Alice Through the Looking Glass
Tags: psychedelic, fantasy

Plot synopsis:
This sequel to the 2010 film, Alice in Wonderland, opens with Alice Kingsleigh (Mia Wasikowska) sailing the Straits of Malacca with her crew on her father's ship, The Wonder. They are under attack by pirates, so Alice tries to steer the ship away from them. The winds blow the ship toward the ocean, but Alice manages to bring it back up before it hits a huge rock.Three years later. Alice returns to London and reunites with her mother (Lindsey Duncan). She informs Alice that Hamish Ascot (Leo Bill), the man that Alice rejected in the previous film, has taken over his father's company, as well as Alice's share of it, along with her mother's house. Alice claims this is payback for the rejection, though Hamish denies it (even though it's obvious). He says he will give Alice back the bond to her mother's house if she signs over her father's ship. Alice and her mother argue over the matter, and Alice retreats into another room. There, she sees Absolem (voice of Alan Rickman - his final performance), who is now a blue butterfly. He tells Alice she has been away for too long. Absolem flies toward a mirror and goes through it. Alice follows.Alice ends up walking through the other side of the mirror where she is now tiny in a huge room, back in Wonderland (or "Underland"). She comes across a large chessboard where the pieces are alive and they frighten her, causing her to accidentally knock over Humpty Dumpty (Wally Wingert). The king's horses and men rush to put him back together.Alice then proceeds further into Wonderland where she reunites with Mirana The White Queen (Anne Hathaway), Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum (voice of Matt Lucas), The White Rabbit (voice of Michael Sheen), The Cheshire Cat (voice of Stephen Fry), Bayard the bloodhound (voice of Timothy Spall), Mallymkun the dormouse (voice of Barbara Windsor), The March Hare (voice of Paul Whitehouse), and the Bandersnatch. They're all in the middle of (what else) a tea party, when they inform Alice that Tarrant Hightopp/The Mad Hatter (Johnny Depp) has not been himself lately, and they believe Alice will be able to help him.Alice runs to the Hatter's home. He is elated to see her again, and he explains that he recently came across a small blue feather top hat that he made as a child. It has him perplexed because it would mean his family is still alive, having believed them to have perished on Horunvendush Day when the Jabberwocky attacked. The Hatter believes Alice can help bring them back, but she claims it is impossible (despite her feelings toward that word). Displeased, the Hatter turns dark and says this is not the Alice he knew.Mirana tells Alice that if she wants to save the Hatter's family, she must speak to Time (Sacha Baron Cohen) and use the Chronosphere, a powerful device that travels through time that only Alice can use since she is not originally part of Wonderland. She guides Alice to Time's castle, which is located inside a grandfather clock. Alice sneaks into the castle and sees Time go into a room full of pocketwatches. Time pulls off the watch of one man, saying his time is up. Time spots Alice, who asks him to help her save her friend's family, but Time says the past cannot be changed.Moments later, Iracebeth The Red Queen (Helena Bonham Carter), arrives, as she is Time's sort-of girlfriend. He gives her a gift of a man getting his head chopped off. She tosses it to the side. Alice sees this as a chance to steal the Chronosphere. Time and Iracebeth witness Alice getting away.The Chronosphere activates, and it works like a ship. Alice takes it through an ocean of time and tries to find Horunvendush Day to prevent the Hatter's family from dying. She is momentarily frightened by the Jabberwocky's appearance breathing fire, so she ends up arriving much earlier on the day of what was supposed to be Iracebeth's coronation. The Hatter is there with his whole family. Iracebeth is ready to be crowned, but the crown won't fit on her swollen head. The crown breaks, and the Hatter leads everyone in a big laugh, infuriating Iracebeth. After she throws a fit, her father (Richard Armitage) declares that she is unfit to rule the kingdom, so he names Mirana as the new queen. Iracebeth storms off tearfully and swears vengeance against the Hightopp family. The Hatter's father Zanik (Rhys Ifans) chastises his son for his behavior, making it sound like he is disappointed in his son.Time, who has been going after Alice, ends up in the same period and comes across the Hatter and his friends during a tea party. Time asks for Alice, but the Hatter keeps him waiting for her by saying he invited her to the tea party. The Hatter and his friends then start making a bunch of corny time-based puns. Time eventually gets sick of it and leaves, putting everyone stuck in one minute before Tea Time.Alice goes to try and speak to Mirana and her parents, inadvertently learning about another incident from long ago that led to Iracebeth's behavior. Alice uses the Chronosphere to travel to this time in the hopes that she can prevent Horunvendush Day from happening at all. This brings Alice to the childhood of the sisters and most of her other friends. Alice meets the young Tarrant (Louis Ashborne Serkis), who brings Alice to his home. He introduces her to his father and says he wants to make Alice a hat. Tarrant shows