Check out Kidzworld’s movie review for Alice Through the Looking Glass, the sequel to the 2010 film. This time Alice must go back to Wonderland to save the Hatter who is madder and sicker than usual.
By: Lynn Barker
In Alice Through the Looking Glass, Alice Kingsleigh (Mia Wazikowska) in living girl-power to the max as an accomplished sea captain on her dad’s ship the Wonder. You go girl! But on returning home, she’s expected to settle down and do Victorian “girlie” things. Not happening! She’s off to Wonderland again, this time to save her BFF the mad Hatter (Johnny Depp).
White Queen, Hatter and Alice in shockCourtesy of Disney
World Traveler
Alice is living her dream as the captain of her dad’s ship. Returning from China, she encounters pirates and outsails them in a spectacular escape. On getting home she learns that her stuffy ex-fiancé Hamish (Leo Bill) holds the deed to her family home! He won’t finance another voyage of discovery and expects Alice to be a clerk at his family firm and sign over her ship to him if she wants her home back. Her mom just tells her that women, sadly, can’t do the impossible.
Alice returns from her sea voyageCourtesy of Disney
Call to Action
When caterpillar/butterfly Absolem (voice of the late Alan Rickman) arrives to tell her that, in Wonderland, the Hatter (Johnny Depp) is wasting away and may die, Alice goes to the rescue through a mirror/portal (the looking glass) in her dad’s old study. She finds that he is sure that his family, who supposedly died getting roasted by the Red Queen’s dragon-like Jaberwocky before Alice destroyed it (in the first movie), is indeed alive! He must find them or die but he needs Alice’s help.
The Red Queen lays a trapCourtesy of Disney
Time and the Chronosphere
Thinking that traveling back in time to prevent the death of Hatter’s family is the way to go, Alice goes to the Grand Clock where she meets Time himself (Sacha Baron Cohen). When he warns her that she can’t change the past and won’t help her, Alice steals the chronosphere, a device that runs the clock and controls time and she’s off to the past. She doesn’t know that the banished Red Queen (Helena Bonham Carter) wants the device to reshape her own past.
Alice tries to reason with TimeCourtesy of Disney
The Adventure
With the White Queen (Anne Hathaway), the Hatter and other friends in tow, Alice sets off for the past using the chronosphere to make things right while Time chases her to regain what is his and Red Queen is determined to get the device for herself. Can Alice save Hatter’s family before all Wonderland is disrupted and disintegrates due to her time meddling? Will Red Queen fix her own messy past that stems from a childhood incident with her sister White Queen? Will Alice return to London to save her family home or her ship?
The Hatter tries to rescue his parentsCourtesy of Disney
Alice Through the Looking Glass Trailer
Wrapping Up
Alice Through the Looking Glass displays amazing CGI action that is super colorful and unique. Production and costume design are eye-popping and even superior to the 2010 Tim Burton “Alice” film. A lot of the beloved old tea party gang is back (love that Cheshire kitty). The movie is also much faster-paced than the 2010 Alice in Wonderland but a lot of reactions and character motivations make little sense. Johnny Depp’s hatter comes off as more loony and child-like than ever. Sacha does a fun job as Time who, for some unknown reason, is in love with The Red Queen. He and Helena Bonham Carter rule the screen. You can’t take your eyes off them.
Time contemplates a watchCourtesy of Disney
Alice, as played by Mia, is more mature and self-assured than in the last film but It’s too bad that the rest of the film doesn’t live up to an amazing opening sequence in which, as a sea captain, Alice is able to cleverly guide her ship through shallow waters…sailing on its side, to escape pirates. When she is told what she attempts is “impossible” she retorts to her crew “You know my views on that word!” Now that is a movie I want to watch. However, later, when the Hatter asks her to find his parents, she says that is “impossible”. Huh?
Alice refuses to sign over her shipCourtesy of Disney
There is a girl power theme laced through the film that is admirable. Even Alice’s uptight mom joins her in rebellious behavior by film’s end that certainly pulls away from the role women are supposed to play way back then. And, it is again family love that triumphs as in most Disney films. We will go three stars.
Alice Through the Looking Glass Movie Rating: 
Alice Through the Looking Glass PosterCourtesy of Disney
Alice Through the Looking Glass is in theaters Friday!
Have Your Say
Have you read the “Alice” books or seen the first movie? Are you happy that Alice is more gung ho and kick butt in this new film? Let us know with a comment.
