Old friends: Alice travels back to the past and meets Mad Hatter during the days when he was still living with his family.

Alice Through the Looking Glass is as visually enchanting as its prequel, Alice In Wonderland (2010), but in terms of being a watchable film, it is far less convincing.

English director James Bobin took the director’s seat from Tim Burton, whose darker and gothic-toned interpretation of Lewis Carroll’s Alice In Wonderland tale was well received in 2010 and considered refreshing.

The sequel, Alice Through the Looking Glass, takes place about five years following the events in Alice in Wonderland.

Alice (Mia Wasikowska) is now a grown-up young lady and becomes the captain of her late father’s ship. A skillful captain she might be, but the dynamic changes of Victorian era England, combined with her mother’s poor business decision with venture capitalist and Alice’s former fiancé Hamish Ascot (Leo Bill), put her in a difficult position, as she might lose the ship.

At the same time, the Mad Hatter (Johnny Depp) in Underland becomes gloomier and crazier after discovering a clue that his family might still be alive. His obsession over this clue drives him sick and he might perish if he cannot find a solid answer to the whereabouts of his family.

Alice’s friends in Underland then send Absolem (the late Alan Rickman) to bring her back and save the Mad Hatter from his demise. Through a magical mirror at Ascot’s mansion, Alice follows Absolem back to Underland.

In Underland, the White Queen (Anne Hathaway) suggests Alice travel back in time to save Hatter’s family. To travel time, Alice needs a device called the Chronosphere, which belongs to Time (Sacha Baron Cohen).

Time, however, is not too keen on Alice’s request, as he believes no one should try to change the past and that doing so would do more harm than good.

Eventually, Alice steals the device and finds herself in a race against time as she tries to return to Hatter’s past and save his family.

Along the way, Alice also faces the wrath of the Red Queen (Helena Bonham Carter), White Queen’s evil sister, who also wants to control the Chronosphere to return to the past and alter the history that made her head hideously large.

Returning: Alice returns to Underland after being lured by Absolem.

The overall theme in Alice Through the Looking Glass centers on the issues of regret and redemption. When Alice tries to travel time to change Hatter’s past, she regrets having spent too much time captaining her ship and abandoning her mother. She also learns about terrible deeds by White Queen that made her sister go mad and murder Hatter’s family.

Employing colorful backgrounds and characters and highly detailed computer-generated imagery (CGI), Alice Through the Looking Glass builds an impressive fantasy universe of Underland. The presentation style is clearly very different and the universe of a much more joyous spirit to that created by Burton in 2010.

While the presentation is somewhat beautiful, some parts are overdone. The redundant bright lights and contrasting colors are not very friendly to the eyes after some period of watching.

The fast camera movements and changes in perspective during action scenes make Alice Through the Looking Glass feels more like a 3D ride on a theme park than a film. The screenplay is woeful and the story structure along with its logic can at times be confusing.

In addition to the overdone special effects and presentation, Alice Through the Looking Glass feels painful and slow to watch due to the poor script and unconvincing acting.

Time travel: The White Queen shows Alice where to meet Time so she can travel to the past and rescue Mad Hatter's family.

It seems Wasikowska herself does not believe in being Alice. She spends most of her time looking confused with a single facial expression where she winces her eyebrows. Depp, usually a prolific actor, could not break through the Hatter’s thick makeup and give his character at least a bit of a soul.

In the movie, Cohen depends too much on being a weird half-machine half-man walking wall clock with German accent. And Hathaway is soulless, and for the first time ever she becomes unwatchable despite her demi-goddess appearance, while Carter, being the main antagonist, seems to be disinterested in playing the Red Queen, making Alice Through the Looking Glass basically a bright shiny object with hollowness inside.

— Photos Courtesy of Disney

____________________________

Alice Through the Looking Glass

(Disney, 113 minutes)

Director: James Bobin

Writers: Linda Woolverton (screenplay), Lewis Carroll (books)

Stars: Mia Wasikowska, Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Anne Hathaway, Sacha Baron Cohen