“It’s not impossible. It’s simply un-possible” – Cheshire Cat, Alice Through The Looking Glass.
Alice Through The Looking Glass is the sequel to the popular fairy-tale turned live-action film, Alice in Wonderland, and brings back much loved characters such as headstrong Alice Kingsleigh (Mia Wasikowska), the Mad Hatter (Johnny Depp), the Red Queen (Helena Bonham Carter), Tweedledee and Tweedledum (Matt Lucas), Absolem (the late Alan Rickman), Cheshire Cat (Stephen Fry) and the White Queen (Anne Hathaway).
Upon returning from her voyages across the world, Alice returns home to a rather difficult predicament; to give up her father’s ship and become a clerk for a rather pig-headed man or lose her family home. As someone who always believed in the impossible, Alice’s troubles in accepting her new dull fate, leads her to meet with the once caterpillar, now butterfly, Absolem, who urges her through a mirror-portal leading her back to the wonderful land of Wonderland.
Reuniting with all of her good friends, she learns of the Mad Hatter’s illness and is encouraged by the rest of the Wonderland gang to help him. It is there that she learns of the Mad Hatter’s troubles and goes off on another thrilling adventure in order to save her dear friend; only on this adventure, time isn’t on her side.
No, really, Time (who is magnificently portrayed by the talented Sacha Baron Cohen) isn’t on her side as she steals an object very dear to him and powers the great clock that keeps time from collapsing on itself. Time warns Alice of the repercussions of traveling back to the past, but headstrong Alice is determined to save the Hatter at all costs.
The plot of Alice Through The Looking Glass is incredible. The concept of time and the fact that it always has a way of catching up with us, is one that reminds viewers of just how precious time really is. The notion of affecting time as a whole by changing the past, even in the slightest of ways, is interesting and one that forces viewers to accept that the past is not something that can be changed; it is merely something to be learned from.
In returning to the past, Alice learns of the Hatter’s family history and we are given insight into the real reason for the Red Queen’s anguish and hatred for her sister, the White Queen. We also learn of how she got her big head. No, she wasn’t born that way. Curiouser and curiouser isn’t it?
Having these story-lines of the Hatter’s family and the disparity between the two royal sisters, tie in together with the main plot of time travel brings about an interesting tale that entertains and thrills. This is further created by the incredible and stunning visuals that is provided on screen. The use of colourful costumes, eye-catching graphics and visual effects as well as brilliant flashback scenes all add great value to the film as a whole and provides viewers with an enjoyable experience. I particularly enjoyed the time-traveling sequences and the scenes featuring Time and his minions (rightfully called seconds whose ‘tick tocks’ are rather amusing).
The characters and their interactions with one another is also of importance as they drive the film’s story forward. The humour expressed by the Hatter and the little comedic jabs he made toward Time was rather funny and added a light-hearted tone to an otherwise serious film. Once again, the Red Queen’s cry-baby, ‘woe is me’ antics was portrayed incredibly well by Helena Bonham Carter, while Anne Hathaway returns as the White Queen, fully equipped with the ridiculous blank look on her face and floaty walk thing that she does. Though, to be fair, she had far more humanity and emotion in her in Alice Through The Looking Glass than in Alice In Wonderland.
I have to admit, I’ve never been a big fan of the Alice in Wonderland stories and films, not even the Disney cartoon film, but Alice Through The Looking Glass really sold the fairy tale to me. I thoroughly enjoyed the film and could not get the haunting, mysterious soundtrack out of my head. Disney films have always had amazing soundtracks and Alice Through The Looking Glass did not disappoint.
This film will captivate you and is a film that any Disney fan will enjoy, both young and old. Check out the film at a cinema near you and let me know what you thought.