his father the blue feather hat from earlier, which Zanik takes and accidentally rips. Zanik throws it away, and Tarrant runs away crying. What he never knew was that Zanik recovered the hat and kept it.Alice then finds the sisters as children. Their mother (Hattie Morahan) was making tarts, and the young Iracebeth (Leilah de Meza) had been eating most of them. After their mother sent them away, Mirana (Amelia Crouch) snuck one off and dropped some crumbs, which she kicked under Iracebeth's bed. When their mother found out, she spotted the crumbs by the bed and questioned Iracebeth. She told her sister to tell the truth, but Mirana says she didn't eat them. Iracebeth ran into the street, and almost ran into a grandfather clock. Alice sees this and tries to stop her, but Iracebeth is distracted by Alice pushing the clock away, causing the girl to slip and hit her head on a fountain, resulting in her head swelling up. Alice then realizes what Time meant by saying the past cannot be changed.Time catches up to Alice and shows her what damage she has done to him by taking the Chronosphere. He warns her that she has put Wonderland in danger. Alice then escapes into a mirror that takes her back to her world.Alice wakes up in a mental hospital with her mother. Dr. Bennett (Andrew Scott) diagnoses her with 'female hysteria'. He attempts to sedate her forcefully, but Alice manages to get the needle away from him and stick him with it. Alice's mother and the orderlies see her trying to escape, and her mother tells her to run. Alice makes it to another magic mirror and runs through it with the Chronosphere.Alice arrives on Horunvendush Day as the Jabberwocky is attacking. She spots the Hightopps running for it, but they are apprehended by Iracebeth's guards, proving that they are indeed alive in the present.Alice returns to the present and runs to the Hatter's home, only to find all their friends gathered in his room, weeping. The Hatter is in his bed, just inches away from death, pale and colorless. Alice goes to him and says she finally believes him and says she is sorry. The Hatter opens his eyes, and he hugs Alice. She tells him that Iracebeth is keeping them prisoner, and the color in his hair returns as he decides to spring into action.Alice, the Hatter, and all their friends ride to Iracebeth's castle. The Hightopps are nowhere to be found, leaving the Hatter in despair once again. Suddenly, he and Alice spot Iracebeth's ant farm, which has a top hat forming in it. The Hightopps are in there, shrunken to a tiny size, but the Hatter is happy to see them again. Iracebeth and Time find them too, but she turns on Time and steals the Chronosphere for herself and brings Mirana with her. The now weakened Time tells Alice to stop Iracebeth before time is no more. Alice has Time taken back to his castle while she goes after Iracebeth.Iracebeth takes Mirana to the night where she lied about the tart so that she can tell the truth. When the same event happens, Iracebeth kicks the door open and screams, causing her younger self to see her and making time begin to freeze in Wonderland. Alice manages to get the Chronosphere back and race to the present. She rushes through Time's castle as everyone starts to freeze up. Alice reaches the room of the Chronosphere and nearly makes it before she gets frozen too. Somehow, a spark from the Chronosphere makes it out and pulls itself toward its holding place, restoring everything to order.Iracebeth still thinks nobody loves her, but Mirana says she does, and she apologizes for lying. The two of them reconcile. They then give the Hatter the "eat me" cake to give to the Hightopps so they may grow back to normal size. The Hatter tells his father that he makes hats, and Zanik says he always believed in his son. Alice must then say goodbye to the Hatter and her friends once again as the mirror reappears, and she must go home.In the real world, Alice's mother is ready to sign over the ship until Alice shows up. She says it's okay if she sells the ship if her mother can keep her house. Her mother then tears up Hamish's contract in his face, leaving him humiliated in front of his family yet again.The film concludes with Alice and her mother going into business and preparing to sail the world together.

Review: I also understand that it's very hard to make a movie, especially a good one, so I generally try not to give much attention to bad movies or waste my time and energy bashing them.With "Alice Through the Looking Glass," though, I feel like I have to put my opinion out there.
I'm in the minority with this one in that I loved "Wonderland" and was incredibly excited to see "Looking Glass." Having finally seen the movie, I'm really disappointed.
I feel burned.Tim Burton directed "Alice in Wonderland" but chose not to direct this one - in his place is James Bobin, director of the two most recent "Muppets" films (the first of which I thought was great, the second much less so but still fine).
as is screenwriter Linda Woolverton, who I almost can't believe is the same person who wrote "Alice and Wonderland," "Maleficent," and the original "Beauty and the Beast." While her previous work is whimsical but subtle and sophisticated, "Alice Through the Looking Glass" is an uninspired mess, and I can't help but suspect that she really didn't care about this at all.You know, it seems like almost no one involved in making this movie cared.
