Alice Through the Looking Glass: Pure Visual Art

Yesterday I saw Alice Through the Looking Glass, and I must say that it’s pure visual art. If you know Tim Burton’s movies, you already know that you’re set up for an explosion of visual art on the big screen. He didn’t get short of it, and the story didn’t flop. Alice must save the Mad Hatter, she must save Wonderland, and for that, she has to trick Time. But can Time be tricked?

One of the things that I love the most about this movie is that it’s telling us to live our lives to the fullest beside the people we treasure. Not only that, but it also teaches us that the only limit here it’s ourselves! We are the ones to set our limits; we’re the jail and the prisoner at the same time!

[SPOILER ALERT: if you read beyond this part, you’ll find out spoilers. If you haven’t seen it yet, and if you don’t want to know more than you should stop here. Otherwise, keep going, friend.]

A significant difference from Alice in Wonderland, at least for me, is that I loved characters that were quite unexpected: Time and the Queen of Hearts. Okay, I liked the Queen in the previous movie, but now I love her more! As with all things Wicked or Villains, there must be a reason why they are as evil as they are. And so, we find out that Time, the thief of seconds and minutes isn’t that evil; and that the Queen of Hearts is evil because a trauma she had from childhood. (Nope, I won’t tell you what happens here, sorry, I won’t spoil that part for you.)

Alice is an adventurous young woman who is fighting stereotypes and Victorian society. She is a badass young woman who wants to do more with her life than just marry and have children. In this movie, she has to battle against time to save her friend the Mad Hatter and herself! While the Mad Hatter might be facing death, she is facing another type of death: the one that traps you in a box you don’t like. Even if her mother seems to be strict, we end up having the two women reconcile. Thanks to the Mad Hatter and his quest to rejoin with his family, Alice learns that we must treasure each moment with those we love.

In this movie, we discover that why the Mad Hatter is always taking tea (blame Time here), or why the Queen of Hearts hates her sister so much. “Nobody loves me,” she says again and again while screaming “off with their heads!” As Alice travels through time, we discover that the Mad Hatter had a very strict dad who wanted him to be perfect and less creative; that the Queen of Hearts was once a lovely young child and that her sister used to tell lies!

However, the thing that made me be the most emotional of all was the dedication of the movie at the end credits: to Alan Rickman. When I listened to his voice, it was like fresh air. As you know, he gave the voice to one of the characters. However, it was when I saw the dedication at the end credits that I cried a little. Okay, okay: I cried. Alan Rickman will always be Snape for me, and reading this dedication after his death was heartbreaking. His voice is one of the few I like: profound and precious. [I’m picky with voices.]

Alice is a badass female character, the Mad Hatter a good friend you want to keep by your side, the Queen of Hearts a misunderstood villain and Time, a gorgeous man. Things are not what they seem. Remember that from Wonderland. Also, remember that Time isn’t a thief, but the one that gives you moments of happiness and opportunities that you must grasp. Only you set the limit to yourself. Only you can decide what’s impossible.

We’re all mad here…
It’s no use going back to yesterday, because I was a different person then…
Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast…
Have I gone mad? I’m afraid so, but let me tell you something, the best people usually are…
You’re not the same as you were before,” he said. You were much more… muchier… you’ve lost your muchness…