MirrorMask
2005  PG  FANTASY  1h 41min
CAST— Jason Barry, Rob Brydon, Stephanie Leonidas, Gina McKee
MUSIC— Iain Ballamy  DIRECTOR— Dave McKean

     Film festival favorite MirrorMask is a “love-it-or-hate-it” film if ever there was one. The story centers on a girl escaping the harsh realities of life by following denizens of a dream world and embarking on a quest to save the land of fantasy from the land of shadow. She must awaken the queen by retrieving a charm called the mirrormask before the queen of shadows kidnaps her and devours the pure land. Along her quest she encounters the usual amount of quirky creatures and characters, most of whom wear strange and assorted masks. An ill-conceived and poorly executed fantasy, with shoddy computer effects and animation, which is bad considering that about 80% of the film has CGI. Brought to you by the Jim Henson Company, this disappointment draws comparison to Labyrinth (1986), but you’d best stick with the latter.
OUR RATING— *