Alice Through The Looking Glass

ALICE THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS

Director : James Bobin

Year : 2016

Genre : Fantasy

Rating : ***1/2

While it may have broken a number of box office records and even earned a couple of Academy Awards for costume and production design, Tim Burton's CGI-heavy adaptation of Alice In Wonderland was a murky and sometimes incoherent affair that certainly looked extraordinary but fatally lacked the mystery, wonder and most importantly, the madness of Lewis Carroll's classic tale. Now for it's obligatory yet surprisingly belated sequel 'Alice Through The Looking Glass', Burton steps out of the directors chair and James Bobin, the talented English filmmaker behind the terrific 'The Muppets' and it's lesser follow-up 'Muppets Most Wanted' enthusiastically takes his place, injecting Underland with much more luxurious colour and surreal imagery than the usually inspired Burton did with his critically dividing effort. 

Once again Mia Wasikowska stars as the forthright and defiant Alice who after falling back into Underland via a giant magical mirror discovers that she must traverse the oceans of time in order to safe the life of Johnny Depp's uncharacteristically miserable Mad Hatter. As was the case with 'Alice In Wonderland', 'Alice Through The Looking Glass' severely dilutes the hallucinogenic majesty of it's literary source and while more cohesive than the original film, it still severely falters in both character and narrative development. However, thanks to Bobin's whizzy direction, Wasikowska's fine central performance, a couple of visually amazing set pieces and a scene stealing turn from Sacha Baron Cohen as Time himself, 'Alice Through The Looking Glass' is a much brighter, funnier, more exciting and better acted film than Burton's disappointing billion dollar grossing predecessor. Other highlights include the always joyous Helena Bonham Carter who relishes her screechy role as the tyrannical Red Queen whose evil may just come from physical trauma rather than mental instability while the late, great Alan Rickman (in his final screen performance) lends gravitas and dignity to his all-too brief portrayal of the wise butterfly Absolem who beckons Alice back into the crazy world of Underland.