MirrorMask
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Movie Reviews of MirrorMask
Movie Review: Flirting with inclusion in the all-time 100 best list.
Summary: 5 Stars
MirrorMask (Dave McKean, 2004)
All hail MirrorMask, and just after you're done, spend some time wondering why on earth this film didn't get much wider distribution. Just having the names of Sandman collaborators Neil Gaiman (Neverwhere) and Dave McKean (his feature film debut) would seem to imply a pretty good drawing power at the theater, and its run on the American art house circuit was-- given that it played on a grand total of forty-one screens in America in its widest release-- an unqualified success. And yet, if you lived outside the "selected cities" you always hear about in TV commercials, you never got the chance to see it until it popped up on DVD. Well, now it's on DVD, and I cannot recommend strongly enough that you see it at you earliest opportunity.
Helena (Benath the Skin's Stephanie Leonidas) is fifteen, the child of a husband-and-wife team who run a circus. She's tired of the itinerant lifestyle and wants to settle down. Just after she and her mother, Joanne (Gina McKee, recently in The Divine Secretsof the Ya-Ya-Sisterhood), argue, Joanne collapses and is rushed to the hospital. The night the doctors have some exploratory surgery planned, Helena wakes up from a fitful sleep and finds herself in another world, where she and her newfound companion Valentine (Beyond Re-Animator's Jason Barry) have to save the world from sliding into dissolution.
McKean, who's well-proven his wide-ranging and dramatic artistic vision with the graphic novel Cages, takes things up a notch here. I was expecting something as somber as Cages or the more somber moments of Sandman, but MirrorMask isn't it; it's far jauntier than I expected from Gaiman and McKean, with liberal touches of whimsy in among the pervasive darkness. It's your basic quest storyline done up in the most wonderfully visually arresting of ways. As a cult kids' flick, it's certainly on the level of, say, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory; about the closest adult analogue I can come up with is The City of Lost Children, with a dash of Dark City for good measure. McKean has created an adventure tale that is in every way impressive. See this. **** ?
Movie Review: Wow, Just Wow
Summary: 5 Stars
Wow, just wow. This movie is spectacular, and along with "Junebug" a frontrunner for my best of 2006 movie list (based on when I first see movies, usually on DVD). This is written by Neil Gaiman, and if you like his writing you'll definitely want to see this. Well, you will if you also like his writing for children, a category into which this falls. Luckily for me, my favorite Gaiman work is his children's novel "Coraline", which I absolutely love, so loving this movie is not a stretch.
The real strongpoint of the film is it's fantastic artistic direction, which is beautiful and very original. There is some good humor in the film as well. I particulary liked when the main character's sidekick is trying to get the giant floating creatures, who speak very slowly, to talk faster. I really did laugh out loud.
The movie itself received very mixed reviews. But I can't understand how anyone couldn't like this. OK, maybe not love it as much as I do, but to dislike it as much as some critics--all I can do is shake my head. Roger Ebert didn't like it, but I'll quote his cohost Richard Roeper, "It's so beautiful and so different and has such a unique feel to it." But it's interesting to note that an all-time favorite of mine, "Labyrinth", of which this is reminiscent at times, also got very mixed reviews when it came out. If you liked that one, you'll probably enjoy this as well.
The lead actress, Stephanie Leonidas, is very good, and quite beautiful as well. As Richard Roeper notes in his review, she reminds him of a young Helena Bonham-Carter, definitely one of the most beautiful actresses in the world. I'd note that Ms. Leonidas is a little more exotic looking, and a little darker of complexion, due to her probably Greek background (I'm guessing from her last name). Once she gets a little older--she's 21, though playing an unnamed younger age in Mirrormask--and gets a little more film work in, I suspect I'll add her to the most beautiful actress list too.
Movie Review: Visually incredible! Best of the genre!
Summary: 5 Stars
I'd never heard of this movie until I found it on Amazon. I'm a big fan of Labyrinth and I love the genre, so when I found Mirrormask I bought it on a whim. What a great surprise! For me it surpasses Labyrinth (and I know many people who would consider that sacrilege), but it really does. This is probably the most visually revolutionary movie I've ever seen. Absolutely beautiful. That said, there is some truth to the accusation circling in other reviews that the movie is all visual with a weak plot. The plot is fine and makes perfect sense, but it's not a screenwriting masterpiece by any means. But that's really just characteristic of the genre. Labyrinth had an even weaker plot that made even less sense. In fact, Mirrormask's story can actually be very poignant at times with it's parallel narrative of a girl's struggle with her mother.
Mirrormask is one of those movies I could watch every other day and not get sick of. I know because that's pretty much what I do. Kinda sad. But I just LOVE this movie like no other. And that's another good point to be said about it. It really has a certain watchability that doesn't fade each time you see it. Not sure that made sense. Let me put it this way. You can watch it many times without getting sick of it. This is largely because the movie is so visually compelling rather than story-driven. Watching Mirrormask is like listening to your favorite music. You don't get sick of it. Mirrormask really is an experience. Watching it really is more like listening to great music than watching a movie.
All this said, Mirrormask has become my favorite movie to watch. Again and again and again. If you like this genre of movies at all, you will LOVE this movie. I would also recommend Gulliver's Travels (the one with Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen), Labyrinth (Jenn. Connelly and David Bowie), and The Dark Crystal (but less so). Anyway, you should really give Mirrormask a chance. You will really be pleasantly surprised.
Movie Review: A Wonderfully Bizarre Fantasy
Summary: 5 Stars
A weird, wacky, visually-stunning masterpiece, MirrorMask, like most Neil Gaiman fare, is perhaps an acquired taste.
A wholly unique take on Alice in Wonderland and the Wizard of Oz, it's the story of Helena Campbell, a British teenager whose parents run a circus. At first, Helena would like nothing more than to escape to real life; but then, after a terrible argument with her one night, her mother falls ill. The night of Joanne's surgery, Helena finds herself wondering through a bizarre new world; it's a world of opposites, of light and dark, one precariously balanced between them. But the balance has been upset; the Queen of Light has fallen into a deep slumber, and shadows from the Darklands are threatening to consume everything. The City of Light's only hope lies in Helena and her tagalong sidekick, traveling performer Valentine (who insists that he is a very important man, because he has a tower), finding the MirrorMask, a mystical Charm that can wake the Light Queen and restore balance between the kingdoms. Helena is sure at first that it's all just a dream, inspired by her many drawings, but as she carries out her quest, she is less and less sure. And as she catches glimpses of her world through windows, she realizes that terrible things are afoot there as well.
If the story is not the most original, it's not meant to be. It's still intriguing, and the visuals are brilliant and wacky, and the acting is fabulous (particularly the two leads, Stephanie Leonidas and Jason Barry).
While the story is the archetypal journey of Alice discovering that no matter how dull or irritating real life can be, it's still home, the world Gaiman and McKean have created is more wild and imaginative than anything Alice ever saw in Wonderland. As bizarre as it is beautiful, wonderful as it is weird, it's a trippy journey through a dark and fascinating dreamland.
Movie Review: Mirrormask
Summary: 5 Stars
Mirrormask
by Neil Gaimon and Dave McLean
Book Review:
This original Novella is Helena's tale, written by master storyteller Neil Gaimon and accompanied by original art by Dave McLean and images from the film; it is a stunning and magical journey. Spoken in Helena's own voice, it has colour, wit and good continuity.
Within the first two pages the book has the reader totally enthralled and Dave McKean's illustrations create a scene which is enveloping.. The master storyteller Helena is a part of a circus group whose mother is taken to hospital and is supported and protected by other members of the group which increases her worry, her tension and her fears for the future.
Helena's adventure is built around a dream into which she is absorbed. She is a performer in a travelling circus which makes enough money to survive (at times) and when Helena's mother is taken to hospital and with her mind filled with worry, her dreams take over her fears, imagination and thoughts of the future. She would really like to have a life that is normal but in her dreams the nightmare gets tangled with the Mirrormask. This is a mask which gives the illusion that there are more customers than really are present
Some of the characters in her dream help her while some hinder her way. After many adventures Helena awakens and "With the Mirrormask on, I can see everything.and the White Queen (her mother who has been ill ) opens her eyes"
Mirrormask is a beautifully written, well structured, imaginative story which provides a challenge to the imagination of all of it's readers.
This is a 5 star book and will bring much pleasure to its readers.
Reviewed by Tom Hampstead author of the soon to be published "The Kingdom of the Two Great Houses"