice Through the Looking Glass" a 5 out of 10. If you're going to see one film this weekend, you should go watch the X-Men fight Apocalypse because this one is not worth your time.
See it in theaters today in 2D, 3D and IMAX 3D.
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