Lots of details, vivid colors and memorable characters.The actors and actresses in the movie were doing good jobs with their given roles, and it was a great treat to have the original cast return to play their characters once again.
No matter where you look there is something breathtaking."Alice: Through the Looking Glass" is certainly an entertaining movie, but it is hardly one that you will sit down and watch again any time soon..
This makes the movie as interesting as the original Through the Looking Glass since Lewiss Carroll was famous with riddles and hidden messages in his works and he was known to include mathematical wonders in the writing such as the case of Alice in Wonderland.
She has to get the Chronosphere from the hands of Time (Sacha Baron Cohen) and return to the past to save Hatter's family.Director James Bobin retrieves Tim Burton's wonderful visual excessiveness to churn out another Alice movie.
Depp isn't the only one though, the acting by every character is poor , Bonham Carter with the same annoying voice and movement she does in pretty much every film she's in, Hathaway just looks lost through the whole movie , no expression what so ever , a blow up doll could have played her character.It's really really bad , don't waste your time watching this stuff ..
The 2010 version of Alice in Wonderland wasn't a great movie but at least is was entertaining and even watchable at times.
Maybe everyone was in charge!You more serious viewers, try watching Disney's animated "Alice In Wonderland" from 1951 and Jim Henson's "Labyrinth."In the world of traditional art, one basic rule of thumb is "Less Is More." Here, we get, as with so many of today's special effects driven films, "More Is Less.".
Successfully sharing the primarily (and believable) green screen set is the wonderfully adverturist Mia Wasikowska "Alice," Helena Bonham Carter as big head Red Queen "Iracebeth," Anne Hathaway as the less then attractive floating princesses "Marana," quirky Sacha Baron Cohen as "Time," Matt Lucas as the lovable Tweedledee / Tweddledum, and the wonderful voices (to name a few) of Timothy Spall, Ed Spellers and the late Alan Rickman.
"Alice Through the Looking Glass" isn't rocket science, it's just a good family film filled with colorfully special effects, a familiar storyline and good acting - regardless of what many a film critic are saying.
The Mad Hatter and King of Time, for example, had really thick accents that made their spoken language hard to comprehend.But the major drawback to this movie was its naive portrayal of human nature that borders on the offensive.While it is certainly true that "you can't change the past but can learn from it," which is demonstrated vividly throughout the film, the movie unfortunately propagates the misguided notion that you can somehow ***change other people.*** If one tries to do that in the real world, they almost always will be sorely disappointed.Unrealistic *physics* in movies (and stories) can be thrilling, and a lot of fun.
One of the main reasons I loved Avatar, and Tim Burton's 2010 version of Alice in Wonderland, is because of the inspirational theme of "flying away and finding one's place" in the world where you can be happy.This theme was sorely missing from the 2016 version of Alice Through the Looking Glass.All in all, this was a fun movie, but with a confusing and lackluster message..
First of all I was hesitant to watch through the looking glass partly because of bad reviews but mostly because my favorite director Tim Burton didn't direct this movie.
Muppets Most Wanted director James Bobin takes the helm (or the blame - depending on how you want to look at it) with all of the original cast returning to their roles including; Helena Bonham Carter, Alan Rickman, Stephen Fry and Mia Wasikowska as Alice.We find Alice at the beginning of the movie as the Captain of a ship which is threatened to be taken away from her unless she gives up her family home, a deal her Mother struck in a bid to avoid financial ruin.
She then sets upon a mission to go back in time to warn them of the danger that may cause their death - This is the kind of story that seems to be clutching at the proverbial straw but at that definitive moment within the first 15 minutes of the movie, you know exactly what to expect.What made Alice in Wonderland so appealing was the premise of such memorable characters.
On a positive note, thanks to the hypnotic special effects this is an entertaining children's movie and, regardless of the crude insinuations, that is most likely what Lewis Carroll intended it to be when he told it to 10 year old Alice Liddell as they rowed down the Thames.
I wasn't sure what to expect, so I went in not expecting much - and though the story line was a little bland - It was nice to see what became of Alice - Also in this movie, you learn things about people you didn't know.
Take a step through the looking glass and follow Alice through an adventure to save The Mad Hatter's family - In a race to turn back time, Alice goes on another adventure and learns some things that cannot change the past, but can change the present..
