To me, this movie is perfection.

People are voting emotionally.

Fresh and Exciting

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

To quote another reviewer, this movie is "great for families and the Art crowd".I think especially for children, or to watch it with children would leave a empathetic and great impression with them, and as a reviewer I highly recommend it to watch as a family especially with (your) children.It otherwise is a homage to the fine arts with hand made masks, drawings, paintings and animation that isn't the perfect CGI, but the kind of creative and bizarre work you would see in featured fine-art animations, which I personally have a taste for and think I was happy to see it in a feature film. However, I could understand that certain viewers might think the special effects are somewhat outdated, and in my opinion I think they are not 'trying' to be realistic, but in any case it does create a divergent opinion about them.The movie is put together well, but might have been better as a TV series to explore the story, world and characters further. Still, the movie leaves you with a unique impression and a certain inspiration for the creative minds out there.

MIRRORMASK looks exactly like the kind of arty, pretentious little fantasy film that an A-level art student with a budget would produce. Despite the presence of such creative artists as Neil Gaiman, this comes across as a desperately low budget little film which has all of its imagination and creative energy put into the visuals rather than the plot, which leads to a narrative that wanders and meanders all over the place.When it comes to film-making, the writing is the most important thing in a movie (the only exception are action films, where the fight choreography is equally important). Sadly, it's the weakest thing about this. I liked the parallels in the story between the dream world and the real world, but they're never really explored to their maximum potential and there's just too much wandering around the make-believe locations.Before long it quickly becomes apparent that the whole film merely consists of a few actors wandering around in a single room with the animated backgrounds put in afterwards. The jerky, line-drawn animation isn't all that great if I'm honest, and I was never convinced of the 'reality' of that other world for a second. The cast isn't much to write home about either, with Gina McKee probably doing the best job in a dual role. And it doesn't help that the characters are even more one-dimensional than the dream world setting. I really wanted to like MIRRORMASK, but the truth is I couldn't no matter how hard I tried.

Wow. Talk about your one-of-a-kind films that come out of nowhere, make an indelible impression on the viewer, and then disappear back where they came from....? Dave McKean, a Brit producing in Canada, had a vision of a story which, some fans have opined, was as good as or better than the Wizard of Oz. Whereas both stories are about young ladies who have a mystical experience that may or may not be true (depending on the interpretation of the viewer) the unknowns in Mirrormask (Stephanie Leonidas?) deliver and deliver and deliver. Not only great characters, but the special effects are not to be sniffed at either. I revere this film so much that I don't want to give much away, lest I spoil your pleasure, but the notion of a young girl with a sick family member who, under stress, ends up in a place she does not understand -- nicely riffed with the idea of parallel dimensions and characters who look like the people here BUT ARE NOT! -- is nothing short of brilliant. If there was a higher score than 10, I would give it to this film. And the ending in particular is noteworthy because these sorts of films (consider Oz, and the goofy conclusion there) almost never deliver an ending that works. Here the ending not only works, but, if you have been following the subtle nuances of the film, it may even bring a tear to your eye. Brilliant. And lost to an unappreciative public.

Going in to this film literally knowing nothing except this was produced by The Jim Henson Company, I've realized I've wasted 2 hours of my life. And I rarely say that because I've seen a looooooooooooooooooooooot of films and try to enjoy them for what they are (I went to film school). Because the film got such stellar comments on IMDb I stuck it out, but am thoroughly regretting that decision.First the plot is atrocious, because there is none. While focusing on trying to be creative, the plot of the fantasy and reality has very few connections, leaving you thinking most of the time "What was the point of that?" The two main characters seem to go from one situation to the next with no obstacles, no tension, and no building of plot. When something does come up, they simply step over it, making the viewer think "Did that really matter?" And constantly the two characters talk back and forth, explaining what is happening, because it isn't clear enough through the storytelling what is trying to be done. That is a huge sign of story problems and bad writing. Which is surprising after I found out this was written by Neil Gaiman (and I love his other work). In his other works, there is also a certain witty humor that makes the odd characters and situations enjoyable and plausible. Here however, all cleverness is missing and things just feel like they were created simply to get to the next scene.Secondly, almost everything is derivative of other fantasy work. Black and white, good and evil, we've heard it a million times before. (Except this time the evil isn't shown as being bad or evil as we must simply assume it is bad because it is "dark" - another problem) The "shadows" are directly from the Neverending Story. Psychedelic objects like flying books, and books with answers are reminiscent of Alice in Wonderland. However, with each work, something new needs to be brought to the table - unique characters, unusual situations, or something unexpected. Nothing here did that. The original movies/stories it borrowed from did so much better that one should just go and see those instead.Third, the effects and design are.... I hate to have to say it... they are thoroughly disappointing. I've grown up on Jim Hensen's creations. From the Muppet's to Fragel Rock to the Labrinth and Dark Crystal. Here however the character designs are faceless (often literally) cubic blobs of design which reveal nothing about the inner personalities of the characters. One important requirement for fantasy is amazing, unique and unusual characters that have amazing designs to them. The designs here are like what you'd find in a college 3D art class for beginners. And they don't mesh well with the visuals. It often looks like things were shot on blue screen, and then layers and layers of effects and filters were put over the images to try and make up for the extremely artificial look everything has. When I see a fantasy, I want to get sucked into the world and believe I am there. Things just looked too bland and artificial here to do so.One more!! The music is.... HORRIBLE! The whole point of music is to create an atmosphere, here it actually breaks it and takes you out of the movie. The music is experimental, atonal at times, and very non-traditional. That's fine if it works, but here it actually distracts from the scene and makes you notice it and think "Hmmm, this is odd music. It doesn't really match the scene." Lastly the directing came off as very weak. A lot of the camera angles came off with a very amateur feel. The actors never seemed to emote very well, and the whole thing just felt like an artsy-fartsy playground for the creators - not an artistic piece of fiction that takes us on a trip.The basic basic core of the film is kind of interesting, but it is shocking the film was made in the current state and not developed. It needed to be re-written with interesting events, some memorable characters, and injected with some endearing/amazing designs for characters. As it is, I recommend to avoid this film.