MirrorMask
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Movie Reviews of MirrorMask
Movie Review: Breathtaking
Summary: 5 Stars
Helena, part of a circus family, wishes death upon her mother. A little later, her mom becomes extremely ill. Helena blames herself. On the night of her mom's major surgery, Helena has a dream where she goes to the Land of Light. There the Queen of Light is dying and can only be awakened with the charm (the MirrorMask). Helena decides to find the Mirrormask to save the Queen. With her companion, Valentine, Helena meets Orbiting Giants, creepy, hungry cats, and Monkeybirds. But the Queen of Shadow is after her too, because she thinks Helena is her daughter (the princess who stole the Mirrormask in the first place). Helena is captured and the Queen of Shadow makes her her own daughter. Meanwhile, the real princess (the anti-Helena) is in Helena's world wrecking havoc. She fights with Helena's dad, smokes, makes out with boys in her bed, and tears the Lands of Light and Shadow (which are actually drawings Helena has on her wall) down and burns them. Helena must get out from under the control of the Queen of Shadow, find the MirrorMask, figure out how it works, and switch herself and the anti-Helena back to their own lands before the anti-Helena destroys the world Helena is in.
This is a wonderful story of the relationship between a mother and daughter. As a daughter myself I related to the way Helena thought of her mother. When she's in the Land of Light her "mother" is good and loving (which is how she sees her mom when she's in the hospital). When she's in the Land of Shadow her "mother" is possessive and suffocating (which is how she sees her mom at the beginning of the film). I beleive all girls see their mom's in this duel fashion of good mom/bad mom. We hate the "bad, possessive mom", but would do anything for the "good loving mom". As we mature we realize that mom isn't the only duel personality here. Helena (the good, sweet girl) has an anti-Helena (the rebellious brat) just as every teenager has. Both want independence and maturity, but Helena gains it by giving of herself in search of the MirrorMask, while anti-Helena tries to gain it by taking away from others. Selfless vs. Selfish which is what all teens (and really all humans) deal with. This is a theme anyone can understand if your honest with yourself.
The look of the film was great. It was like being in a painting and a dream at the same time. The dreamworld was unsaturated, with a cyclinder around the picture. It was like an old silent film the way it flickered and the cyclinder look. The CGI was absolutely wonderful. If you hate everything else about this movie, you'll love the way it visually takes your breath away. It's worth putting it on mute and just watching.
The Special Features are interesting. The writer and the director talk about their own history and the film. You get to see how they made the Monkeybirds and Orbiting Giants. And the actors talk about the film. My favorite was actually the Question and Answer because it was pretty funny.
This one to watch by yourself, with family, or with friends (particularly those who are fans of fantasy and Jim Henson).
Movie Review: Full-fledged and True FANTASY
Summary: 5 Stars
The medium of film is--like the medium of writing or other celebrated media--practically limitless in potential for fantastic creations. However, the fantasy (NOT SCI FI) genre is severely underrepresented in it. For every Lord of the Rings, we have ten attempts at The Matrix.
But what better alchemical mix to straight-up fantasy can we have than Neil Gaiman, Dave McKean, and the Henson Company? One thing Henson could do with his puppets that many others never really aspired to do was create fantasy the likes that weren't really done again, and his legacy lives on, using the enriching and creative mind of Gaiman, the celebrated British fantasy writer and comic book artist whose vivid imagination was so perfectly translated into film using practically every chemical for fantasy possible: CGI, animation, painting, set design, split-screen, superimposition, saturated colors, I even think there were moments of stop-motion animation.
The story is about a fifteen-year-old girl named Helena who works for a circus. Her creative and artistic mind keeps her busy from day to day until her mother falls ill and has to go to the hospital. Blaming it on herself for a row she had with her mother, Helena "escapes" into dreamland... or does she?
I think what's really refreshing about this film is that, despite what a lot of people say about it, it's NOT that much like Alice and Wonderland. I can't help but think that, despite the fact that this film uses a lot of tropes common to the fantasy genre, it's distinct and original, something to be admired and appreciated. I don't think anything in this film really came off as that cliched, even though it did come across as familiar. It might even be possible to say that anybody who has a real problem with it is just taking it too seriously, but that argument always goes in the wrong direction so forget about it.
One of the things I think that's important about a film like this is that it's not really a kids movie. Children could watch it, easily, and be fine with it, but it's not directed just to them. It isn't really directed at a target audience in the genre sense. It is simply fantasy for fantasy's sake, going where a lot of filmmakers seem desperate to avoid because "It's just not real enough." That's why, despite the fact that this movie has pretty obvious CGI, it doesn't matter as much as the obvious CGI in The Hulk: it's so fantastic, it helps that it doesn't seem real.
Too bad it just won't get the marketing or the attention it deserves, probably ever. That's why if it's ever considered a classic at all, it'll be a cult classic. Such seems the destination of many things that dare to be what they want and not what others want them to be.
--PolarisDiB
Movie Review: The embodiment of a cult film
Summary: 5 Stars
Going in to see this movie, I had absolutely no expectations. All I knew about this movie was that it was written by one of my favorite writers, Neil Gaiman.