After the disappointing we X-Men Apocalypse comes a horrible film called Alice:Just Give Us Your Money,We Are Running Out of Ideas Movie,that came out the same day and boy it was another boring movie.The film it's not tasty but instead bland or insipid,that's what I felt watching the film.The whole film was a wasted potential with good visual effects but suffered from a plot that is not worthy of it.Characters are underdeveloped and bland, It has nothing special to give to the audience but give us another unnecessary sequel.It lacks so many things that it film wanted to be like excitement,enjoyment and a fun to it but gives us a dull boring one with wasted potentials and an annoying and uninteresting characters.The film is just soulless and lackluster..
Alice Through the Looking GlassThe only place that you'll be transported to if you walk through a looking glass is the ICU.However, meandering through one in this fantasy will take you to another realm.When her real world problems become unbearable, Alice (Mia Wasikowska) escapes through a magical mirror into Wonderland to visit her outlandish acquaintances.Paramount is the Mad Hatter (Johnny Depp), who has been despondent since losing his family to the Jabberwocky.
To assuage the addled Hatter, Alice swipes a gadget from Father Time (Sacha Baron Cohen) and travels to the past to save them.Lacking a reason to exist beyond financial gains, this laughably loose adaptation of Lewis Carroll's literary sequel forges its own sloppy narrative about time-travel.
Not even a talented and experienced director like James Bobin could manage to save one of the most disastrous screenplay ever to be adapted in recent memory, bringing to the screen a story that is duller and more uninteresting than its predecessor (which is saying something) and makes no justice to Lewis Carroll's rich world.This movie admittedly has a couple of things going for it: firstly it is never so bad I got angry at it, it is just boring to the point that it made me feel dizzy every five minutes and I'm sure I lost something in the mix because my eyes were constantly about to close.
Every line or action could be literally ripped apart, I never ever felt a genuine emotional connection with anybody, I was never given a reason to do so.Characters exposing the plot constantly, a whole throwaway sequence where Andrew Scott appears out of nowhere for sixteen seconds for absolutely no reason, an incoherence of internal story logic that goes beyond what I can explain, a story message that is so confused and nonexistent the movie literally turns it around for itself, a plot that dictates story at every turn, predictability in every single climactic moment, suddenly there are transformers in the Alice universe, character relations being so undramatic they start to look like parodies, you name it this movie has it all, I could not believe it, it was frustratingly boring and if there's one thing a blockbuster, visual extravaganza film should not be, it is exactly that.Disney has had its first terrible quality flop in sometime and its a real down step, I am sorry for all the talent involved which I am a fan of, but this film is not recommendable, child, kid or adult I can't see what anyone would find to enjoy here..
It has good clean humor, outstanding special effects, excellent acting, the best cinematography, and multiple interesting plot lines that are all brought together nicely at the end.Visually the film is amazing.
I'm someone that has read and loved both of Lewis Carrol's Alice in Wonderland books (they are actually my favorite classic novels) and I absolutely loved this film, not because it's like the book, but rather because it took the idea of Alice in Wonderland and its characters and created a new, interesting story.
Burton's Alice in Wonderland was inspired by a single poem from the novel Through the Looking Glass (The Jabberwocky) and also referenced Down the Rabbit Hole, but still had its own original storyline, just like this film did.
This film did a bit of hand holding and lead the audience through the plot to make sure everything was clear, but I personally find the criticism of an Alice in Wonderland film having a "hard to follow plot" a ridiculous criticism because anyone who read Lewis Carroll's novels knows that the "plot" is practically nonexistent and the point of the novels is the adventure, creativity, and absurdity.
Disney's animated Alice in Wonderland for instance, has just a tad more of a plot than Lewis Carroll's novels, but is still filled with even more nonsense than this film and yet it was better received and I think this is due to today's audiences expecting an epic tail with a complex plot when they go to see a film rather than simply enjoying movies as a creative art form.
I think most of the bad reviews of this film come from people who were expecting a true adaption of Lewis Carroll's book Through the Looking Glass-which, lets face it, would not have been well received either because of it's "nonplot"-.
Low-budget movies turned blockbusters like Paranormal Activity relay on the viewers' word- of-mouth so most probably, Alice 2hru has failed to impress the audience prior to the rolling of credits.IMPOSSIBLE THING # 2: A stellar cast with unmemorable performances.
Rather then a flowing story, we get a series of events, similar to a road trip story, simply about a young girl who runs into various creatures like the White Rabbit, Cheshire Cat, the Caterpillar, March Hare, The Mad Hatter, the Queen of Hearts, and the Jabberwocky dragon.The stories have been adapted many times, though my favorite is the animated Disney movie from 1951.
