Disney is currently riding high after a successful opening weekend for their Jon Favreau directed live action Jungle Book reimagining. It’s a steady climb after the success of Maleficent and Cinderella, and Disney will certainly be hoping that will continue to build with the release of Alice Through the Looking Glass.
The sequel to 2010’s Alice in Wonderland, directed by Tim Burton, Alice Through the Looking Glass once again sees Mia Wasikowska in the eponymous role of Alice, finding her way back into Wonderland. This time though, instead of curious exploration, Alice finds herself locked in a desperate battle to save her dearest friend, the Mad Hatter (Johnny Depp) from Time himself. Ahead of the film’s imminent release, an international trailer has dropped online and can be viewed, above.
Alice Through the Looking Glass is not directed by Burton; this time around, that honor falls to James Bobin (The Muppets, Muppets Most Wanted), while Burton serves as producer. Along with Wasikowska and Depp, returning cast members include Helena Bonham Carter as the Red Queen, Anne Hathaway as the White Queen, Alan Rickman as Absolem the Blue Caterpillar, Stephen Fry as Cheshire Cat, and Michael Sheen as the White Rabbit. New cast additions include Sacha Baron Cohen as Time, and Sherlock‘s Andrew Scott as Alice’s Doctor.
Fans of Alice in Wonderland will be pleased to note that Alice Through the Looking Glass still seems to have Burton’s touch all over it. In many ways, it appears darker than the first movie and certainly this trailer gives a strong hint of some scenes that might be quite frightening for younger viewers, which we haven’t seen so much in previous trailers. We pick up the story when Alice escapes the hospital she is being kept in (because she is prone to female flights of fantasy, folks), and Absolem, now a butterfly, begs her to return to Wonderland once more. The Hatter is in trouble, and only Alice can save him….only he doesn’t know who Alice is.
Given Cohen’s malicious turn in Sweeney Todd, it will be intriguing to see him playing the villain here, too. Let’s hope he can bring some of that chilling menace to this role because coupled with Bonahm Carter’s crazy Red Queen and Depp’s strange and almost ethereal Hatter, we could end up with something really great. Given Lewis Carroll’s brilliant, imaginative, and inventive stories, Burton seemed the perfect choice to bring them to the big screen under the Disney banner. Yet, Alice In Wonderland, though considered a box office success, wasn’t well-received by critics and did not seem to linger in the public consciousness for long. Can Bobin break the tradition of the sequel being weaker than the original and give Carroll’s characters the film they deserve?
Alice Through the Looking Glass opens in U.S. theaters on May 27th, 2016.
Key Release Dates
Alice in Wonderland 2
Release Date:2016-05-27
