Review: Alice Through the Looking Glass

-
The Hatter's the matter.

Alice (Mia Wasikowska) has just spent the last three years as a sea captain traveling the world. When she returns home, the man she refused to marry in the first time threatens to take her ship in exchange for her mother's house, and give her a measly desk job. While Alice frets over this, she's drawn through the looking glass back into Underland in hopes she can cheer up The Mad Hatter (Johnny Depp) who is dying of sadness as he believes his long gone family is now alive, and no one believes him. To help the Hatter, Alice must speak with Time (Sasha Baron Cohen) himself.

I'm one of the few that actually liked 2010's Alice in Wonderland. It wasn't the greatest film out there, but I've always loved the character of Alice and that movie making a billion dollars at the global box office was awesome. It's a shame that nearly all the cards are stacked against it this time around. (Whose idea was this to open it the same weekend as X-Men?)

Alice refusing to be slighted just because she's a woman is empowering. I appreciated that part of her story. I was a bit surprised on how the rest of the movie played out though. Time isn't a villain like the previews portray. He's just kind of an asshole who Alice literally steals from even though he tried to warn her. Then we have the White Queen (Anne Hathaway) having to come to terms with the fact that she's pretty responsible for the Red Queen (Helen Bonham-Carter) being the way she is. So both heroine's learn a big lesson. The ending was sweet, and fuck you, I may have came close to tearing up a bit. 

The visual effects are stunning. While the plot itself is all over the place and not exactly true to Lewis Carroll's story, the weirdness of it all is. I especially love the little metal "Seconds" working in Time's giant clock. They click together like Transformers to form minutes and hours. We didn't need this sequel. Most reviews are already shitting over it and it's bombing at the box office, but you know what? It's not that bad. For a film that doesn't even hit the two hour mark, I enjoyed it for what it was.

Recommended: Perhaps. (How's that for a rec?)

Grade: C+

Memorable Quote: "I came straight through the walls. Poof." - Alice (Mia Wasikowska)

Comments

  1. m.brownJune 4, 2016 at 1:39 PM

    Well, shit. I actually hated the piss out of the first one, but I'd be willing to consider this one after reading this.

    Hmmm...a dilly of a pickle, this is.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamJune 5, 2016 at 9:06 AM

      I imagine if you hated the first one you'll probably hate this one too. lol

      Delete
  2. BirgitJune 4, 2016 at 4:03 PM

    I didn't mind the first film and thought the sets were great and the colours. We shall see how this one will be since so many people really dislike Johnny Depp right now

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamJune 5, 2016 at 9:05 AM

      It's unfortunate, I think that's playing into a lot of the reason this film is failing at the box office and we don't even know if those claims are true.

      Delete
  3. Candice FrederickJune 4, 2016 at 10:10 PM

    I actually didn't mind the first film either! I'm going to check this out.

    ReplyDelete
  4. RuthJune 5, 2016 at 5:32 PM

    I haven't seen 2010's Alice in Wonderland so suffice to say I'm not that interested in seeing this. I think the only players I enjoy watching here is Helena Bonham Carter, she's always a hoot to watch.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamJune 6, 2016 at 11:22 AM

      They toned her down quite a bit in this one, which was a good move.

      Delete

Post a Comment

Thanks for stopping by, let's talk movies!
(comments are moderated to reduce spam)

Popular posts from this blog

Random Ramblings: The Radio Flyer Conundrum

-
Image
Recently, I was talking to someone about who I thought were the best child actors when I was also a child.  Two that really stood out to me were Elijah Wood and Joseph Mazello, and one film those two were in together was called Radio Flyer.  Then I was reminded about the uniqueness of this film. Instead of reviewing the film, I wanted to have an open discussion about the ending. It deals with a tough issue; child abuse. What I’ve noticed is the way that the film ends is interpreted many different ways, and the filmmakers never came forward to say what was right and wrong. I’m interested in hearing everyone’s opinions on it. How did you interpret the ending? Obviously spoiler alerts will follow.. For those of you who haven’t seen the film, the basic premise is this: Two young boys, Mikey (Wood) and Bobby (Mazello) move in with their single mother and her boyfriend, who refers to himself as ‘The King’. It doesn’t take long for The King to start physically abusing Bobby, and the
Read more

Indie Gems: Behind The Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon

-
Image
Passionate about your profession? I had never heard of this film until it ended up on one of Jason's favorite horror movie lists around Halloween. It immediately sounded interesting to me, so of course I threw it in my Netflix queue. (and if I'm just now watching it after adding it around Halloween, you know how ridiculous my queue is) Taylor (Angela Goethals) is a journalist who, along with a film crew decides to follow around a serial killer named Leslie Vernon. (Nathan Baesel) He plans on doing the typical slasher thing - getting a bunch of drunk teens in an abandoned house and knocking them off one by one. He gets advice from a retired serial killer, Eugene (Scott Wilson) and is threatened by a man who's on to him, Doc Holloran (Robert Englund) Taylor and crew are there capturing it all. Leslie Vernon is fucking hilarious to start with, and clearly very passionate about what he does. He tells Taylor all of his secrets and can barely contain his excitemen
Read more

Please join me in my Favorite Movie Titles Blogathon!

-
Image
Earlier this week I made a post where I ran through the letters of the alphabet with my favorite movie titles. There were a few people that suggested I turn it into a blogathon, and I've never done that before. So here goes nothing! Since this is my first attempt at a blogathon, it's all pretty simple, and it's hopefully a quick post that everyone can join in. Rules: 1) Going through the alphabet, list your favorite movie title beginning with each letter.  2) You don't have to necessarily  like the movie to use it's title.  3) Use the banner at the top of this post in yours. 4) Please have submissions in by Friday, May 30th*. (But I'll be honest, if you send them to me after that date, I'll still add them to my post.) You can either leave a link to your post in the comments here or tweet it to me, ( @ramblingfilm )  Thanks everyone! :)  *I had to move the date back a week due to Photobucket threatening me with bandwidth issues. But
Read more