History Film / AliceThroughTheLookingGlass

** The plot-central is the Chronosphere, much like the ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRedAlertSeries'' and its own time travel technology with the same name.

* ShoutOut: The climax of the movie bears a striking resemblance to an episode of ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales1987'', in which Scrooge races to return a MacGuffin to its pedestal as the world behind him and everyone in it is turned into solid metal, and almost fails as he is changed just shy of the pedestal. Just replace the Chronosphere with a goose, and rust with gold.

* ButterflyEffect: If not for one child's lie none of it would ever have happened. [[spoiler: Mirana stole Iracebeth's tarts when they were children, and when their mother didn't believe Mirana did the deed, Iracebeth ran out in a temper tantrum, causing her to have a nasty run-in with a statue (it would have been a grandfather clock, but Alice averted that... [[StableTimeLoop causing her to run into the base of a huge statue instead)]], causing her head to swell to extremes. Years later, Iracebeth was about to be crowned, but her crown created by Tarrant quite literally exploded when they tried putting it on her still-swelling head. The court laughed and Iracebeth responded in anger. Her father the king then declared Mirana his heir instead, and she reluctantly accepted. Infuriated and out of her mind, Iracebeth declared vengeance on Mirana and the Hightopps, particularly Tarrant.]] And the rest, as they say, [[Film/AliceInWonderland2010 is history]].

** The behavior of all the attendants at the Mad Hatter's tea party, when Alice first met him as a child, takes a disturbing quality once it's revealed that [[spoiler:they were stuck in a time loop, forever one minute away from tea time, until the child Alice arrived to break the curse]].

** Everyone in Underland has a [[DeathsHourglass pocket watch]] and Time keeps the living sorted from the deceased. [[spoiler: The fact that there are no watches for the Hightopp family in the deceased category clues Alice in to the fact that they're still alive.]]

* ChekhovsSkill: Alice easily figures out how to pilot the Chronosphere due to her being skilled in sailing ships as a captain.
* ChildhoodBrainDamage: The Queen of Hearts used to be normal until she fell and hit her head as a child.

* ColorCodedForYourConvenience: As in the original film, Mirana and Irascebeth are represented primarily by white and red respectively. In the flashback scenes before their final schism, both sisters incorporate a lot more pink, showing their lingering connection. [[spoiler: This ultimately serves as foreshadowing for their reconciliation.]]

* CoolShip: The ''Wonder'', Alice's ship at the end of the first movie that reappears here. Also the Chronosphere, a spherical steampunk-like device that can shrink down into pocket-size and powers the Grand Clock of All Time. Time's chronal handcar could count, as its speed throughout the Ocean of Time matches that of the Chronosphere, and is much simpler to handle...aside from the obvious crashing.
* CosmicKeystone: The Chronosphere; it sits in the central mechanism of the clock and powers the entire structure. If removed it can be expanded into a time machine, but without it all of time in Underland will eventually stop working right and break down.

* DarkIsNotEvil: Time dresses in an ominous dark colored outfit and lives in a dark forbidding castle in the middle of a wasteland. Despite all of this, he is not evil in the least.

* DisproportionateRetribution: Several characters suffer from this, but the crown clearly goes to the "Queen of Hearts" even more so than in the original works. To wit: after ''years'' of being an utterly horrific person, when a crowd laughs because her head is so huge her crown breaks, one of the first things she decrees is that the next person who laughs will lose his head. [[FromBadToWorse She only gets worse from there.]]

* EvenEvilHasStandards: Iracebeth, for all her flaws and despicable deeds she committed, seems to have a profound dislike for lying. [[spoiler:This makes sense once it's revealed that Mirana's fib caused her tragic accident.]]

* FatBastard: Hamish has put on weight. Everything else he does in this film cements him solely in bastard territory.
* FreudianExcuse: Turns out there's a very good reason why the Red Queen turned out the way she did. [[spoiler: Mirana lied about stealing a tart and blamed it on her sister. Iracebeth ran away from the castle in tears and hit her head, which not only caused her head to swell but also did a bit of brain damage, which explains her speech impediment as well as her anger issues. And Mirana never told her parents what really happened. Then at Iracebeth's coronation, everything that could go wrong did - which caused her to have a temper tantrum, which made her dad disinherit her and make Mirana the heir instead.]]

** [[spoiler:The Ascots' solicitor leaves their employ and goes to work for Alice and her mom at the end.]]

* HappyEndingOverride: If anything, things have gotten worse for Underland and Alice during the interim.

* HistoricalInJoke: Possibly. This film shows us that the Red Queen's behavior became what it is after she suffered a head injury (and, it is implied, brain damage). UsefulNotes/HenryVIII famously had a hair-trigger temper similar to that of Iracebeth, but not until he was close to middle age; before that he was a boisterous but mostly good-hearted young man. During his marriage to Anne Boleyn, Henry experienced a traumatic jousting accident in which his horse rolled over over him. He suffered serious injuries to his head and leg. Several modern historians believe that the head injury caused some brain damage which altered his personality; additionally, the leg injury never healed properly, leading him to suffer chronic pain for the rest of his life, so the theory is that this accident is what turned him into the easily-irritated figure history remembers. It may be that Iracebeth's backstory is intended to be a reference to this theory. (Note the fact that Iracebeth dresses exclusively in Tudor-era style gowns.)
* HumiliationConga: Iracebeth's coronation. Not only does her tiara ''not'' fit, but it breaks and all of her subjects laugh at her, which causes her to have a temper tantrum and then her dad disinherits her in front of the entire kingdom.

