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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."

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!

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.

A very dark, wierd, underground movie. I think it was meant to be a modern take on the premise of The Wizard Of OZ, but the story wasn't very engaging, the CG was horrendous, even for 2005, and the visual style was so confusing to look at that I often couldn't make out what was even going on in the scene.

Forever my favorite film.

I'm guessing the work this is adapted from is much better. The one thing that kept my attention through the film was Stepehanie Leonidas. I thought she was pretty great as our main character.

Couldn't finish this, turned it off after half an hour. I love Dave McKean and Neil Gaiman but I can't stand that soundtrack and Helena is so unlikable.

I wanted to love this movie. Everything about it looks like something I would love. But it's so long and boring. It should have been a comic.

I feel like if this had come out in the 90s it'd have been a hit. Maybe.

Lacks a certain emotional depth needed for a story like this and unfortunately the live action bits are very ugly. The script reeks of unbridled Neil Gaimanisms that I feel aren't delivered with enough care.

Despite all that, it's still a very solid entry in to the Jim Henson fantasy arena. Everything is just creepy, whimsical, sinister, and drab enough to keep my inner Hot Topic goth happy.

Better as a visual movie than story driven one.

Stylish, quirky and beautiful visuals by Dave McKean, written by him and Neil Gaimen. It's very Alice in Wonderland/wizard of Oz but owes more to older tales I feel. If you have the DVD it's well worth listening to the Gaimen/McKean talk track.