Alice Through The Looking Glass

The day we saw this was during that bank holiday weekend where I'd planned for me and Adeel to just be constantly busy the entire time. 

We'd just spent a day at the zoo, doing more than our recommended 10,000 steps a day, and decided to make a pit stop on the way home to watch this at Westfield.

It was a decision we later regretted some two hours later as neither of us enjoyed the film at all.

Image from Pinterest

Alice Through the Looking Glass was, unfortunately, a huge let down.

The trailer built it up to be another exciting adventure for Alice (Mia Wasikowska) in that she had to save the Mad Hatter (Johnny Depp) - and the rest of the Wonderland beings in the end - from Time himself (Sacha Baron Cohen).

The plot, unfortunately, did not work out. The beginning was too long and slow and the rest not very dramatic or captivating. The climax not really very much of one at all.

I liked Alice. I never had any problems with her, being strong and independent. I think Mia Wasikowska played her extremely well with her quick wit, determination, ambition and imagination.

I obviously think Johnny Depp played the Mad Hatter well, but I am very biased. One thing I didn't like about his character was the eccentricity to him. The make-up and costumes were a little too much and needed dialling down a notch.

Time was an interesting character - one I thought I would love the idea of - yet, Sacha Baron Cohen did not succeed. He was rigid, lacked any humour even though jokes were told and was quite boring.

The rest of the characters were only okay. I still enjoyed Helena Bonham Carter's portrayal of the Red Queen, the backstory to how she got her enlarged head was an interesting one, but one that made me detest the White Queen even more. 

I don't know what Anne Hathaway was trying to do with this character but she failed. She was irritating, too busy prancing about with stupid hand movements and over-the-top actions than actually focusing on her acting.

One good thing I do have to say about the film are the sets and majority of the costumes. For the time period outside of Wonderland and Wonderland itself, they were all extraordinary and a spectacular site to see for a fairytale land. 

There are two scenes that stand out to me the most. One is where Time enters a room full of pocket watches dangling from the ceiling. This is a beautiful scene, one that represents each persons life and is entirely captivating. 

The other is one of the final moments of the film where everything is being frozen in a red crust-like formation as time dissolves and Alice reaches to restore the Chronosphere in an attempt to rectify her mistake.

It's a shame this was one of Alan Rickman's last films, he deserved better. The best moment was when I saw his name come up at the end in dedication.

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Rating: ★★☆☆☆



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