[SPOILERS] Nerdyviews: Alice Through the Looking Glass

Salutations, Nerds! Last night, I was fortunate enough to attend an advanced screen of the sequel to 2010’s live-action adaptation of Alice in Wonderland. Thanks again to my dear friend Kevin for the passes 🙂

*** NOW ENTERING THE REALM OF SPOILERS. THERE’S STILL TIME TO TURN BACK ***

Next time, go straight to the pretty

If you’re expecting a visual spectacle of grand proportions, you will not be disappointed. The entire film is fantastical eye-candy with a side of time travel… I mean puns, time puns 😛

But if there was one crack in the sugary coating of Alice Through the Looking Glass, it would be pace. The first thirty minutes or so felt rather tedious (barring the kickass pirate chase at sea). And I’m not entirely sure if it was the script or the editing, but there were a couple scenes disjointed and ones that I felt ended rather abruptly. Go figure that this movie would have problems with timing…

The best people are bonkers

The magical characters that populate the equally magical world created by Tim Burton were dazzling as always.

Say what you want about Depp, but he completely embodied the Hatter. I felt his pain of not being good enough in his father’s eyes, his betrayal that nobody believed him when he said that his family was still alive, and the joy when Alice returns to apologize for not having faith in him.

The entire story arc and relationship between Hatter and his father was handled with such heart. From a young Hatter presenting his first hat to his father, the realization that his father kept his son’s creation, Hatter finding his family in the Red Queen’s ant farm (the hat reveal in the dirt was clever) which culminated in the reunion of the Hightopps. Call me a sap, but it made me so happy.

Photo credits: Disney via Nerdist.com

It’s about Time

I thought Baron Cohen was rather delightful as Time. He played him as slightly dimwitted and yet still deeply philosophical at the same time. *womp womp* Yes, there were a lot of time puns in the film. Yes, most were stupid. I didn’t care. I laughed out loud for every single one.

Photo credits: Disney via MoviePilot

And I also really adored Time’s minions: the Seconds, Minutes, and Hours (so aptly named) particularly the stray, inept Second (the true hero of this movie).

Photo credits: Disney via EW

Time delivers one of the most beautiful lines in the movie along the lines of, “You can’t change the past, you can only learn from it.” And it plays a rather big part in Alice’s journey back to Underland, her relationship with her mother mirroring Hatter’s relationship with his father, as well as the origins of the Red Queen.

Owww for her head

Speaking of the Red Queen (yay transition), we get a glimpse into the origins of Iracebeth and her sister, Mirana’s origin stories and how the Red Queen became who she is. I personally didn’t care much for their backstory as I felt more emotionally invested in the Hightopps.

Help my eyes are leaking

I should be mad at the film for cutting the proverbially onions multiple times. Here are the moments in no particular order.

• Hatter’s motley crew of friends huddling together, knowing that they were trapped and were going to be frozen for all of eternity. My heart could not handle.
• Alice telling Time her father would have liked him and Time lamenting he was nobody’s friend.
• Hatter and Alice’s goodbye.
• Hearing Alan Rickman’s voice.

It’s utterly poetic that Rickman’s final role on screen would be that of a magical butterfly. I only wished we could hear more.

Photo credits: Disney via Nerdist.com

Rach gives Alice Through the Looking Glass: a couple of Seconds, a few scary Minutes, and a kickass Hour out of five Chronospheres.

‘Til next time (haha, I crack myself up),
Rach