MirrorMask
I was really excited when I first read about this project in Neil Gaiman's blog because I've loved the combination of Gaiman's imagination with Dave McKean's art for quite a while now. If you love both of their work, you'll probably like this movie, since it works just like a Gaiman dream story illustrated by Dave McKean, but as a movie it falls a bit short, since the pacing and the story don't fill up enough time to justify a full-length movie. The visuals are fabulous though.
The main character is teenaged Helena whose parents own a circus, but Helena yearns for a "normal" life. One day, after Helena has had a big fight with her mother, her mother falls ill and has to have a dangerous operation. The night before the operation, Helena falls into sleep (or does she?) and falls into a strange dream world.
In this world, the city of light's queen has fallen mysteriously asleep. Helena must embark on a quest to find a magical talisman that will wake the queen and save the city from the shadows sent by it's mirror town, the city of darkness and it's queen.
Even though the film only lasts about 1,5 hours, it feels too long and slow-paced. I still love the dream-like atmosphere and the fantastic Dave McKean visuals. I think I'll have to read Coraline next, because the images of a dream/mirror mother/daughter sound like straight out of that book - from what I've heard, I haven't read it yet...
The main character is teenaged Helena whose parents own a circus, but Helena yearns for a "normal" life. One day, after Helena has had a big fight with her mother, her mother falls ill and has to have a dangerous operation. The night before the operation, Helena falls into sleep (or does she?) and falls into a strange dream world.
In this world, the city of light's queen has fallen mysteriously asleep. Helena must embark on a quest to find a magical talisman that will wake the queen and save the city from the shadows sent by it's mirror town, the city of darkness and it's queen.
Even though the film only lasts about 1,5 hours, it feels too long and slow-paced. I still love the dream-like atmosphere and the fantastic Dave McKean visuals. I think I'll have to read Coraline next, because the images of a dream/mirror mother/daughter sound like straight out of that book - from what I've heard, I haven't read it yet...