Alice Through the Looking Glass

I taped this for my four year old daughter, who is obsessed with the Disney version and was watching it twice a day if I let her. This was a charming, wonderful change. The actress playing Alice is fantastic, she is really like the character, even though she is an adult. I was shocked that she was also Darlene in "Brokedown Palace" ...she really can play a wide range. This movie is very aesthetically beautiful to watch. It's fun watching humans play the animals and picking out who is whom.

I really enjoyed this adaptation. It was far and above better than Disney's attempt to turn what is already a children's book into a 'kiddie' film. It was, with very few exceptions, very true to the book, despite the difficulties associated with converting Carroll's unique style to a screenplay.

Something I've always felt critical to adapting both Alice stories is her precocious nature. There is truly no way a child actor could handle the scope of Alice in any film. I thought moving the story to an older Alice was wonderful. And Kate Beckinsale's performance in that capacity was outstanding. She brought to life the very childlike innocence and naivete of Alice while dealing so very well with interpreting Alice's very opinionated, stubborn and whimsical personality. And visually, she fit the role perfectly. :-)

The quirky nature and self-interpretation in this film is a wonderful way to introduce children to a complex and bizarre children's story. I can only hope that it will be available on DVD someday.

As someone who has read the Alice book's over and over again (mainly as an adult) I have been consistently disappointed with adaptations, which always focus on the surreal story while ignoring most of Lewis Carroll's brilliant, hilarious jokes. But this version of Through the Looking Glass doesn't give us musical numbers or turn it into a simple children's tale (or, alternately, create a dark, satirical adult version) but instead gives us Lewis Carroll, faithfully. The logic-based jokes, the curious puns, the abrupt insults, are all intact and glorious.

The movie begins as Kate Beckinsale falls asleep while reading Looking Glass to her child and dreams of herself as Alice. To be clear, because this point seems to elude a lot of IMDB reviewers, Beckinsale is playing the 7 year old Alice of the book, not an adult version, and not a pretend-child version. Just an adult dreaming she's a child. While I was skeptical ahead of time, Beckinsale perfectly captures Alice's mix of wonder and bemusement.

The rest cast is consistently amazing and hilarious, particularly the two queens and the two Tweedles, who are hilarious as young toughs even if they do race through The Walrus and the Carpenter so quickly that they ruin most of its jokes.

The story has the dream structure of the book, and if you're looking for a sensibly plotted story that is not something you should expect from the Alice books. It's a dream, and if you're own dreams are less confusing than this one then you have a very ordered mind. Alice jumps from one episode to the next with little reason, and poems fly thick and fast, illustrated in a variety of imaginative ways.

While most of the significant parts of the book are there, there are some cuts and a surprising addition. The Red Queen's classic run through the garden with Alice is gone, as is the entire Lion/Unicorn section (which I'm surprised to see some people inexplicably consider the best part of the book), and some scenes are truncated. Which would be understandable as a time constraint if the movie hadn't added the bit with the wig, which was deservedly cut from the original book and adds nothing. This is the one serious mistake of the movie.

It's true, as some have pointed out, that the special effects are low budget, and if you prefer a visually striking adaptation that cuts out most of Carroll's wit there are many options. But if you want to see a true adaptation of one of the funniest and most imaginative books in all of literature, this is easily your best choice.

Highly recommended.

Clear yet subtle, funny and sophisticated in its apparent simplicity: an excellent rendition of Carroll's own quirky humor, and vastly entertaining. A fine cast, appropriate staging, and a literary pace combine to make this an outstanding film. Would that it were available on DVD!

Without infringing on the IMDb guidelines, can I just suggest that this film is a disappointing visualisation of the greatest book ever written? Lewis Carroll's masterpiece is too mercurial to depict - taken out of its literary context, its ideas, incidents and characters simply don't make sense. Its humour and traumas are literary and philosophical. The filmmakers fail to adapt forms, instead relying on swathes of dialogue.

Different film styles are used to try and disrupt normality, a la Carroll, but the incoherent script, uncertain acting and muffled diction only grate. There is no sense of narrative momentum (even if only to be subverted), and targets are missed because it is unclear what they are. Changing the book's view from that of a child to a woman renders the whole exercise redundant. Graver still is the unwillingness to trust the audience - the dream/reality ambiguity, crucial to the book's meaning, is too clearcut. The colours and set design can be extremely beautiful though.