ALICE THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS
Dir: James Bobin (PG, 99 mins)
Alice in Wonderland made over a billion dollars at the box office, despite it being a confused mishmash of abundant CGI imagery and eccentricity from Johnny Depp. Like Lewis Carroll’s books there was little sensible sense, but there was little charm also, and Tim Burton’s epic was more production design centred than plot led. Now comes the inevitable sequel Through The Looking Glass, whose literary incarnation bears even littler sense than the original. This film however is ‘inspired by’ the book rather than being a facsimile of its surreal meanderings, and hopefully Muppets and Flight of the Conchords director James Bobin will be able to chase it down a coherent rabbit hole. Mia Wasikowska returns as Alice, going through the titular looking glass to aid the Mad Hatter and his family who have fallen foul of Sacha Baron Cohen’s villainous Time. A magic sceptre has to be retrieved and Helena Bonham Carter’s entertaining Queen of Hearts thwarted from returning to her throne. Lots of the originals return to voice their CGI creations, like Alan Rickman’s Caterpillar, Matt Lucas’ Tweedles Dum and Dee and Stephen Fry’s Cheshire Cat. Whether it will all add up to anything more than a cacophony of visuals like its predecessor is anyone’s guess. Here’s hoping they do something with The Walrus and the Carpenter! Curiouser and curiouser indeed.