Alice Through the Looking Glass

(spoiler free)

Back in 2010 the original ‘Alice In Wonderland’ got a live action remake and whilst I don’t remember favourable reviews the film did do quite well at the box office. I know I wasn’t a fan of the first film and in all honesty I don’t remember much about it. Therefore I was fairly dubious about this sequel, however, with a great trailer I actually did become slightly intrigued.

I’m fairly certain that most of the cast return to reprise their roles from six years ago although it’s a shame that half of the characters are unbearably annoying. This is the case for no-one more so than Johnny Depp’s Mad Hatter who is annoying on an impressive level. The same can be said for many other characters but as the film progresses somehow you will warm to some of them. Sacha Baron Cohen is a new addition to the cast playing ‘Time’. At first I couldn’t work out whether I hated or loved his character, this may have been due to the fact that I was wondering why his character didn’t wear trousers or why his assistant sounded like an insurance comparing meerkat. Although in the end I actually thought his character was a lot of fun and played quite well by Baron Cohen. His character is also responsible for the best scene in the whole film which is packed fill of some wonderful time puns. Mia Wasikowska is good as Alice, at times her character feels a little invincible though which took away some suspense, overall she’s a good lead. Other members of the cast include Helena Bonham Carter, Anne Hathaway, Stephen Fry, Andrew Scott and the late great Alan Rickman. The cast are mostly good, I think the issues come with certain characters but this is a bonkers film so weird characters that might not be to everyone’s tastes has to be expected.

The narrative for the film is surprisingly good, in the opening half an hour I thought I had cracked where the story was going but I actually got it completely wrong. As the the film progressed so did my enjoyment meaning that by the end of the film I was actually having a pretty good time with the film. Of course a lot of the aspects to the film are a little patchy and often there is humour which doesn’t land. Another aspect I wasn’t mad for was a lot of the design work, I thought a lot of this was fairly garish or ugly. However there were other elements to the design which I thought were very good too, especially some aspects of  the more action heavy sequences. I know this film is getting a harsh time with the critics but I have to say that I think it is a vast improvement on the first film and whilst I can understand why it might not be everyone’s cup of tea I can’t understand those saying it’s a bad film because it simply isn’t.

‘Alice Through The Looking Glass’ is a surprisingly welcome return to Underland and a nice progression from the original film. Whilst there are definite inconsistencies in quality across a range of aspects throughout the film there is enough fun to be had to warrant watching it. If nothing else it’s worth seeing just to hear Alan Rickman perform one last time. Nonetheless this sequel is a fun fantasy flick with a solid narrative which should satisfy the casual viewer.

Rating – 7/10

Question: Who is your favourite Alice In Wonderland character?
(Leave your answers in the comments section below!)

---

Thanks for reading this review and please let me know what you thought about the movie! Leave a comment below or drop me a tweet over at @HCMovieReviews.

---