Now, every kids dream is to run off to the circus, right? Well, this story is the complete opposite. This is a story of a young girl, Helena, who wants to get away from the circus that her parents run and just live a normal life. Frustrated by her situation, she has an argument with her mother and basically blurts out that she wishes her mother were dead. Well, that very night just before her performance, her mother collapses and is rushed to the E.R. At the hospital her mother is diagnosed with a brain tumor (presumably) of which she will need prompt surgery for. Naturally, Helena is consumed with guilt and blames herself for the situation.
That night, Helena falls asleep and has the most bizarre and intricate dream a young girl can have. The thing is, for the most part she knows she's having a dream the whole time, so she's actually able to control some of the situations that happen. It's not like Alice in Wonderland where Alice is oblivious to the fact that she is indeed dreaming the whole time. The most amazing thing about this film is it totally makes you feel like you are in her dream with her. Nothing makes sense in the dream world she's in, just like nothing does in real dreams. The whole dream she is having is very symbolic. Helena (in the real world) is very artistic and imaginative and her drawings transfer over to her dream making up the scenery. In her dream, she must combat `the dark side' or the Bad Helena. Bad Helena is essentially in the real world while Good Helena is trapped in the dream world. Bad Helena is loosing her innocence and purity of childhood. She acts out, dresses punk, has boys in her room, and is basically rebelling. Bad Helena's final connection to her childhood is to rip up all her drawings, which is actually the keyhole to the dream world that Good Helena is in. Good Helena needs to figure out a way to stop her in time.
The visuals in the movie are just amazing. Naturally, this movie did not get rave reviews by the critics. It's very artistic with a bit of a meddled plot. The thing is, to me that's how it should be. Who has ever woken up from a dream saying `that dream made complete and perfect sense to me'. No. People always wake up from dreams saying `I just had the weirdest dream'. Dreams aren't supposed to make sense. This is a movie about a dream, so to me, it shouldn't make perfect sense.
This will be one of those cult classics that may be an aquired taste.
Movie Review: "You're going to need a net!" - Stephen Fry, Librarian
Summary: 5 Stars
Ok, I read all the other reviews here (over 130!) and noticed either Jubilant enthusiasm, or random distaste... I wonder about that, because I thought the film was astounding.
It is a coming of age (burgeoning adolescence) fantasy story and it has its predecessors (Wizard of Oz, Alice in Wonderland, etc.) but no one would say not to try telling that story again, because it is based on an archetypal tale of a characters search for themselves (mirror and mask are both powerful symbols for the search for the true self!)
Some people said the visuals try to tell the story, and the plot is shallow because of it... Well, remember that Gaiman and McKean are coming from the world of graphic storytelling where visuals ALWAYS move the story along, with the writing assisting. An example of this is shown where Helena looks at one of her drawings with fish all moving in one direction towards a center, and then turns around and tells Valentine they are going the right way... No explanation needed, the fish are indeed floating by them in one direction as she is talking.
Other people (who didnt like the film) felt that the Jim Henson studios should be ashamed to have been a part of this after producing The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth. My response to that is why? This is yet another fantasy story told with extreme care and the talent is extraordinary, and I would argue that this film is above the quality of those films, albeit with a different artistic guiding hand (the beautifully surreal Dave Mckean).
I also didnt see much talk of the music and sound effects of the film in the other reviews... The music was really excellent, and the sound effects were equally so... There are some amazing soundscapes throughout the dream sequences...
Without going into any more plot points, I wanted to say I agreed with the reviewer who said the dream logic of the film was necessary since we were in a dream for most of the film... No one can accuse Neil Gaiman (creator and writer of the Sandman (dream) series) of not knowing how dreams work.. He is an expert on writing in dream logic.
So one final thought... If we attack originality in film (which this most definitely is) how do we hope to escape the mundane work generated on a weekly basis from the major studios???
Movie Review: Like one of Dave McKean's paintings come to life
Summary: 5 Stars
With Gaiman's impressive storytelling ability and McKean's dazzling eye for design, a movie wasn't completely unheard of - it makes sense that they would do this as McKean's artwork has always been very multimedia oriented, mixing photography with drawing and painting. He continues this approach with Mirrormask but also throws in CGI animation and music into the mix.
As you would expect from a Gaiman/McKean production, it is very visual and rather non-linear in nature with a light façade but underneath lurks a darkness that is the hallmark of their collaborations. Every frame looks like a work of art, like one of McKean's paintings come to life. There is so much to look at (like a landscape filled with red, spiral staircases) and it is a densely visual film much like a waking dream. Even though, at times, you may not know what is going on exactly, you trust that Gaiman's storytelling abilities and McKean's visuals are going somewhere. This is a smart, visually stunning movie that fans of both these men's work will love but it is also accessible to those not familiar with their work.
There is an audio commentary by director Dave McKean and writer Neil Gaiman. This is a decent if not unremarkable track that is okay but missing that special something which comes as something of a surprise from such articulate, entertaining guys like Gaiman and McKean.
"The Making of Mirrormask" is an eight-part making of documentary that can be viewed in its individual segments or altogether. Jim Henson's company was interested in following up films like The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth with another original fantasy film and felt that Gaiman and McKean were the perfect team to do it. The cast talk about what drew them to the project and their impressions of McKean. The highlight of this doc is Q&A sessions Gaiman and McKean did at the San Diego Comic Con and at a Sundance screening. They are charming and witty as they talk about how long it took to shoot the movie, what was its inspiration and so on.
Finally, there is a "Poster and Cover Art" gallery that features various designs and concepts by McKean that is simply amazing to look at.