Alice Through the Looking Glass (2016)
A Marvelous Family Movie For Both Kids & Adults.
Alice Kingsleigh has spent the past three years following in her father's footsteps and sailing the high seas. Upon her return to London from China, she comes across a difficult decision that may determine what she's going to do during the rest of her life. After re-encountering Absolem, she finds a magical looking glass and returns to the nonsensical realm of Wonderland.
Alice discovers that things are going very wrong with the Hatter, who is now acting madder than usual, haunted by past events that he refuses to reveal. In order to prevent a heartbreaking end to her friend, she turns to Time himself. Despite his warnings about Alice not being able to win a race against time, and not being able to change the past, she borrows the Chronosphere, a time device that everyone (including the now banished Red Queen) wants, and winds up returning to the past.
As Alice witnesses the hits and misses of friends (and enemies) during their lives, discovering how it prompted them to their current states in the present, she may learn how to solve not only the problem with the Hatter, but her own back in London – but only if she can win the race against the ticking Chronosphere.
In The Other Side....
The emotional dryness of "Alice Through the Looking Glass" is so vast and unsettling it made my head ache. Not even a talented and experienced director like James Bobin could manage to save one of the most disastrous screenplay ever to be adapted in recent memory, bringing to the screen a story that is duller and more uninteresting than its predecessor (which is saying something) and makes no justice to Lewis Carroll's rich world.
This movie admittedly has a couple of things going for it: firstly it is never so bad I got angry at it, it is just boring to the point that it made me feel dizzy every five minutes and I'm sure I lost something in the mix because my eyes were constantly about to close. But we were talking positives: James Bobin demonstrates he is a good director here, he makes whatever is possible to make out of this mess. The integration of practical effects with CGI is definitely improved over the first film, the design and color is definitely the element that saves the film from an abyss of dullness. There are also some remarkable visual cues here and there that show Bobin's eye for cinema and comedy. Helena Bonham-Carter is as always entertaining and has just a couple of really funny moments, plus the score I must admit is quite good.
And that's it. For the rest we are treated to an assault to our brain that has one of the most incoherent and despicable stories I have ever had the displeasure to experience. It is so mind bending how bad this is from its basic story structure it deserves a whole beat-by-beat analyzed commentary to teach what's wrong for story. Every line or action could be literally ripped apart, I never ever felt a genuine emotional connection with anybody, I was never given a reason to do so.
Characters exposing the plot constantly, a whole throwaway sequence where Andrew Scott appears out of nowhere for sixteen seconds for absolutely no reason, an incoherence of internal story logic that goes beyond what I can explain, a story message that is so confused and nonexistent the movie literally turns it around for itself, a plot that dictates story at every turn, predictability in every single climactic moment, suddenly there are transformers in the Alice universe, character relations being so undramatic they start to look like parodies, you name it this movie has it all, I could not believe it, it was frustratingly boring and if there's one thing a blockbuster, visual extravaganza film should not be, it is exactly that.
Disney has had its first terrible quality flop in sometime and its a real down step, I am sorry for all the talent involved which I am a fan of, but this film is not recommendable, child, kid or adult I can't see what anyone would find to enjoy here.
Stars: Mia Wasikowska, Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter
Title: Alice Through the Looking Glass (2016)
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