Cast: Johnny Depp, Anne Hathaway, Mia Wasikowska, Rhys Ifans, Helena Bonham Carter,Sacha Baron Cohen, Alan Rickman, Stephen Fry, Michael Sheen, Timothy Spall.

Direction: James Bobin

Produced: Tim Burton, Joe Roth, Suzanne Todd, Jennifer Todd. 

Written: Linda Woolverton

Genre: Fantasy

Duration: 113 Mins*

Forget the books. In the Hollywood CGI-adaptation of a classic sequel, comes this garish one. The gaudiness is essential visual splendour in wonderland (also looking like Lady Gaga's dreamland) but the storyline is executed with the enthusiasm of an 8-year-old. That is not entirely a compliment in this regard.

Alice Kingsleigh (Mia Wasikowska) has made expeditions around the world and most recently in China. When we first see her, she is dressed in sea-worthy attire, directing her crew of men with questionable (but ultimately great) tactics in warding off an armed pirate fleet in the Straits of Malacca. The opening scene is the only one executed with some riveting bravado worthy of a fantastical Assassin's Creed adaptation.

It is 1875. She returns to her sunny London port, where she discovers that her ex-fiancé Hamish Ascot (Leo Bill) is making trouble for her. He has made a deal with her reluctant mother Helen (Lindsay Duncan), where the Kingsleigh family home will only be saved by selling Alice's ship to clear a debt. Alice escapes from the conflict of her life through the looking glass into wonderland (her "curiouser and curiouser" reference is noted). All is not well there.

The Mad Hatter (Johnny Depp) has gone madder still after stumbling upon a clue, leading him to believe that his Hightopp family may not have been dead like he thought for so many years. Alice, convinced that they are dead, decides to travel back in time to alter the past even as Time (Sacha Baron Cohen) sagely says, "You cannot change the past though I dare say that you can learn something from it." Not that Alice would listen to reason immediately. Clearly, the scriptwriters told her to keep a hold on logic for a while.

And so, the heroine skips her way through time to save the Hightopps in the Chromosphere, the extraction of which leads to chaos in Time's chamber. The special effects that follow remind of Pan and Jupiter Ascending. Never pleasing reference points.

Time, as a character, seems oddly clueless about who Alice is, considering his awareness of the past, present and future. Red Queen's (Helena Bonham Carter) constant shouty appearances do the irritation levels no favours. Mad Hatter's estrangement from his family seems forced, as is the constant sexism and feminism commentary being thrown around in generous measures. All the iconic characters remain underutilised. This, followed by an underwhelming climax.

Alice Through the Looking Glass is an exasperatingly saccharine journey through blunderland. You are better off not crossing over to the other side.