Alice Through the Looking Glass

Movie Name: Alice Through the Looking Glass
Year of Release: 2016

Director: James Bobin

Stars: Johnny Depp, Anne Hathaway, Helena Bonham Carter, Mia Wasikowska, Matt Lucas, Sacha Baron Cohen, Rhys Ifans, Lindsay Duncan, Geraldine James, Leo Bill, Richard Armitage, Ed Speleers, Alan Rickman, Timothy Spall

Genre: Adventure, Fantasy

Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 2

Synopsis:

The original "Alice in Wonderland" from Tim Burton premiered in 2010, to a very surprising commercial success. This sequel reunites most of the same cast, this time under new direction, but with meager results. The film finds Alice returning to London after her exploratory voyages through China. She returns to a new business situation, and also to discover that her friend in Wonderland, the Hatter is in mortal danger. In order to save her friend, Alice is forced to seek help from Time himself, and travel back to the past and try to prevent certain events from occurring and therefore save the Hatter.
Director James Bobin has made a name for himself directing the previous outings from the Muppets, and also as director for the TV series "Flight of the Conchords". "Alice Through the Looking Glass" features a mediocre screenplay from Linda Wolverton (who also wrote the original "Alice" and "Maleficent"), who manages to create a story that has absolutely no depth, no evident conflict, where sub-plots appear and disappear with little coherence, leaving the director with the responsibility to fill the gaps with as much visual effects and visual gadgets as possible. The only salvageable elements in this film are the impeccable production teams that were assembled to make it a reality: the beautiful costumes from Colleen Atwood, the cinematography from Stuart Dryburgh, the stupendous visual effects and the usually reliable Helena Bonham Carter, who also looks a bit puzzled by the ineptitude of the whole endeavor. In the end this is a film that's not even worth writing much about, since there's so little to really digest or ponder about.