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Helena works for the family circus, and wishes - quite ironically
- that she could run away 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. Helena searches for the
MirrorMask, an object of enormous power that is her only hope
of escaping the Dark Lands, waking the Queen of Light and
returning home...
If,
like me, you fondly remember those '80s Jim Henson movies
Labyrinth and The Dark Crystal, then the best
way of describing MirrorMask is as a modern film in
the same vein. Actually, for those of you who grew up on Henson
movies, this DVD is also being released in a box set with
both Labyrinth and The Dark Crystal.
The
film opens on a small, family run, circus and we are introduced
to Helena, the daughter of the circus owners. The evening's
performance is not going well. Helena gets into a fight with
her mother just before she is due to start her act. Her mother
collapses and is taken to hospital. She is rushed into surgery
and it is unclear whether she will make it through the night
- the family will only find out the next morning if her operation
was a success. The rest of the movie is told as a dreamlike
sequence as Helena goes to sleep wondering what news the morning
will bring.
SPOILER
ALERT! - SKIP THE NEXT PARAGRAPH IF YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW
ANY MAJOR PLOT DEVELOPMENTS
I
mentioned earlier that this film is very much like those old
Henson movies. In fact, I don't think it's unfair to say that
MirrorMask is actually a reworking of Labyrinth
- there are a lot of similarities. For starters, both revolve
around young girls who are coming of age and are total outsiders
- not really fitting into the real world and instead shutting
themselves away and preferring to live in their own fantasy
worlds. Then there is the fact that both, in frustration,
wish for something that they don't really want (in MirrorMask
Helena wishes her mother dead and in Labyrinth Sarah
wishes the Fairy King would come and take her baby brother
away). When these things happen (or in the case of MirrorMask,
may happen) both girls are whisked off into a dream world
and must confront the rulers (The Queen of Darkness and the
Goblin King) of the these worlds. Both girls meet odd looking
male creatures (Valentine and Hoggle) who act as their guides.
And then, both girls are betrayed as their guides deliver
them to the rulers of their respective worlds - but eventually
they realise what they have done and help to free the girls
and to complete their quests. And,
finally both (this shouldn't spoil too much for you) conclude
with a hint that maybe it wasn't all just a dream after all.
If
you're familiar with the artwork of Dave McKean then you'll
instantly feel at home here. In fact, there is one trippy
sequence that is actually constructed from collage images
and looks more like a comic book than it does a collection
of live action segments - very impressive.
The
casting is faultless. Gina McKee is perfect in her roles as
Helena's mother as well as both the Queen of Light and the
Queen of Dark. Stephanie Leonidas and Rob Brydon work well
together as Helena and her father - although I find it hard
to take Brydon seriously. Every time he opens his mouth I
was expecting him to say something funny. But by far the best
piece of casting is Jason
Barry as Valentine. This is not an easy role - mainly due
to the fact that his face is obscured by a mask for the majority
of the movie, but somehow he manages to make us believe in
the character, and actually feel for him. There
are also vocal cameos from Stephen Fry, Red Dwarf''s
Robert Llewellyn and Lenny Henry.
I
didn't notice, on first viewing, the difference between the
griffin and the Sphinx/cats and I thought more should have
been made to distinguish the two. I also thought that Rob
Brydon provided the face for the cats - they do look incredibly
like him - but it was actually Simon Harvey.
The
one thing that I really didn't think worked was the song in
the middle of the film - to be honest that whole sequence
should have been left on the cutting room floor. It really
didn't go with the rest of the film, and it was way too long.
Extras
include an audio commentary with Gaiman and McKean; The
Making of MirrorMask (54 mins) featurette which can be
played as a single feature, or broken down into different
segments); and trailers for other movies which are oddly flagged
up on the main title page as well as the Special Features
page.
The
audio commentary threw up a lot of interesting bits of information,
including the fact that Rob Brydon was not going to play the
part of the Prime Minister - they were hoping to get David
Bowie; and that the opening sequence was shot and edited entirely
in split screen - but dropped at the last minute.
The
Making of featurette has an interview with Gaiman; an
interview with McKean; a section that looks at how everything
started; cast and crew interviews; production segments; and
a Q&A with Gaiman and McKean. It was interesting to learn
that the majority of the artists on this movie were fresh
out of art school, and that instead of giving them all little
bits and pieces to do - like on any normal movie - they were
each given their own characters and scenes to create. What
was incredible was that they also had quite a bit of creative
freedom too.
This
is certainly one of the oddest and most beautiful movies to
come along in recent years. And, like Labyrinth 20
years ago, MirrorMask is bound to appeal to viewers
of all ages. It's twisted, it's bizarre, but most importantly
it treats its young audience with intelligence. If there is
any justice in this world, this film is destined to become
a cult classic. Jim Henson would be proud.
Darren
Rea
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