ALICE THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS
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Director: James Bobin
Screenwriter: Linda Woolverton based on the book by Lewis Carroll
Principal cast:
Mia Wasikowska
Johnny Depp
Helena Bonham Carter
Anne Hathaway
Sacha Baron Cohen
Alan Rickman
Country: USA/UK
Classification: PG
Runtime: 113 mins.
Australian release date: 26 May 2016
In this muddled ‘adaptation’ of Lewis Carroll’s children’s fantasy, the Brit TV director James Bobin has succeeded in changing the storyline to such a degree that one sometimes wonders where the heck one is and what the heck we’re doing there.
Alice Through The Looking Glass bears little resemblance to the original work; it comes across as a messy barrage of noise and confusion that sends its characters on a nonsensical goose chase that’s only saved by occasional funny moments, thanks to the comedians on set, namely Matt Lucas as Tweedledee and Tweedledum and Sacha Baron Cohen as Time. There’s also a poignant moment when we recognise the voice of Absolem, the caterpillar, as Alan Rickman’s - it was Rickman’s last film and the filmmakers have dedicated it to him. Travelling through the mirror, Alice (Mia Wasikowska) ends up fighting to save Tarrant Hightopp (Johnny Depp), battling the Red Queen (Helena Bonham Carter) and discovering what happened to the Mad Hatter’s missing family.
It’s all visualised in the same over-the-top production style as Tim Burton’s original Alice In Wonderland but does little to engage you with the story. The over-complicated plot somehow manages to mash the major theme about time being of paramount importance; rather, it makes you realise how one should cherish time and you’ve just wasted 113 minutes of yours. “This can not be good,” as the Mad Hatter prophetically uttered.