Today's News: Muppet man off to Wonderland

Here's a Muppet newsflash! Well, not really, but it's the next best thing:

http://www.moviescene.nl/p/147579/the_muppets_regisseur_voor_alice_in_wonderland_2

One can question the sanity behind opting for an Alice in Wonderland sequel, but considering the first movie did very well a few years back (it's currently the 14th highest grossing film of all time), it's not surprising Disney feels confident it can squeeze a few more bucks out of us, the audience. Even though most people agreed it wasn't a great movie, desite being a Tim Burton flick. Bobin of course isn't a Burton, but at least he managed to make a really good Muppets film. If he can successfully pull off a film filled with the traditional Muppet zaniness, Wonderland shouldn't prove that much different. He'll just have to get used to trading in the puppets for the pixels. From a story perspective, we shouldn't expect too much. Alice in Wonderland by nature has always proved to lack a true story line, instead having the girl parade from one wacky situation to another. Burton and Woolverton did their best to make a coherent plot for the whole which ended in a fairly stereotypical battle between good and evil. It's likely this will be the formula used for the next installment too, though probably with another evil this time around. And possibly with another Alice as well, since Mia Wasikowska's stock has risen considerably since. The question naturally foremost on everybody's mind is whether Johhny Depp will once again be involved. I shouldn't think so. There's only so much you can do with a character like the Mad Hatter and the first film did it all. Re-introducing him would feel repetitive. Not to mention Burton isn't directing (for sure) so that's another deterrent for Depp's presence. It's most likely for the best, considering Depp's weirdo creations get more obnoxious the more often we seen them pulling off their silly stunts. After all, who isn't starting to get tired of Jack Sparrow's shenanigans by now?

In summation, in my mind there's little cause for Into the Looking Glass other than Hollywood making more money, so we should hope for little. In fact, I'm much more interested in The Muppets...Again! After all, their first movie (the reboot, that is) was much more fun than Burton's Alice in Wonderland, plus it at least has the benefit of the original director returning for more. It's time to play the music, it's time to light the lights. There's enough wonder left in the Muppets to make us forget all about Alice.