An Unsalvageable Mess

Lewis Carroll has had a great following in the past four decades but director James Bobin’s effort to modernise it lends much scope for the FX men and they just grab it but nothing can replace a good story. Didn’t EM Foster say “the story is the thing?”

So we have Alice (Mia Wasikowska) finding things going quite wrong in Wonderland, that is after going through the Looking Glass. There’s Mad Hatter (Johnny Depp) acting madder than usual, and other signs, so Alice decides to find out.

This means wading through a plethora of characters. There’s The White Queen (Anne Hathaway) who really doesn’t have much on her plate, but Time (Sacha Baron Cohen), half-clockwork, half-human, who acts as a Time Machine and a cutely wicked Red Queen (Helena Bonham Carter), probably the best character in the film. There are more from where these came from, but mentioning them will needlessly lengthen the review.

Linda Wolverton’s screenplay is decidedly weak and responsible for the long middle where FX dominates. Stuart Elfamn’s caressing camerawork does provide some relief but may be a reduction in the number of cameos might have helped. Still, Tweedledum and Twedledee (Matt Lucas) did provide some dramatic relief.

Newcomer Mia Wasikowska does a fair job and cannot be blamed for not trying but her skills have to be sharpened and she is overshadowed by veterans like Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter. The tried and tested Sacha Baron Cohen doesn’t have much scope and Anne Hathaway is totally wasted as the anemic White Queen.

‘Alice Through the Looking Glass’ is all sets and FX but it wins by default against ‘The Angry Birds Movie’.

Film Name : Alice Through The Looking Glass
Cast : Johnny Depp, Anne Hathaway, Sacha Baron Cohen & Mia Wasilkowska
Direction : James Bobin
Genre : Fantasy
Likes : Camerawork and VFX
Dislikes : Weak screenplay

By Ervell E Menezes