Summoned back to Neverland to aid a dear friend, Alice takes a journey through time to help the Mad Hatter discover the truth about his family in the lifeless and confusing animated sequel, Alice Through the Looking Glass.
After slipping through a mirror, Alice (Mia Wasikowska) finds herself back in Underland with the White Queen (Anne Hathaway), the Cheshire Cat, the White Rabbit, Tweedledee, and Tweedledum. Her friends tell her that the Mad Hatter (Johnny Depp) is depressed over the death of his family. Hoping to save his loved ones, Alice steals the Chronosphere from Time (Sacha Baron Cohen) to travel into the past. While there, she encounters the younger Hatter and the evil Red Queen (Helena Bonham Carter).
Based on Lewis Carroll’s book, Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There, much of the beautiful lyrical language from the novel falls flat in this stupid adventure. After directing Alice in Wonderland, Tim Burton turns the directing duties over to James Bobin, who proceeds to create a film with a lot of styles but woefully lacking in the substance and storytelling department. There are plenty of holes and inconsistencies in this confusing time travel plot leaving both the characters and the audiences wondering what is truly going on.
Caked under mounds of crazy makeup, Depp appears to be going through the motions, perhaps regretting how these characters which brought him plenty of acclaims early in his career have begun to become an annoying cinematic albatross around his neck over the past several years. Once sure box-office gold, Depp’s career has seemingly fallen off a cliff for any character that’s NOT Jack Sparrow.
With the exception of Captain America: Civil War, the majority of the offerings early in the summer have been consistently underwhelming. Despite amazing special effects and colorful visuals, Alice Through the Looking Glass commits the ultimate movie sin of audience disdain – the filmmakers confused them to the point that they just stopped caring.
Grade: D
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