Alice Through the Looking Glass

**Alice returns to the wonderland for a new adventure.** Based on the nearly 150 years old children's book, and a sequel to the 2010 film. Its quite a long gap for a follow up film, but the original cast has returned and directed by 'The Muppets' famed filmmaker. So, I was not expecting it since ... I considered the first film an average. All I wanted was a normal live-action 'Alice in Wonderland' films, but I disliked this weird make-ups and large head characters. In that perspective, this one was much better. Still, this is not the best, but definitely a lot better than the previous one. A simple adventure story with nice graphics and performances. The Alice returns to the Wonderland for a new adventure where she has to cross the layers of the present, past and future. So in one word, this is a time travel theme in the fantasy genre. Mia Wasikowska ruled it, she was everywhere. She overran all other characters and takes the toughest challenge to achieve impossible. Nearly a two hour journey into wonderland might make happy for little kids. Because it did not look like a normal fairytale, but very modern. This is not the Disney's best film, so I don't think there will be any more sequel. I want it to be rebooted, but not any time soon, at least a decade of gap needed. So I hope they won't rush and ruin this classic tale like three 'Spiderman' reboots in less than 20 years. Meantime, this film is okay for watching once, though I'm not in favour to recommend it to anybody except little children. _6/10_ read more

A step down from the 2010 film, but <em>'Alice Through the Looking Glass'</em> is a solid film nonetheless. I enjoyed seeing this plot, largely about time, play out. The film is CGI heavy, but does look great for the vast majority. The cast are good, with Mia Wasikowska leading well and surrounde ... d by the likes of Johnny Depp, Anne Hathaway, Helena Bonham Carter and Sacha Baron Cohen. I do think the film could've been slightly shorter, with better pacing and less emphasis on the 'real world' stuff featuring Alice. The looking glass entry isn't as interesting/magical as the rabbit hole, also. Far superior to the 1998 adaptation of this 1871 Lewis Carroll novel, that's for certain. read more

I like sequels when the characters come into there own. Better then the 1st. ...

Six years after her first encounter with the creatures from "Wonderland", the feisty young "Alice" (Mia Wasikowska) finds herself outmanoeuvred by her scheming ex "Hamish" (Leo Bill) and disappointed with her mother (Lindsay Duncan) so a bit at a loss! What's left to do but follow a bug through a mi ... rror above the fireplace back into a realm where she quickly discovers that the "Mad Hatter" (Johnny Depp) is in a bad way. He's missing his family who have long since died, and so she decides to get hold of a time-travel enabling "Chronosphere" and go back in time to retro-fix this disaster. Of course it's not going to be a simple operation, especially as the two royal sisters "Iracebeth" (Helena Bonham Carter) and "Mirana" (Anne Hathaway) are at loggerheads after their father (Richard Armitage) decided to opt for his younger daughter to succeed him. To be fair, the irascible "Irecebeth" might not have been his best choice - but she's not taking this lying down, and soon their magical kingdom is rife with strife. Can the ingenious "Alice" manage to fix things? It's not really the strongest of stories, this one, and with Depp largely side-lined (or bed-ridden) it's left to the CGI to do most of the storytelling. It does look great this - à la "The Golden Compass" (2007), with loads of stunning visuals and imagination let loose, but the plot vacillates between the adventure and the sentimental all too weakly. Wasikowska turns in quite an amiable effort and HBC does try to imbue her character with a bit of tea-time menace, but neither really have enough to work with as the sibling rivalry elements are distinctly an rather predictably undercooked. It's all perfectly watchable on a big screen - colourful and lively, but it's just too "Alice Goes to Narnia". read more