SummaryMirrorMask is the story of Helena, a fifteen-year-old girl working for her family circus, who wishes -- quite ironically -- that she could run away from the circus and join real life. (The Jim Henson Company)
SummaryMirrorMask is the story of Helena, a fifteen-year-old girl working for her family circus, who wishes -- quite ironically -- that she could run away from the circus and join real life. (The Jim Henson Company)
Strange yet beautiful film. I love the look, the music, and the story. I enjoyed this movie a lot more than Pan's Labyrinth (which was also strange yet beautiful).
While I was searching for a movie that would keep my interest just like the other ones in a library, I stumble upon this one known as MirrorMask. At first, I thought it was gonna be strange and awkward...
Boy was I wrong.
It caught my very interest and I think I'll write the plot in which we already know about. It tells about a 15 year old girl named Helena who works at a circus with her family and wishes to live in a real life. Suddenly, she finds herself transported into the Dark Lands with Giants, Monkeybirds and Sphinxes and must find the MirrorMask to save the kingdom and return home.
When I watched it twice, everything that this movie throws totally blew me away. The premise about a young girl who gets transported to a magical fantasy land and is sent on a mission to find the MirrorMask to save the princess and get back to her own world was very interesting. The acting was magnificent, The visuals were creative and astounding, the scary moments were satisfying, and the CGI effects were solid and very unique.
There are two problems with this movie however. 1. The fast pacing and 2. The tiresome minute length MirrorMask is a very good fantasy movie from famous author Neil Gaiman and it has a darker tone to go along with it. Thumbs Up.
8.8 out of 10
Like the recent Japanese import "Steamboy," this is worth seeing for the artwork alone, but it's so furiously overimagined it may leave you feeling dulled.
The visuals are just fantastic at times and feel a bit like watching a surrealist painting come to life, but I was pretty underwhelmed other than that. Tries to be clever and charming but comes off silly and dull. Probably would have been a good candidate back in my college days when we'd light up and watch a visually trippy flick with the sound off and play equally trippy music instead.
Very theatrical, almost stage-like and a visual treat, though Gaiman's writing is as derivative and formulaic as ever. The star of the show is seeing Dave McKean's artwork in motion.
With Jim Henson's name attached to it, I was very curious to see "Mirrormask". After having seen it, I was very disappointment. While the Tim-Burtonesque scenery was very original, the sub-par (for 2005) CGI made it look like a mediocre computer game which took away much of the magic this film could have had. Stop motion or the typical Henson style puppets could have saved this film, however for some reason (budget?) they did not pick that option.
Besides that, the main character had little personality and her behavior was not believable for someone trapped in a surreal nightmarish dream world. The plot wasn't really compelling either and the ending was just lame. Besides that, for most of the film I was wondering how long it would take until it's over and that's usually not a good sign.
"Nightmare Before Christmas" was a wonderful surreal and dark little story that captivated the hearts of many viewers and "Mirrormask" tries to be something similar but unfortunately it failed at many levels.