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Film #20 of "Scavenger Hunt #3" Challenge!
Task #14 : A film about/featuring a circus!
letterboxd.com/naughty/list/scavenger-hunt-3/
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The exquisite wickedly dark visuals were so breathtakingly beautiful I forgave the extremely weak story and dialogue! I also loved it for best use of the Carpenter's tune "Close To You" in a motion picture film ever!

Director Dave McKean is an artistic genius! He's also a nincompoop for allowing an inferior script to sabotage this visionary masterpiece!

The perfect fantasy world to let yourselves get lost in!
Pure Eye Candy!

Neil Gaiman Films Entry #1

A bizarrely charming "Wonderful Wizard of Oz"/"Alice in Wonderland" style film written by Neil Gaiman. The story follows a young girl transported to dreamlike world where she's coveted by an oppressive mother figure (Gaiman explored similar themes in his book "Coraline" which was adapted into a fantastic film). The film's visuals by director Dave McKeanare switch from dreamlike to nightmarish on the fly. Stephanie Leonidas carries the film convincingly as a teenage Helena despite being in her 20s. A tantalizing escape down the rabbithole film for kids and adults alike.

A critic's thoughts:

Lisa Schwarzbaum of Entertainment Weekly gave the film a rating of A-, saying that the film is a "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)" and that it "has something to astonish everyone."

Despite being a fan of both Gaiman and McKean I never got on with this adaptation. I was hoping a rewatch, after seven years, would have changed my opinion but unfortunately it just reinforced my original view.

Mirrormask is a twisted fairytale and coming-of-age story that captures the distinctive visuals of Dave McKean (who also directs). Unfortunately, the blend of live action and CGI is a strange and unconvincing mix that often looks quite ugly. For all its visual invention the story is incredibly straightforward, despite the quirky diversions, but it fails to engage on any emotional level whatsoever. The actors also seem to struggle against the green screen backgrounds and interacting with CGI characters too. For those that do like the film you may also like a film called, Taxandria.

Neil Gaiman is one of the most creative writers out there. I have read all his books, comics and watched everything based on his work. This film is, by far, my favourite Gaiman based work. This mainly has to do with the matching of Gaiman's incredible fantasy to the visual art of McKean.
Now, there is a lot of evidence here that this is a first time effort at a full-length feature film. The pacing is off and it has structural problems, but it doesn't matter one tiny bit. It is visually stunning, original and in certain scenes completely unique.
This is Gaiman's Alice in wonderland and he, as always, delivers a truly original story with memorable characters.
So if you love fantasy and can appreciate visual flair, you should defintely check this out!

The best illustrator makes movie ... yahooooooooo!!!!!
Soooo guddddd🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿

a slightly underwhelming story with a few little gaps but great visuals! i love the visuals!

- I can see Neil Gaiman and Amanda Palmer squealing with delight at the macabre circus bullshit. it's all just nonsense for the sake of it.
- shitty ugly cgi
- blurry fuzzy light
- this is like low budget tv quality
- Jim Henson was known for practical effects, puppets, and costumes. his name should not be on this.
- honestly, I thought the scenes in Brighton, England were the most interesting. that cool looking apartment building.
- oh and the ravens wearing big red monk robes.
- ugh... these steam punk doll heads are mechanically dancing to a musicbox chamber music cover of The Carpenters "they long to be close to you" .... kill me

Despite a script by Neil Gaiman, a unique art style, production by The Jim Henson Company and a host of familiar British faces (or rather voices lost beneath the outlandish creations) MirrorMask is a largely impenetrable mess that soon gets tiresomely repetitive. Viewing it is about as entertaining as watching someone else play a self-consciously arty computer game.

Love this funky little movie

Simply enchanting, one of my all-time favourites

I watched this again last night. I love this movie for the atmosphere, I feel like I grew up on it as I watched it a lot in my...teens? Neil Gaimon and Dave McKean are the writers, the visuals are very Neil Gaimon-y. I love Stephanie Leonidas as Helena, she's spectacular. I haven't really seen too many movies where the people feel like real people to me. Anyway, she grew up in a circus and wants to "run away to real life" but her mother thinks she can't handle real life. Then her mum gets sick and it's very alice in wonderland-y, just give it a watch, it's worth it.

Pretty much a beat for beat Labyrinth for the 00's except in place of charming (M)puppets and David Bowie, its largely souless bad cgi.

Alice in Wonderland with a gothic twist.

MirrorMask's plot is convoluted at best, but the cinematography, while very dated, is a marvel. The effects in the fantasy world remind me of an old PlayStation1 game, with the sphinxes and the stone giant.

The real life scenes have some very cool camera work, using lines found in the world to divide the screen into two halves, almost like a mirror. The symbolism behind the cinematography is apparent from the very beginning.

The music is very charming and curious, yet unnerving. Almost like a horror movie for children. Many of the songs are very plucky and melodic with hints on disillusionment that I can't help but be drawn in by.

While MirrorMask is by no means a masterpiece, it is well worth your time.