ALICE THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS
Directed by James Bobin
Screenplay by Linda Woolverton
Based on the books by Lewis Carroll
Starring: Mia Wasikowska; Johnny Depp; Helena Bonham Carter; Sacha Baron Cohen; and Anne Hathaway
Full disclosure, I was one of the rare people who kind of liked the 2010 version of Alice In Wonderland. I thought it looked awesome, so different, it took some chances, bringing a new light to an old story.
I went to the theater not being able to avoid the bad reviews swarming this film on the internet. However, that did not bother me, I mean, critics were harsh about the the first film, and as noted I liked that film, so my mind was open.
Well this film is....odd...it lacked rhythm; Let me break it down without spoilers:
The performances:
Wasikowska as Alice, whom I loved in the first film. Here she again gives a pretty good performance obviously acting for most of the story against green screens and not real sets.
Hathaway returns as Mariana with a bigger part. I love her as Mariana. She is so over the top odd. Just watch her hand motions, so funny, and almost clueless.
Baron Cohen as the time keeper is not as over the top as .....well...Baron Cohen usually is.
Bonham Carter as Iracebeth returns and is not as over the top as the first film. Here she is almost sad.
Johnny Depp. Ugh. The Depp act is old. To be honest every time I saw him on the screen here, I just wanted him to go away. There lies the problem, the story of the hatter is the major plot point.
The look:
The look is really bad. I do not know if Disney spent their budget on the star power and ran out of money for good CGI. Every special effect looks terrible. It distracts you from the story line. Disney in 2016!!!! This is embarrassing that they put out this film, looking like this, into the market. I thought often, while sitting in the theater, of a 1962 Disney film called In Search of The Castaways which had the same CGI look (Or what ever they called it in 1962). That was 1962!!! That is not good.
The screenplay: I think it had two main story lines: 1- Save the Hatter 2-Time. Save the Hatter I did not give a damn about. Again that is a huuuuuuuge problem. However, Time. The Time story line is very interesting. In fact time is the biggest character in the film Think about it...what is time for Alice. She falls down a hole or walks through a mirror. Does time stop or does it move on? Does it matter either way? Time. You cant change time but you can learn from it. I loved that story line. I found it interesting that Baron Cohen's character is not only the protector of time, but is actual time. It took me back to a time travel film from 2013 that I really liked called About Time (See It Please) which also deals not as much with time travel but...the use of time.
Now all that being said, the Time story line is slightly deep. Which makes me wonder who this film is for. The Time story line will go over their heads, and they marketed this movie to children. In fact most of the story I do not know if they can relate to or even at least get a laugh out of it. I predict, with all that being said, will make this film a big fail for Disney. And they deserve this fail.
I give Alice Through The Looking Glass 2 stars out of 5. I did not think it was great, or very good, however I do not think it is as bad as critics are saying. The film has at least half an interesting story line and some good performances. It will be worth a peak when it come to home viewing. I would not pay to see it in the theaters.
As always thanks for your time from the shadows.
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