Directed by: Dave McKean

Written by: Neil Gaiman, Dave McKean

Screenplay by: Neil Gaiman

Produced by: Martin G. Baker, Lisa Henson, Simon Moorhead, Michael Polis

Year: 2005

Starring: Stephanie Leonidas, Jason Barry, Rob Brydon

When I saw Neil Gaiman wrote the screenplay and Jim Hansen Company had a big hand in the Production, I had to see MirrorMask. Boy was I disappointed.

The story revolves around a teen-age girl, Helena, whose parents run a circus. The circus life is driving her nuts, and she wants more than anything else to have a normal life. One night, she throws a tantrum and her mother pleads with her to come out of the trailer and do her part in the show. Helena refuses and her mother blurts "one day you'll be the death of me." Helena responds that she hopes she will. Well, she finally gets dressed and does her part, but later on that night, her mother collapses and ends up in the hospital for something apparently serious.

In grief, Helena ends up in a surrealistic fantasy world, where everyone wears masks. There's a bad queen, played by her mother, and a good queen, also played by her mother. But the good queen is sick and asleep.

The story could have worked. However, the execution was horrible. The young actress didn't have the charisma to carry the movie. The director didn't have the consistency to make it watchable.

I hated the music - abstract jazz, which in itself isn't bad, but it sounded degenerate. I hated the lack of colors. Fantasy should be brilliant. These sets were dull.

The movie was so ugly to watch that it irritated me. I felt some sympathy for Helena, but not enough to enjoy the movie. Whomever did the sets seemed like the retarded and color blind brother of Michael Parkes. Granted the budget was only four million dollars, but spend another $150,000 and hire someone who isn't color blind. Also, get some decent music. That soundtrack was deplorable.

Another problem of MirrorMask is this dream world was still urban. Urban fantasy is an oxymoron. It rarely works. The Crow is one exception, and so is City of Lost Children, but MirrorMask fails to pull it off.

Two good points about MirrorMask - the ending was cute. If you made it until the end, that is. The second is there is really no film to compare this to. No one else I've seen created a dreamworld movie this surreal. It needs to be redone, except by someone else.

3 dead zombies. This was the worst thing I've ever seen with The Jim Hansen Company label slapped on it.