Alice Through the Looking Glass Christian Movie Review (2016)

Guidance: Talk Together

This is a PG fantasy sequel with mild peril, some sharp insults, and a steady emphasis on self-determination. Christian families may want to discuss its messages about identity, authority, and the film’s confidence in human willpower.

Why This Guidance Level

This film sits in a moderate-discernment zone because the surface content is fairly light, but the worldview layer is more active than the PG rating alone suggests. The peril is brief and stylized, and the language stays mild, yet the story strongly centers self-determination, time as a hostile force, and the idea that belief in oneself makes the impossible possible. That gives Christian parents a few meaningful conversation points without making the film a major concern.

Faith & Worldview Perspective

The film celebrates courage, loyalty, and perseverance, and it gives real emotional weight to family love and loss. At the same time, it leans hard on personal willpower and self-definition, so parents may want to discuss how Christian hope rests not in mastering reality but in trusting God, who gives identity and purpose in Christ.

Truths Reflected

• Family loyalty and sacrificial love matter
• Courage and perseverance can be good virtues

Tensions to Discuss

• The film frames human belief and self-determination as the path to the impossible rather than dependence on God
• Identity is treated as something one asserts from within, which can sit uneasily with receiving identity from the Lord

Content & Discernment Markers

Occult & Spiritual Content

• Wonderland’s fantasy logic includes time-bending, strange transformations, and surreal characters, but occult practice does not stand out as a major feature. Parents may want to discuss the difference between playful fantasy and spiritual truth, especially since the film treats impossible feats as a matter of belief rather than God’s power.

Sexuality & Relationships

• Romance stays in the background. The main relationship tension is social and emotional, including Alice being reminded that Hamish married someone else and that her earlier rejection still hangs over the family business scene.

Identity Themes

• Alice is told she cannot be a ship captain or business leader because she is a woman, and the film clearly frames her resistance as admirable. The story also presses the question, “Then who will I be?” which makes this a good place to talk with children about identity rooted in God rather than in achievement or social approval.

Violence & Intensity

• The opening ship sequence has real danger as pirates corner the crew, the vessel nears shallow water, and the captain shouts, “Hold on, everyone! It’s too shallow.” The scene is tense but not graphic, and the peril stays in the adventure register rather than becoming brutal.

Language & Humour

• The dialogue includes mild insults and dismissive phrases such as “imbecile,” “idiot,” “stupid,” “bloody,” “vile,” and “ignorant peasant.” Parents may also notice playful wordplay like “Curiouser and curiouser,” which is harmless but sits alongside the sharper put-downs.

Other Content Notes

• The boardroom and family scenes carry strong emotional conflict, especially when Alice protests, “It’s not just a ship. It’s Father’s ship,” and her mother answers, “Everything I do is for you, Alice.” Parents may want to discuss how grief, duty, and family loyalty can be handled without losing truth or patience.
• Time is personified as a villain, with characters saying, “Time is a cruel master. Time is a thief. And a villain.” That gives the film a darker reflective tone than its bright fantasy setting might suggest.

Notable Moments

• Ship nearly wrecks: Alice’s captaincy is tested when pirates corner the ship and the crew shouts over the danger of running aground. The moment is exciting and tense, but it stays within family-adventure limits.

  “Hold on, everyone! It’s too shallow.”

• Boardroom rejection: Alice is denied work because she is female, and the board offers her a clerking job instead of the leadership role she wants. This is the film’s clearest gender-conflict scene and a key place for family discussion.

  “No other company is in the business of hiring female clerks. Let alone ship’s captains.”

• Time as villain: The film gives time a moral personality, turning it into a force that steals and harms. That adds a reflective, almost philosophical tone to the adventure.

  “Time is a cruel master. Time is a thief. And a villain.”

• Impossible things: The movie’s central motto ties success to belief in oneself, which is inspiring on the surface but also raises a worldview question for Christian families.

  “The only way to achieve the impossible is to believe it is possible.”

Discussion Prompts

• Identity and calling: What does the movie say makes Alice who she is, and how is that different from the way God gives identity?
  • Biblical guidance: Scripture teaches that our worth and identity come from belonging to the Lord, not from proving ourselves through achievement.
  • Scripture: Ephesians 2:10, 1 Peter 2:9
• Courage and dependence: When the film says belief makes the impossible possible, what is helpful about that idea, and what is missing from a Christian view of courage?
  • Biblical guidance: The Bible encourages courage, but it roots hope in God’s power and faithfulness, not in self-confidence alone.
  • Scripture: Proverbs 3:5-6, Philippians 4:13
• Family conflict and forgiveness: How do Alice and her mother speak to each other when they are hurt, and what would patience and forgiveness look like in that moment?
  • Biblical guidance: Christian families are called to speak truth with grace, forgive one another, and bear with each other in love.
  • Scripture: Colossians 3:12-14, Ephesians 4:29
• Time, loss, and hope: Why does the film talk about time as a thief, and where does Christian hope in Christ answer that fear?
  • Biblical guidance: The Bible acknowledges loss and passing time, but it points to resurrection hope and the lasting life found in Jesus Christ.
  • Scripture: 2 Corinthians 4:16-18, John 11:25-26