** Pretty much every word that comes out of Time's mouth. Most blatant when he meets the past teatime gang.

** After [[spoiler: Alice saves Underland]], Mally, who spent the first movie complaining that [=McTwisp=] brought the wrong Alice, loudly exclaims that she "always liked that girl."

* ImpracticallyFancyOutfit: The Ascots' party is filled with all the Victorian CostumePorn one might expect, but Alice's incredibly ''colorful'' outfit really stands out. It makes sense when she explains to her mother that it's a replica of one worn by the Dowager Empress of China, but since no one else at the party is aware of this, they naturally make derisive remarks.
** Time's fluffy steampunk getup could count as well, even by Underland's standards. He has huge fabric pauldrons, a diagonally-topped fez-like hat, a necklace with gear detailing, and ''an addition to that'' with a large poofy scarf and cape, as well as a cool scepter that includes a small hourglass. [[LampshadeHanging The pauldrons prove to be his undoing in his introductory sequence, where he quite menacingly waltzes down a hallway... only to bump into a corridor that was, comically, shaped specifically for him.]]

* InsistentTerminology: Once he makes it clear just what a JerkWithAHeartOfJerk he's become, Alice refuses to address Hamish as Lord Ascot, as a way to demean him.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Time is quite rude to almost everyone, and somewhat vindictive at times, but he is essentially a good person who cares about the feelings of his underlings and [[spoiler:the well-being of all of Underland.]]

* LightIsNotGood: In a sense. [[spoiler:For all that Mirana is kind and gentle, not only did she lie about Iracebeth stealing the tart, but she never told anyone the truth, even during the coronation when confessing might have made the king reconsider disinheriting Iracebeth. She also never apologized for it until the end of the second film. It'd be fair to say that there's some selfishness and manipulativeness underneath all that sweetness.]]

* NoAccountingForTaste: Seriously, Time fell in love with the Red Queen ''why''?

* NoodleIncident: It's all but stated that Tarrant had a nasty accident with mercury since everyone else in his family is sane.

* OldMaid: Hamish, in retribution for rejecting his proposal, plans this fate for Alice, since she would have to give up her dreams of world travel and start over as a clerk, at 22. He thinks no man in his right mind would want to marry her at such an "advanced" age.
* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: Tarrant is abnormally calm and coherent as he tells Alice [[spoiler:why he believes his family is still alive]], proving how earnest he is about it. The contrast is reinforced by the simple gray suit he wears in the scene, as opposed to his usual colorful attire.
* ParentalSubstitute: [[spoiler:Time becomes this for Alice at the end; she even gives him a broken watch that had belonged to her father. Fitting, since one of its common personifications is Father Time. Time for his part wishes her well, forgives her for stealing the Chronosphere, and hopes they don't run into each other in the future]].

* PutOnABus: Not a word is mentioned of Alice's CoolBigSis, Margaret, even though they were implied in the first film to be fairly close.

* RichBitch: Hamish's wife Alexandra, "the new Lady Ascot," is every bit as much of this as her mother-in-law was shown to be in the first film. Dowager Lady Ascot, meanwhile, is implied to still be this - however, since she only has [[DemotedToExtra one line in the whole movie]], it's not as obvious.
* RoaringRampageOfRescue: Once the heroes realize what's really happened to the Hightopps, they launch one of these. Doesn't quite go as planned.

* AscendedDragon: The variant where the original leader is still alive and kicking, and TheDragon is only given the job temporarily. After Alice steals the Chronosphere, Time puts Wilkins in charge of [[spoiler: managing the collapsing Grand Clock]] while Time himself goes to chase after "the kindergartner" [[spoiler: and SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong]].

* NeverTrustATrailer: All of the advertising presents Time as the BigBad who intends to destroy Underland. [[spoiler:He's actually one of the closest things Underland has to a BigGood, being the guardian of the clock that keeps it running, and he's trying to ''save'' Underland from turning to rust by getting the Chronosphere back from Alice.]]

''Alice Through the Looking Glass'' is the sequel to Creator/TimBurton's ''Film/AliceInWonderland2010'', this time directed by James Bobin (''Film/TheMuppets''). Creator/MiaWasikowska, Creator/JohnnyDepp, Creator/AnneHathaway, Creator/HelenaBonhamCarter and Creator/AlanRickman reprise their role as Alice, the Mad Hatter, the White Queen, the Red Queen and Absolem the Caterpillar respectively.

* PlayingGertrude: Rhys Ifans, who plays the Hatter's father, is actually several years ''younger'' than Johnny Depp in real life. Also, Creator/RichardArmitage, who plays the White and Red Queen's father, is ''six years younger'' than Creator/HelenaBonhamCarter, his older on-screen daughter.