Say what you will about Tim Burton’s much-maligned Alice in Wonderland, but at least it was recognisably an adaptation of Lewis Carroll’s timeless novel. James Bobin’s sequel, Alice Through The Looking Glass, feels more like a really bad piece of YA fiction.

There are the seeds of a genuinely interesting time-travel story dotted here and there, but they’re drowned out by shockingly shoddy green screen effects, cringingly bad dialogue and a cast that looks almost comatose. Only Sacha Baron Cohen – whose personification of Time has Lemmy Kilmister’s moustache and Werner Herzog’s voice – seems to be having any fun at all.

For a film which has its protagonist lament about “losing the wonder”, Alice Through The Looking Glass feels entirely devoid of it. It’s a soulless, cynical cash grab – nothing more.

RATING: 2/5

INFORMATION

CAST: Mia Wasikowska, Johnny Depp, Anne Hathaway, Helena Bonham Carter, Sacha Baron Cohen

DIRECTOR: James Bobin

WRITERS: Linda Woolverton (screenplay), Lewis Carroll (novel)

SYNOPSIS: Alice (Wasikowska) returns to the whimsical world of Wonderland and travels back in time to save the Mad Hatter (Depp).