MirrorMask

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

This dazzling reverie of a kids-and-adults movie, an unusual collaboration between lord-of-the-cult multimedia artist Dave McKean and king-of-the-comics Neil Gaiman (The Sandman), has something to astonish everyone.

Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow

Mirrormask is a gorgeous psychedelic cameo of a movie.

The Hollywood Reporter James Greenberg

If "The Wizard of Oz" were reborn in the 21st century, it might look a lot like MirrorMask. A product of the Jim Henson laboratory, the film is endlessly inventive with creativity to burn.

Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer

At best, Helena's wiggy adventures recall such Jean Cocteau films as "Orpheus" and "Blood of a Poet." At worst, they resemble the Vegas act of Cirque du Soleil.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

Though the story meanders, the film's look is nothing short of breathtaking.

San Francisco Chronicle Walter Addiego

Richly inventive.

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

Not everyone's cup of tea, but a strong, heady brew.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Tasha Robinson

Episodic, detached, and lacking in drive, but packed with amazing, hallucinatory dream-imagery that makes real dreams look flat by comparison.

Dallas Observer Luke Y. Thompson

The movie combines drawings, photos, hazy filters, superimpositions and computer effects into a pastiche both beautiful and disturbing.

Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov

If you're not already smitten with all things Gaiman, you may well find yourself, like Helena, a stranger in a strange land.

New York Post Kyle Smith

Too strange and disjointed to attract much of an audience, but its astonishing visuals showcase a major new talent: first-time feature director and book illustrator Dave McKean.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen

The surreal visuals are relentless, overpowering the narrative much as they do in the frames of comic books (sorry, graphic novels).

Empire Helen O'Hara

A truly unique fantasy, McKean’s screen debut is tangled but promising.

Film Threat Heidi Martinuzzi

What it makes up for with sheer visual magic it lacks in coherent plotline.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Paula Nechak

What remains is a sumptuous-looking film that sniffs at but ignores deeper Freudian implications.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

The narrative is simplistic and lacking in energy, and the characters are sketched instead of fully formed.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

Watching MirrorMask, I suspected the filmmakers began with a lot of ideas about how the movie should look, but without a clue about pacing, plotting or destination.

Chicago Tribune Allison Benedikt

It's hollow.

LA Weekly Ella Taylor

Crafted by hand and computer, Mirrormask is as breathtakingly beautiful to behold as it is tedious to slog through.

New York Daily News Jami Bernard

Like many dreams, you won't remember it when you wake up. The style obliterates any emotional attachment.

Chicago Reader J.R. Jones

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.

Los Angeles Times Kevin Crust

The teenager's journey through a nightmarish reverie presents hallucinogenic imagery that simultaneously dulls the senses and hot-wires the imagination, but it never fully engages emotionally.

The New York Times Stephen Holden

Astonishing and frustrating, the fusion of live action and computer animation created by the Jim Henson Company in MirrorMask is an example of too much lavished on too little.

Variety Scott Foundas

Emerges as an overproduced novelty pic that looks and feels more like a company promo reel than an engaging piece of storytelling.

Village Voice Michael Atkinson

The film galumphs along in static panels, prioritizing flash over thought, hyperextending a story that would barely sustain a children's picture book.

Boston Globe Ty Burr

Aggressive visual invention is rarely its own reward, and this movie does nothing to better the odds.

Washington Post Desson Thomson

So single-minded in its reach for fantasy, it becomes the genre's evil opposite: banality.