As part of the 3rd annual Vulture Festival, yesterday Regal Cinemas Union Square hosted an advanced screening of Alice Through the Looking Glass. Though the sequel is more visually arresting, the performances and plot feel muddled, not worth the six-year gap between films.
Johnny Depp, Anne Hathaway, Helena Bonham Carter, and now Sacha Baron Cohen all star in the Alice franchise. With a heavyweight cast such as this, there are inherent expectations for it to be at least somewhat watchable. The performances aren’t bad, it simply feels like the actors are doing the best they can with the material they’ve been given. Hathaway’s White Queen feels overly delicate and forced and Depp’s Mad Hatter is barely in the film for more than 15 total minutes, during which he drifts into long winded soliloquies about how much he misses his family. Sacha Baron Cohen as a personification of Time is the only true standout, managing to balance the sheer ridiculousness of his character with a more tempered disposition towards the anti-climatic finale.
These performances would without a doubt have benefitted from a complete overhaul of the script. The lines feel stilted and a little too morally preachy, even for a children’s movie. The ending is predictable to the point of being boring. The message of Alice Through the Looking Glass seems to be the same as the first film, with a vague coating of feminism laid over top. In the first movie we already saw Alice break free of society’s expectations and follow her own path. In the sequel we see her doing this again, just in a different manner. Alice now captains her late father’s ship and leads a crew of burly men out to sea in what is seemingly supposed to be a feminist message. Her ability to control the manliest of all men isn’t anti-feminist, but simply having a woman try to be “one of the boys” isn’t the way anymore in 2016. Alice instead could be leading a ship full of women of varying backgrounds and socio-economic levels on these adventures, but instead she is shown simply doing a “man’s work.”
Most of Alice’s friends in Underland are also male, save for the White Queen, and Alice shows disdain at all women who seem to enjoy their lives as housewives and gentlewomen. It is this lack of understanding when it comes to other women that is a truly the problem with Alice Through the Looking Glass’ brand of feminism. It’s subtle enough that it doesn’t draw attention initially, which is almost more dangerous. With young people, especially girls, being the ideal audience for the film, it’s sad to think that the film’s version of feminism involves dismissing the women around you that aren’t on the same path. The transformation in Alice’s mother and her newfound desire to become an independent business owner redeems these faux feminist messages by a fraction, but overall the feeling of girl power falls flat.
The film’s highlight is the visual spectacle of it all. The 3D element lends itself well to the immersive feel of the film. Instead of feeling overpowering–like many films that feature a variety of jump scares and elements that assault your personal space do—Alice Through the Looking Glass utilizes the 3D aspect to add dimension and texture. Each scene really is stunning with rich color and wide shots that show the full scope of each new setting. What really feels special is the costuming by the legendary Colleen Atwood, who has designed for both film and television for over 30 years. When removed from the somewhat messy context of the film itself, her costuming is truly the work of a master in both visual interest and technical functionality. Atwood was in attendance at the screening and The Knockturnal was there to hear her talk all things design. Check back tomorrow for a full summary of the discussion!
-Cara Best