Time to return to the Underland in Alice Through the Looking Glass.It has been about three years since Alice (played by Mia Wasikowska) took her journey and came back wanting to make a career through her fathers trading ship.
Like how the last one was a political war movie, Alice should not be a time travel story either.
Alice Through the Looking Glass was not worth the six year wait (a long time considering that the last movie was a monster hit) and barley justifies a third return.
Neither kids, nor adults, will find it dragging at any point in time.The story isn't too deep, good for kids, a tad more boring for adults (who will probably enjoy the FX eye candy more, as per critic reviews); the dialogue is okay but has a couple of cringe worthy lines that you'd expect out of a 3rd grader, trying to write his first script, instead of someone in Hollywood.
In Disney's "Alice Through the Looking Glass," with the characters from Lewis Carroll's famous stories, Alice returns to the world of Underland and travels back in time to save the Mad Hatter.
Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter, Sacha Baren Cohen as Time, and the visual effects provide some entertainment, but overall the movie is boring and predictable and is lacking of the magic of the first film.
Alice Through the Looking Glass delivered another illustration of Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter's abilities to portray strange and fantastic characters.
Anne Hathaway (Mirana), seemed to be over acting most of the time and Sacha Baron Cohen (Time) could have put some more effort into his role but the movie was entertaining and I liked the fact that the director showed Alice moving on in life, as a business lady.
More likely to inspire thoughts of Michael Bay than Lewis Carroll, this sequel to Tim Burton's 2010 Alice in Wonderland borrows sparingly from the Carroll novel with the same title, opting instead to use Linda Woolverton's confused and incoherent story as its basis.
It's not a bad movie, I didn't feel like it was good enough to be worthy of the Alice In Wonderland title.
Along with some breathtaking visuals, Alice Through the Looking Glass should please fans of first film with a fun and exciting return to Underland..
However, alone as a movie, Alice Through the Looking Glass is a stunning Disney masterpiece and deserves to be watched with an open heart.
It is far from a good movie, but unlike most other animated mock busters the DVD cover for it was really cool, and again it does attempt to do things differently to its inspiration Alice Through the Looking Glass instead of blatantly ripping it off.
Directed by James Bobin (The Muppets, Muppets Most Wanted) and starring Mia Wasikowska, Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter, 'Alice Through the Looking Glass' is a stylish sequel with heart and good messages for all ages.I was not a massive fan of 'Alice in Wonderland' back in 2010, but I still came out enjoying the performances and scenery presented by Tim Burton.
Just Like Fire is a already a chart-topper around the globe.Alice and Hatter are the central characters in this film, and they are played very well by Wasikowska and Depp.
Soon after, Alice thrusts herself back into Underland, with the Mad Hatter (Johnny Depp) being unwell and needing her help by going back through time while racing against Time (Sasha Baron Cohen) itself.I think I'm in the minority here who thinks this movie is great.
"Alice Through the Looking Glass" revolves around Alice (Mia Wasikowska) who travels to Time's palace in hopes of bringing back the Mad Hatter's family- the Mad Hatter being played by Johnny Depp.
Alice has to get the Chronosphere from Time (Sacha Baron Cohen) and return to the past to save Hatter's family.
So that makes that a character like Hatter (Johnny Depp) a complete stranger to me.The opening scene of the film actually is a reflection of the rest.
There was significant improvement in Mia Wasikowska's acting in comparison to the Alice in Wonderland that was released in 2010, I think without Sacha Baron Cohen the film wouldn't have been nearly as good.
It's "An Alice in Wonderland" movie, only it goes back in time!.
I for one as a kid never really read "The Alice in Wonderland" books still I've got into watching the movies for the fact that now Tim Burton has his had in them as i've been a Burton fan since 1989's "Batman" as I love the way he skews the viewer's take of the world.
This film tells the story of Alice who goes back to wonderland to save Mad Hatter who has poor health.
I read it numerous times and saw the same erroneous title, so imagine my surprise that I finally realised the title is "Alice Looking Through the Looking Glass"!Though the visuals are good, I could not get into the story because of the very unusual outlook of characters.
Yes, today's review is on Alice through the Looking Glass, an unexpected sequel given that both of Lewis Carroll's stories had already had films dedicated to them.
But don't fret because Time, Alice, and the Hatter are the key players in this story and as such will be the ones you see the most of, which isn't a bad thing just disappointing that our characters couldn't all be in the show longer.
If you loved Alice In Wonderland then you should give one time watch to this film too.
The story itself is a time-travel one about Alice finding out about The Mad Hatter's family and by the end I just didn't care.