Nothing is sacred anymore, but there really should be limits — even for Disney. "Alice Through the Looking Glass" is the sequel to Tim Burton's somewhat disastrous "Alice in Wonderland" (2010), which is where they really should have drawn the line. I regret to report that things in Wonderland have gotten considerably worse since Alice's last excursion down the rabbit hole. Lewis Carroll, who is credited here as one of the writers (the other is Disney's prolific in-house scribe Linda Woolverton), is likely turning over in his grave to look for a stiff drink.
Between director James Bobin and Woolverton, almost every trace of Carroll's original story has been burned to the ground. In its place is a plot of female empowerment themes and fairy-tale whimsy gone berserk. The result is a raucous, bubbling cauldron of confusion. My guess is that the higher powers at Disney decided it was time for a new line of "Alice" merchandise, Disneyland rides and attractions, so they approached Woolverton for something that would match their goodies.
There's something terribly awry about this "Alice," and you can see it from the very beginning. The titular heroine (Mia Wasikowska), who at 19 years old in the 2010 "Wonderland" was trying to dodge a marriage proposal, has now matured into a young woman with a full-fledged career as a sea captain. She even fights pirates in a sequence that could have been ripped straight out of a "Pirates of the Caribbean" franchise.