People usually get the name wrong. If you’re searching for Alice in Wonderland 2, you are almost certainly looking for the 2016 film Alice Through the Looking Glass. It’s a bit of a weird situation. Usually, sequels just slap a number on the end and call it a day, but Disney decided to stick closer to Lewis Carroll’s original 1871 book title, even if the movie itself went in a completely different direction.
Honestly? The movie was a bit of a chaotic mess, but it’s a fascinating case study in how Hollywood tries—and sometimes fails—to capture lightning in a bottle twice.
The first film, directed by Tim Burton in 2010, was a juggernaut. It made over a billion dollars. It kicked off the entire trend of Disney turning every animated classic into a live-action CGI spectacle. So, by the time the sequel arrived six years later, everyone expected another massive hit. It didn't happen. The movie made a fraction of its predecessor, and critics weren't exactly kind. But if you look past the box office numbers, there’s a lot of weird, specific lore in this sequel that actually explains why the "Wonderland" brand eventually stalled out.
What Actually Happens in the Alice in Wonderland Sequel?
The plot doesn't follow the book. At all.
In the original Lewis Carroll text, the looking glass is just a portal to a world shaped like a giant chess board. In the movie version of Alice in Wonderland 2, Alice (played again by Mia Wasikowska) has spent her time being a literal sea captain. She’s traveling the world, breaking glass ceilings, and being generally badass. When she gets back to London, things are a mess legally, and she ends up slipping through a mirror back into Underland.
Here is where the movie takes a hard turn into "time travel heist" territory.
The Mad Hatter, played by Johnny Depp with perhaps a bit too much orange makeup, is depressed. He’s convinced his family is still alive, even though they were supposedly killed by the Jabberwocky years ago. Alice, being a good friend, decides the logical thing to do is steal a device called the Chronosphere from Time himself.
Yes, Time is a person. He’s played by Sacha Baron Cohen, and he lives in a giant clock.
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The Time Travel Logic Problem
The movie tries to do this "grandfather paradox" thing where Alice keeps going back to the past to save the Hatter's family, only to realize that you can't actually change what's already happened. "You cannot change the past," Time tells her repeatedly. "But I daresay, you might learn something from it." It’s a heavy-handed theme for a movie about a girl talking to a giant rabbit in a waistcoat, but it’s the core of the film.
Alice visits the Red Queen’s childhood. She sees the moment Iracebeth (the Red Queen) hit her head on a fountain, which caused her head to swell and her personality to sour. It turns out the "villain" of the first movie was basically just a victim of a sibling lie told by the White Queen.
It's a lot of backstory for characters we already knew. Some fans loved the depth; others felt it stripped away the "nonsense" that makes Wonderland feel like Wonderland. If you explain why the Red Queen is mean, she stops being a chaotic force of nature and starts being just another misunderstood antagonist.
The Visuals and the Absence of Tim Burton
One of the biggest shifts in Alice in Wonderland 2 was the director's chair. Tim Burton stayed on as a producer, but he handed the reins to James Bobin. Bobin did the Muppets movies, so he knows how to handle whimsy, but he has a very different eye than Burton.
The world looks brighter. It’s more saturated.
While the 2010 film felt gothic and slightly grimy, Through the Looking Glass feels like a neon fever dream. The clockwork aesthetic of Time’s castle is genuinely impressive, though. They used a lot of practical-looking gears and brass, which gives the movie a "steampunk" vibe that the first one lacked.
But here is the thing: without Burton's specific brand of "weird," the sequel felt a little more like a standard blockbuster. It lost that dark, unsettling edge that drew people to the 2010 version. The CGI is top-tier—this was a $170 million movie, after all—but it lacks a bit of soul.
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The Cast and the Final Performances
This movie is bittersweet because it features the final film performance of Alan Rickman. He voiced Absolem (the caterpillar turned butterfly). Hearing his iconic, gravelly voice one last time is a highlight, but it also casts a shadow of sadness over the whole production.
