Have you ever had that dream where you're stuck in the world of your artwork, and the only way to keep your alter ego from destroying the life you know is to find the charm that will wake a sleeping queen?
No? Well, I haven't either. But watching Mirrormask is like having that dream, as its heroine, Helena (Stephanie Leonidas), experiences these events. Helena's father runs a circus, and her family is the main act, although oftentimes she'd rather be in her trailer drawing than on the stage juggling, and she wishes for nothing more than a normal life. After a heated argument with her daughter, Helena's mother (Gina McKee) falls ill, and Helena is haunted by uncertainty and guilt. These emotions lead Helena into strange dreams in which her circus world seems even more sinister and unusual.
When she thinks she's awoken from such a dream, she discovers she has simply been plunged into a deeper one -- one in which a person without a mask is considered grotesque, and the existence of the city of light is threatened by an evil queen who has cast a spell of sleep upon the queen of the good city. Both monarchs are also played McKee, a triple-casting device that reinforces Helena's need to both aid and break free from her mother.
If the plot is predictable, at least that too is expected from writer Neil Gaiman, whose strongest talent lies in telling a creative, unique tale, if not necessarily a surprising one. The first thing a viewer new to Gaiman's work will notice is the writer's fondness for the classically bizarre -- circus performers who only speak in whistles and gestures, sphinxes who ask unsolvable riddles and eccentric shop owners. Also characteristic is his use of dreams as a major part of the story's development and the characters' reality.
This sort of heavy-handed allegory needs careful handling, and sometimes Gaiman stumbles, making a thematic gesture too obvious; when the dark queen claims Helena as her daughter, her only wish is to transform Helena into a miniature version of herself.
Also, he can play a turning point too weakly, rushing through it -- one of Mirrormask's other characters, Valentine, brings Helena back to herself simply by juggling with her. The rules of Helena's dream world are perplexing and inconsistent, and the ending is frenzied and confused, but these things are mostly compensated for by the creative brilliance of the visual design by director Dave McKean.
McKean's deeply original art literally comes to three-dimensional, moving life in his film, which is a special thrill for those who have loved his previous collaborations with Gaiman, which include illustrating such tales as Coraline and The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish.
Every visual element in the film bears his mark, from the fully realized dream-world of Helena's mural-like drawings to the credits which fling the viewer from scenes of Helena's real circus life to moving shots over a sketch of a circus tent. McKean's style is frenetic, and even in the stillest scenes something is moving, sometimes simply an off-screen occurrence indicated by the use of sound effects.
In places, the budget of the picture is evident -- the mask of the prime minister of the light city (Rob Brydon) looks like it's been made out of a roll of regular kitchen aluminum foil -- and occasionally McKean's concept simply doesn't work when it's transferred from the plastic page into moving life. One group of creatures, whose visages feature strips of human face pasted on, but whose lips don't always move quite in sync with the soundtrack, makes this disparity evident.
However, these flaws are buried almost invisibly in a sea of perfectly realized artwork, in which not a single shot is without visual interest -- even the real-life ones -- and in which the level of detail and depth makes even the most fantastic creatures and locations seem real.
If the flat plot won't captivate the viewer's imagination, it is enough to simply sit back and enjoy the thrill of the visual joy ride that is McKean's creative force. Mirrormask is a fine contribution to the world of fantasy films, if just for its art.
Director: Dave McKean
Starring: Stephanie Leonidas, Gina McKee, Rob Brydon
Run Time: 1 hour, 41 minutes
Rating: PG
Showing at: The Charles Theatre
