Regardless of it being low budget and it looking pretty cheap, still saw 'The Other Side of the Mirror' anyway being a fantasy and film fan, loving to death the story of 'Alice in Wonderland' for as long as can be remembered and being intrigued by the concept of turning a popular story on its head, giving it a darker edge.
'The Other Side of the Mirror' does nothing with its potential and is a terrible film in every way in its own right. That 'The Other Side of the Mirror' is a source material abortion is the least of its problems for a film not intended to be a straight up adaptation. It's just depressing to see a story with lots of colour and magic and deliciously eccentric characters stripped of all of that and looking and sounding amateurish in all senses on top of that. Definitely among the worst of my recent film viewings and quite far down on a personal least favourites list.
Its problems are numerous and redeeming qualities are none and it is hard to know where to start with the criticism. 'The Other Side of the Mirror' looks really cheap for starters, with settings and colours that look more dreary and drab than vibrant and inviting. The effects look like they were constructed as an afterthought and like badly out of date video game quality. The photography and editing are haphazard at best, while the direction shows no flair, sense of drama or making the story make sense, it's barely there.
One of its biggest problems is the music score, which has been panned for very good reason. One of the most annoying and tonally and placement inappropriate music scores there is, and one that is balanced so poorly with the dialogue and actor's voices. Being constantly intrusive, really unappealing to the ears and completely at odds with what's happening. It takes me a lot to feel nauseous, get a headache or feel my ears and teeth go on edge listening to a music score, the one here did all of those things and to intolerable effect.
Script and story are also major debits. The script is incredibly childish and lacking in cohesion, when one can actually hear it, and never entertains, intrigues or provokes thought. The story has no sense of wonder or magic and takes an overly serious approach to the story while having cheesy and unintentionally funny moments galore. It's also very sluggishly paced, never comes to life and is rather aimless, almost plot-less in many places.
Characters are completely stripped of anything to make them memorable, no distinct personality traits to set them apart or make one interested or engaged by them. One would be hard pressed to find a blander Alice. The acting all round is awful and barely rehearsed, nobody has enthusiasm or subtlety with many lumbering and others chewing the scenery to pieces that it gets exhausting. The character interaction is random and dull, like the cast were picked off the street and that the filming was where they had seen each for the first time.
Summarising, dreadful in every way imaginable. 1/10 Bethany Cox