For Bobin, the situation is even more grim, as this particular film world is its aesthetic. Remember “Batman Forever”? Joel Schumacher tried to wiggle free from the groundwork of Burton’s aesthetic, but was ultimately unable to escape. Woe to the people who agree to direct the sequel to a Tim Burton movie, painted into a corner of bug-eyed gothic maximalism. Gaspar Nöe can only dream of creating such a perfect vision of hell.Īnd poor James Bobin, who’s powerless to fight back. If the Mad Hatter has lost much of his muchness, then the realm in which he lives still possesses much too much of it.

The place is still a garish kingdom of nightmares, like a server full of CG imagery melted onto the screen. Once again located somewhere between Narnia and “Jacob’s Ladder,” Underland hasn’t changed much since the last time we saw it. Alice follows Absolem through the liquid surface of the looking glass, and finds herself back in the psychedelic hellscape of Underland. It’s a tragic way for one of the greats to say goodbye, tragic enough that ignoring this movie entirely could be construed as a respectful tribute. As fans of the first film could tell you if they existed, this luminous insect is Absolem, and - for his brief appearance - he’s voiced by the late Alan Rickman in his final performance. Doofy aristocrat Hamish Ascot (Leo Bill), still bitter about how Alice rebuffed his marriage proposal in the previous film, puts the kibosh on the girl’s maritime career, and essentially forces her to choose between working in his mailroom or giving up her mother’s house.įrustrated by the grim realities of adult life, Alice once again retreats into her imagination, following a familiar blue butterfly as it flutters into a mirror in a back room of Hamish’s mansion. Stepping on to dry land, Alice discovers that Victorian England is not the most hospitable place for a young woman of grand ambition and fierce potential. Helmed by “The Muppets” director James Bobin, “Alice Through the Looking Glass” begins with the flaxen-haired heroine (a contractually obligated Mia Wasikowska) returning to civilization after a successful stint as the captain of a sailing vessel. Cannes Director Defends Johnny Depp’s ‘Jeanne du Barry’ as Opener: It’s Not a ‘Controversial Choice’

Alice through the looking glass book