How you feel about James Bobin (new Director) and Tim Burton's (now Producer) second reworking of Lewis Carroll's classic characters may depend on your attitude to Burton's overall project with the pair of films.
That being to make the characters from Carroll's Alice more nuanced, more real, and more relatable than in the original books, and the events they experience more like an adventure tale.
Burton's first Alice film is remembered as a visual feast, providing you don't mind a film composed of lavish, technicolour CGI. 'Looking Glass' still looks like a big computer game, but with it, Bobin seems to depart even further from the playfulness of the original books and head deeply into generic action/ blockbuster territory. For example, while some pains are taken in the beginning to shape Alice (Mia Wasikowska) into a young woman of rare and independent spirit, her characterisation quickly becomes overwhelmed by her role as a guide through the scenic and spatial shifts of the journey. She converts to an avatar and fairly blank foil against which the computer generated mayhem can unfold.
Part of the 'blockbuster formula' for 'Looking Glass' is the adoption of the kind of barrel-rolling script where unclear action is the suspense. Our heroes are on a mission through perilous, yet scenic, realms! Of this we can be sure, as well as that Alice is busy trying to save her friend, the Mad Hatter. Bobin makes Time, an actual character played by Sacha Baron Cohen, her antagonist in this pursuit. This depiction of time as a man is only a momentary curiosity, however, since it is such a literal, canned version of Lewis Carroll's wondrous surrealism. It's also, unfortunately, about as topsy-turvey as this looking glass world manages to get.The visual realisation of the characters is the highlight of the film, with the looks of Time, the Mad Hatter and the Red Queen (Helena Bonham-Carter) likely to be memorable. The film is full of back-story for these latter two characters, making it another palette for Burton's favourite quirky actors. They are both more than adequate in the film, but seem to have played similar roles before, as well as the actual roles. In fact, with all the characters making a return, there are no surprises with the performances. Wasichowski as Alice is strong and intriguing when given the chance, and Anne Hathaway as the White Queen is again a gorgeous floating goth.
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The Mad Hatter is given much fuller characterisation in this film than in the books and – strangely, given his CGI eyes and fright-wig – does seem more like a 'real man'. So in their project Burton, with Bobin and returning screenwriter Linda Woolverton, have been a success. However, sacrificed in this portrayal is the wordplay and metaphorical magic of the books which made them companions to so many of us for life.
'Alice In Wonderland 2: Through The Looking Glass' is in cinemas 26 May.
★★1/2