The rest of the cast returned, but you can kind of tell the spark was fading.
- Anne Hathaway as the White Queen is still doing that weird, floaty hand thing.
- Helena Bonham Carter is, as always, the best part of the movie.
- Johnny Depp was at a weird point in his career here, and his performance feels a bit like a "greatest hits" compilation of his previous roles.
Why People Think There is an Alice in Wonderland 3
If you go on YouTube, you’ll see dozens of fake trailers for Alice in Wonderland 3. Most of them use clips from Maleficent or other fantasy movies to make it look like a new sequel is coming.
The reality? It’s probably never going to happen.
Disney is a business. Through the Looking Glass was considered a "box office bomb." It made about $300 million worldwide, which sounds like a lot, but when you spend $170 million on production and another $100 million on marketing, you’re basically in the red.
Also, the story is pretty much wrapped up. Alice has reconciled with her mother, the Red and White Queens have made peace, and the Hatter is reunited with his family. There aren't many places left for the story to go without feeling completely forced. Unless Disney decides to do a "gritty reboot" in another ten years, the book is closed on this version of Underland.
The Lewis Carroll Connection: What Most People Miss
The weirdest part about searching for Alice in Wonderland 2 is that the movies have almost nothing to do with the actual sequel book Carroll wrote.
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In the book Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There, there is no Chronosphere. There is no quest to save the Hatter’s family. Instead, the book is a masterpiece of linguistics and logic puzzles. It introduces:
- The Jabberwocky poem (which was used in the first movie).
- Tweedledum and Tweedledee (who appeared in both).
- The Walrus and the Carpenter.
- The concept of the Red King dreaming the world.
The movie takes these iconic names and stuffs them into a standard Hollywood "save the world" plot. It’s a bit of a tragedy, honestly. There is so much weird, psychedelic imagery in the book that has never been put on screen properly.
If you're a fan of the lore, you'll notice the movie pays homage to the "Chess" theme by having the characters stand on a giant chessboard at one point, but it's just window dressing. The movie is an action-adventure film wearing a Lewis Carroll costume.
Looking for More Wonderland? Here is What to Do
Since we aren't getting a third movie, you have to look elsewhere for your "Wonderland 2" fix.
First, go back to the source. If you’ve only seen the movies, the book Through the Looking-Glass is genuinely weirder and funnier than anything Disney put on screen. It’s in the public domain, so you can find it for free online or at any library.
Second, check out the video games. Alice: Madness Returns is a cult classic. It’s much darker than the movies—think horror-fantasy—but it explores the "sequel" idea in a way that feels way more creative. It treats Wonderland as a manifestation of Alice’s trauma, which is a heavy theme but handled incredibly well.
Third, look at the 1999 TV movie version. It has an incredible cast (Whoopi Goldberg, Gene Wilder, Ben Kingsley) and actually tries to adapt the logic of the books rather than just the action.
Actionable Takeaways for Fans
- Stop waiting for a sequel announcement. Disney has moved on to other live-action remakes like Snow White and Hercules. There are no official plans for a third film.
- Watch for the "Time" metaphors. If you re-watch the sequel, pay attention to Sacha Baron Cohen's dialogue. Most of it consists of puns about time. It's actually the cleverest part of the script.
- Check the credits. The movie is dedicated to Alan Rickman. It makes the ending hit a lot harder.
- Ignore the "Alice 3" trailers on YouTube. They are all "concept" trailers (code for fan-made edits) designed to get clicks.
The legacy of Alice in Wonderland 2 is complicated. It’s a movie that tried to explain a world that was never meant to be explained. Sometimes, the nonsense is the point. When you start giving the Mad Hatter a tragic backstory and a family reunion, you lose the "madness" that made people fall in love with the story in the first place.
If you want to experience the true spirit of a sequel to Alice's adventures, put down the remote, pick up the 1871 novel, and try to wrap your head around the Red Queen's Race. It’s a lot more rewarding than watching Johnny Depp cry in orange face paint.