The distorted image

Ervell E Menezes

Lewis Carroll has had a great following in the past four decades, but director James Bobin’s effort to modernise it lends much scope for the FX men and they just grab; however nothing can replace a good story. Didn’t EM Foster say ‘the story is the thing’?

So we have Alice (Mia Wasikowska) finding things going quite wrong in Wonderland, which is after going through the looking glass. There’s Mad Hatter (Johnny Depp) acting madder than usual and other signs, so Alice decides to find out.

This means wading through a plethora of characters. There’s The White Queen (Anne Hathaway) who really doesn’t have much on her plate, but Time (Sacha Baron Cohen), half-clockwork, half-human, who acts as a time machine and a cutely wicked Red Queen (Helena Bonham Carter) make for amiable characters.

Linda Wolverton’s screenplay is decidedly weak and responsible for the long middle where FX dominates. Stuart Elfamn’s caressing camerawork does provide some relief, but may be a reduction in the number of cameos might have helped. Still, Tweedledum and Twedledee (Matt Lucas) did provide some dramatic relief.

Newcomer Mia Wasikowska does a fair job and cannot be blamed for not trying, but her skills are yet to be sharpened. She is overshadowed by veterans like Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter. The tried and tested Sacha Baron Cohen doesn’t have much scope and Anne Hathaway is totally wasted as the anaemic White Queen.
‘Alice Through the Looking Glass’ is quite disappointing.