Why 'Alice Through the Looking Glass' failed
While I thoroughly enjoyed Disney’s Alice Through the Looking Glass, movie audiences did not embrace the fantasy film and for good reason. Through the Looking Glass didn’t find its story. It wanted to be a story that redeemed the Red Queen and made her actions seem more reasonable. Alice goes through time to learn about how the Queen of Hearts came to be who she is, but instead of engendering any kind of good feelings for the Red Queen, the audience gets to dislike not just the Red Queen as an adult but also as a child. The audience also gets to dislike the White Queen as her childish actions and her refusal to own up to them at any point in her adult life make the Queen of Hearts, at least partially, who she is.
Obstensibly, this time travel is undertaken to save the Mad Hatter and his family, and it is told from Alice’s point of view. These two things combine to make the story of redemption and forgiveness untenable and unrealistic. It is a situation that goes against the internal logic of even Alice’s Underland, and while audiences are willing to suspend disbelief for any amount of tomfoolery a fantasy will throw at them, they will not sit for a story that goes against a world that has already been set up.
Maleficent can be redeemed because she has been given her own movie from her point of view. It showed her in a place of tenderness where she saves the child Briar Rose, and it ends with her being put again in an empathetic place. The Red Queen gets her apology and says that is all she ever wanted, but she retains her spoiled brattiness when the credits roll and she starts another fight with the White Queen.
Movies fail and succeed based on their ability to stay true to their characters. Through the Looking Glass fails because it forgets the personalities of its characters and does not allow the Red Queen to be a likable character as a child. It needed to choose one story and follow that line. The Hatter needed to be his funny self. The Red Queen needed to be a bore, or if redemption was really sought for her, she needed be likable as a child. You can’t redeem someone who wants, and has the power, to lop off people’s heads.
Obstensibly, this time travel is undertaken to save the Mad Hatter and his family, and it is told from Alice’s point of view. These two things combine to make the story of redemption and forgiveness untenable and unrealistic. It is a situation that goes against the internal logic of even Alice’s Underland, and while audiences are willing to suspend disbelief for any amount of tomfoolery a fantasy will throw at them, they will not sit for a story that goes against a world that has already been set up.
Maleficent can be redeemed because she has been given her own movie from her point of view. It showed her in a place of tenderness where she saves the child Briar Rose, and it ends with her being put again in an empathetic place. The Red Queen gets her apology and says that is all she ever wanted, but she retains her spoiled brattiness when the credits roll and she starts another fight with the White Queen.
Movies fail and succeed based on their ability to stay true to their characters. Through the Looking Glass fails because it forgets the personalities of its characters and does not allow the Red Queen to be a likable character as a child. It needed to choose one story and follow that line. The Hatter needed to be his funny self. The Red Queen needed to be a bore, or if redemption was really sought for her, she needed be likable as a child. You can’t redeem someone who wants, and has the power, to lop off people’s heads.