Alice in Wonderland: Behind the Mirrors

After her fantastic experiences in Underland, Alice Kingsleigh (Mia Wasikowska) has spent the last few years seeking great adventure in her world as well. She has taken over her father's inheritance and sailed her ship across the seven seas. Back in London, however, she finds that her entire existence is threatened and that the future she dreamed of will not be possible. But she doesn't have long to worry about that. Because suddenly she's back in the Underland, where her good friend the Mad Hatter (Johnny Depp) is not doing well at all. In order to help him, Alice must seek out Time (Sacha Baron Cohen) himself to get the Chronosphere from her, which will allow her to travel back in time. There, she is then to save the Hatter's family. But time won't let anyone change the course of events and the evil Iracebeth (Helena Bonham Carter) also wants to prevent Alice from succeeding with her plan at all costs. For she has her own plans for the Chronosphere, to finally become the sole ruler of Underland once again.

The children's book Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Caroll, first published in 1865, has had an enormous influence on a wide variety of fields, from literature to theatre, art, music and even psychology. Of course, the medium of film has also repeatedly taken up the motifs of the story and its sequel, either directly or indirectly. Well over thirty film adaptations exist to date, with Disney's 1951 animated film and Tim Burton's 2010 3D spectacular arguably the most successful adaptations. The latter managed to gross over $1 billion at the box office worldwide, so a sequel was really only a matter of time. It quickly became clear that Caroll's second Alice book would not be used as a template, as this only consists of rather loosely connected episodes that cannot be adapted as a major cinematic adventure. Now, with Alice in Wonderland - Behind the Mirrors, a story has finally been found that can stand on its own two feet, but can certainly live up to the spirit of Caroll.

This time, the director is James Bobin, who successfully revived The Muppets in cinema in 2011. True, visually Bobin sticks closely to the style Tim Burton established in his film. But otherwise, he tries to put his own unique stamp on this sequel. And that does the colorful fantasy adventure real good. Instead of a rehashed copy of the first part, the audience gets a real sequel here, which brings back all the popular characters of the predecessor and puts them into a whole new story. This may not be particularly original, but it can be quite convincing for long stretches. However, there are some aspects that don't quite want to work.

So some aspects of the story have an episodic feel to them. Taken on their own, these parts of the film are successful, but they don't really coalesce into a coherent whole. The best example of this is a scene where Alice briefly returns to her world. While this sequence is very fun, it is completely unnecessary to the story itself. Moreover, it's staged in such a rushed manner that it loses all grip on the already somewhat shaky plot construct. It's moments like this that tarnish the enjoyment of this otherwise successful sequel a bit. It's thanks to the many small details, the good effects and the good-humored ensemble that Alice in Wonderland - Behind the Mirrors works so well in the end. Especially Helena Bonham Carter and Sacha Baron Cohen, whose accent in the original English version sounds a lot like Werner Herzog, steal the show from the other actors again and again.

Even if the finale is a bit cloying and the story gets lost in trivialities from time to time, James Bobin has succeeded in creating an entertaining fantasy adventure for the whole family that doesn't have to hide from the first part. If you liked Tim Burton's Alice, you should definitely take it to the Land Behind the Mirrors. Worth seeing

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp