Review of MirrorMask (2005) by Allan C — 31 Aug 2015

I wildly unique vision from director Dave McKean. The film features a script from author Neil Gaiman and tells the tale of a girl wanting to run away from the circus for a normal life and then finds herself in a transported to a magical and highly surreal world where she gets caught up in a battle between good and evil.

The film was produced by Jim Henson Studios and is somewhat along the lines of "Labyrinth" and "The Dark Crystal" in the sense that they are all dark children's stories, but this one is particularly dark and probably better suited for adults or teen audience.

Like director McKean's artwork, the film is a mixed media pieces, featuring live action actors, animation, puppets, practical and also digital special effects. The end result is a visual feast and highly original, I honestly don't think I've seen anything like this before or since in terms of the film's look and style.

That alone makes this film worth watching, but when you have a dreamlike story from Neil Gaiman it's something that's essential viewing for fans of this type of story. however, I will say that this film is not nearly as audience friendly as something like "Labyrinth" and is not doing to appeal to most audiences.

I'd say this film is probably for people who enjoy stories and films from people like Clive Parker, author Gaiman, or the Brothers Quay. I do feel the visuals overpower the story somewhat, or maybe it was that the story wasn't as strong as the best of Gaimain's work, but either way, I found the film utterly compelling to watch.

Beautiful, frightening and quite original! And my favorite part of the film had to be a creepily beautiful part of the film where automatons sing Burt Bacharach's "Close to You.".