Review of Alice Through the Looking Glass (2016) by Filipeneto — 09 Feb 2021

There are some films that are made only for the money that is expected to be collected from them. After seeing this film, I think it fits that description. "Alice in Wonderland" was a box office and critical hit, and had a good financial fit. The sequel, expected, takes advantage of the title of a novel that Lewis Carroll wrote after “Alice in Wonderland”. Just the title! The story has nothing to do with the book that, out of curiosity, turned 145 years in the year the film was released.

The script begins with Alice's return from a trip to the Chinese seas and the discovery that her mother had gone into debt and passed control of the family firm to Hamish who, by malice, decided to take revenge by forcing her to sell her ship. It's in this context that Alice returns to the magical country that she already knows after going through a mirror. There, she discovers that she was "summoned" to the country to help the Mad Hatter, who is dying of sadness for believing that his entire family, presumably dead, may be alive somewhere. Alice will have to go to the Castle of Time and get the Chronosphere, a time-travel machine that would allow her to discover what happened to the Hatter's family.

I was unimpressed with this film. I think the direction of James Bobin bet a lot on the visual and little on the script. In fact, I found surprising that Burton did not stay with the direction and preferred to stay in production. I think it would have been better for the film to have Burton in the chair. Linda Woolverton's script seemed to be predictable and not very creative, with childish's dialogues, forced jokes and too many puns that fade over time. The material given to the actors was probably not the best either.

Mia Waskikowska is quite good as Alice, she looks safe and confident. Helena Bonham Carter gave soul and emotion to a character who was, therefore, very humanized. Sacha Baron Cohen is also in good shape and this is reflected in the inspired and fun way he brought Time to life. I bet he had fun with the character and did this job with pleasure, I got to feel it when I saw him. However, if we put aside these three actors who, in fact, did very well, the cast's performance is generally poor. Johnny Depp, for example, was a shadow of himself, and he is one of those actors that I consider almost a safe bet for fantastic characters. I believe that the bad phase he was going through at the time of filming had a strong influence (the stormy divorce with Amber Heard), but the bad material of the script did not help him either. Anne Hathaway was also bad in a lifeless, emotionless performance, as if she was not engaged in her work. The film also features Rhys Ifans, Geraldine James, Lindsay Duncan and Leo Bill, but they all seem to be adrift, doing as they see fit and without much support from the director. The voice actors, as their characters, were in the third place of importance, highlighting only the very brief contribution of Allan Rickman because it was his last work.

Technically, the film is great, as its predecessor had previously been. These are films with a great visual focus, and where a lot of money is invested in CGI and state-of-the-art effects. The result is what is calculated: a visual show with a colorful, vibrant and intense cinematography. The effects of the storm at sea and the maritime maneuvers of Alice's ship were very well done and the fantastic world of Wonderland looks incredible, although not as absurd as Carroll's imagination would have liked, I think. This is compensated by the Castle of Time, as extravagant as possible. The costumes also help, starting with Time's and the two queens (I didn't like Alice's oriental costume so much, I confess). Still a word for the good conception of the Seconds and, particularly, of the guard of the Red Queen, inspired by the magnificent art of Arcimboldo, who is one of my favorite artists of the Renaissance period. Whoever has never seen one of his artworks must see it. As for Danny Elfman's soundtrack, I think it meets expectations, but it doesn't stand out.