The movie is also devoid of both jokes and whimsy, a problem when the whole set design is built to surround both. Director James Bobin, who was so fun in the two recent Muppet movies, is completely overwhelmed by the proceedings here, giving the movie no rhythm or forward propulsion the movie just sort of flops around, waiting to get started until it finally begins to wait to end. In the first film, Tim Burton at least brought with him his old weirdness, as familiar as it has become by now. The story is rote and grinding, and this time, there isn’t even as much visual flair.
The gimmick for this movie is time travel, the last refuge of the desperate sequel. It’s a movie no one asked for that never works up the energy to justify its existence. No one looks like they want to be there, no one is quite sure what they’re supposed to be doing, no one appears to have shown up for anything more than a paycheck and some extra time in the trailer reading scripts for movies they’d much rather be doing. The sequel to 2010’s Alice in Wonderland-a movie that made a bunch of money, but is remembered by few and beloved by no one-feels as obligatory and perfunctory as any movie I can recall in years. I don’t remember the last time I saw actors more dispirited and bored than in Alice Through the Looking Glass. Actors should be enjoying themselves up there, or at least finding themselves challenged. The late Gene Siskel used to say that whether or not a movie was good could be determined by a simple test: Is the movie more interesting than a documentary of the actors having lunch? I never quite understood this calculus-it’s possible Gene Siskel had more interesting lunches than I do-so a better test for me is whether the actors on screen seem to be enjoying themselves, are they engaged ? Making movies, appearing on screen to be adored, getting to play make believe for a living, it’s the dream for millions of people, and these are the special few who get to live it.
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