Absolem the Caterpillar, now an electric blue butterfly (in Alan Rickman's distinctive voice) has flown from Underland (Wonderland) to London with a message for Alice (Mia Wasikowska).

The Hatter (Johnny Depp) is not  himself.  She has to go back to Underland. Now. She is the only one who can save him.

Fortunately, Alice has just been back in London, from a year-long sailing trip aboard her father's ship the “Wonder,” for a few days and is ready for another trip. And Alice risks the end of time — literally — to save The Hatter.

She follows Absolem to a sitting room in a house not too far from her mother’s house, up onto the fireplace mantle to the mirror hanging there. The butterfly flies through the mirror followed by Miss Alice Kingsleigh, captain of her father’s ship, Wonder, soon to be heroine of the Hatter.

She arrives in Underland (Wonderland) and is greeted by all of her old friends — the Cheshire Cat, Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee, the White Rabbit, The White Queen, the Dormouse — who take turns telling Alice why the Hatter has lost his muchness. The Hatter has become reclusive, depressed, because he has just learned his family is dead.

White Queen Mirana (Anne Hathaway) tells Alice there is but one way to help the Hatter.

She must travel to the World of Time to get the Chronosphere that controls all — including the Great Clock of All Time. The special effects are awesome in this world — so is Sacha Baron Cohen as Time, and yes, he's heard all the time jokes before. Just ask Alice. Or the Hatter for that matter.

Hatter being Alice's dearest friend, she agrees to try to do as they've asked. To go back in time and change the circumstances that led up to whatever happened to Hatter's family. You see, the Underland characters cannot do it because they are from Underland, the very place Alice must go — they were in Underland in the past; for if your present self should see your past self, well, tick-tock … time's up – and not just for the person who's come face to face with themselves, but for everybody this side of the mirror.

Alice embarks on her journey by entering a grandfather clock, adroitly avoiding the pendulum (Phew!) and finds her way to the World of Time — a really far out place — and is found out by Time himself when she knocks something over.

Alice explains why she is there and why she needs the Chronosphere as quickly as she can in the one minute Time has given her to present her case. Alice pleads with Time to give the Chronosphere to her so she can save the Hatter by going back in time …

Time tells her she cannot change the past, although, if she did try she might learn something. He refuses her selfish request. Why, she could stop time. It would be the end of time.

Still, Hatter's heroine Alice does manage to steal the Chronosphere when none other than the Red Queen (Helena Bonham Carter) comes to visit Time. She sails through the seas of time, operating the Chronosphere like a ship. Again, the special effects are fantastic. Scenes from the past appear within the “perfect storm-sized” waves … time flies.

Alice finds herself going back and forth through time trying to get it right — timing is everything, you know — largely because there are other events that could be changed to alter the outcome for the Hatter's family, including what happened to the Red Queen that caused her head to grow so much larger than her body. Oh, and did I mention that Time himself is in pursuit of the Chronosphere and is following Alice?

Does Alice thwart time in time to save the Hatter from the dark curtain of depression that has closed around him? Does Alice find out what happened to his family and can she save them? And if not, when time ends on the Underland side of the mirror, does the opposite happen in “reality?” Does Alice's world become an … Underland?!

This film is very loosely based on the original story: it does involve traveling through and to other time dimensions, and all of the characters from the story are in the movie. This film, unlike it's dark predecessor (“Alice In Wonderland,” 2010), is wildly colorful and decidedly trippy.

But, what else would you expect from a story based on Lewis Carroll's “Alice” books? If you are a fan of “Alice” and the Wonderland story you'll enjoy the film — as I've said, the special effects and colors are very, very cool. It won't go down as the best film you've ever seen, but, it will be far from the worst. Of course, only time will tell …

“Alice Through the Looking Glass” is playing at The Harbor Theatre at 7 p.m. Friday, May 27 through Tuesday, May 31, at 8 p.m. on Wednesday, June 1. The Sunday, May 29 matinee is at 2 p.m.

 Excerpt from “Alice Through the Looking Glass,” by Lewis Carroll:

“In a Wonderland they lie,

Dreaming as the days go by,

Dreaming as the summers die:

Ever drifting down the stream -

Lingering in the golden gleam -

Life, what is it but a dream?”