Parents' Guide to Alice Through the Looking Glass

Visually stimulating but uneven, this sequel owes a debt to Burton's trippy original but lacks cohesive narrative other than to explain the origins of Hatter's sadness and the Red Queen's head. The Mad Hatter is especially reduced to a grieving, unstable phantom of his previous self, leaving poor Depp with little to do other than make alternating sad, hopeful, and cheerful eyes at Alice. Alice is still plucky, but now there's an edge to her, like when she angrily tells her mother that she hopes never to end up like her. And the supporting players so beloved in the first film make only brief appearances, while Cohen and Carter chew up the scenery.

James Bobin does his best to conjure the same whimsical fantasy land that Burton did the first time around, but the tone in Alice Through the Looking Glass is dark, uncomfortable, and slightly underwhelming. There's some humor, usually courtesy of Cohen, but otherwise this is a tale of a family lost and two sisters torn apart by a flimsy, childhood lie. Alan Rickman's absence is noticeable, although his voice makes an appearance at the beginning of the story. And although Wasikowska is quite luminous and talented an actress, the movie is entertaining but not the extraordinary adaptation that Carroll's work deserves.