Plot
In a fantasy world of opposing kingdoms, a 15-year old girl must find the fabled MirrorMask in order to save the kingdom and get home.
Release Year: 2005
Rating: 6.9/10 (12,967 voted)
Critic's Score: 55/100
Director:
Dave McKean
Stars: Stephanie Leonidas, Jason Barry, Rob Brydon
Storyline In a fantasy world of opposing kingdoms, a 15-year old girl named Helena who works at the family circus with her father and mother, who wishes--quite ironically--that she could run away from the circus and join 'real life'. But such is not to be the case, as she finds herself on a strange journey into the Dark Lands, a fantastic landscape filled with giants, Monkeybirds and dangerous sphinxes. She must find the fabled MirrorMask in order to save the kingdom and get back home.
Writers: Neil Gaiman, Dave McKean
Cast: Stephanie Leonidas
-
Helena
/
Anti-Helena
Jason Barry
-
Valentine
Rob Brydon
-
Morris Campbell
/
Prime Minister
Gina McKee
-
Joanne Campbell
/
Queen of Light
/
Queen of Shadows
Dora Bryan
-
Aunt Nan
Stephen Fry
-
Librarian
Andy Hamilton
-
Small Hairy
Simon Harvey
-
Sphinx
Lenny Henry
-
Cops 1-4
Robert Llewellyn
-
Gryphon
Eryl Maynard
-
Mrs. Bagwell
Eve Pearce
-
Future Fruit Lady
Nik Robson
-
Pingo
/
Bing
(as Nik Robinson)
Victoria Williams
-
Nurse
Rick Allen
-
Man In a Box
Filming Locations: Black Island Studios, Alliance Road, Acton, London, England, UK
Box Office Details
Budget: $4,000,000
(estimated)
Opening Weekend: $126,449
(USA)
(2 October 2005)
(18 Screens)
Gross: $864,959
(USA)
(11 December 2005)
Technical Specs
Runtime:
Did You Know?
Trivia: Josefine Cronholm's version of Burt Bacharach's classic song "Close to You", performed in the film during the scene where Helena is dressed by mechanical handmaidens, was inspired by composer Wayne Horvitz's 1997 cover version of the song featured in the tribute album "Great Jewish Music: Burt Bacharach" (sung by Julie Wolf and Robin Holcomb).
Goofs:
Continuity:
After Helena holds up the key while looking at the tower, the immediate next shot shows the key facing the opposite direction.
Quotes: Valentine:
Rocks and logs may bite like dogs but words will never harm me.
User Review
Like Nothing You've Ever Seen
Rating: 7/10
I'm another of those who saw this at Sundance, and all the things I
enjoy about Gaiman and McKean's graphic novels were on display: the
quiet humor, the intelligence, the delightful weirdness, the astounding
visual vocabulary. Except that in this case, the words are spoken by
good actors, and all those visuals get up off their feet and move.
It's hard to describe the impact of watching a McKean painting move and
talk. There might be those who quibble about the movie looking too
animated, but of course that's exactly the point: to create a world and
make it dance. The end result, visually at least, is like nothing
you've ever seen before, and absolutely worth seeing for that reason
alone.
Some of the people I talked to after the screening also loved the
visuals but felt the story was a bit dull, that they had seen it all
before. Well, it's true that the story does wear its influences on its
sleeve--a little "Alice in Wonderland" here, a little "Time Bandits"
there, a lot of "Wizard of Oz" over here, not to mention a resemblance
to Gaiman's own "Coraline." But I'm just as familiar with those stories
as anyone else, and the resemblances never interrupted my enjoyment of
"MirrorrMask"--after all, it's what you do with a story that determines
its success. And from moment to moment, there was enough innovation and
cleverness, enough delight and wonder, to make the movie a positive
delight.
I can imagine kids sitting in the audience with their eyes agog; and I
can imagine their parents sitting next to them, just as agog for a
whole different set of reasons. "MirrorMask" may or may not be too wild
to be a full-out commercial success; but I predict it's going to have a
long, long shelf life. I know I'll be buying the DVD as soon as it's
available, so that I can show it to people and say "Wait till you see
this."
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