POSSIBLE SPOILER ALERT. IT DEPENDS ON HOW YOU FEEL ABOUT THINGS.
It should have been better. I can't figure out why it wasn't. Was it indifferent acting? Poor directing? Were the visuals -- stunning though they were, too unreal to be believed? For all that it's Jim Henson there aren't nearly enough puppets and way too much CGI. I'd hate to think it was the story or screenplay since it was written by Neil Gaiman and I love all of his books and graphic novels. Was it perhaps too Independant Film, too European, too Circ Du Solei for my uncultured tastes to appreciate? Or is the problem to be found in Carrie's statement, "Just because you can do something dosn't mean you should." [See DARK CRYSTAL]
::Sigh:: I have been looking forward to this movie for a while so I'm sad that I can't demand that everyone see it. It was supposed to be the next LABRYNTH. It isn't, but not just because David Bowie isn't there wearing ridiculously tight pants. The heart of this film is missing. When potentially tragic things happen to the characters, I simply observed them, experiencing no answering emotional response. I felt more anguish of soul over the alternate ending of DODGEBALL, and that was just an alternate ending. I should have been more involved in MIRRORMASK as it's about dying parents, controlling mothers, things being consumed by the dark, and the wanton destruction of a really useful book to save yourself from being eaten by a pack of man-faced rainbow-winged cat monsters. I think. I could be totally wrong. It might be about falling in like with a profoundly un-funny masked guy but I hope it's not since he was really painful to watch. I don't know. It's just upsetting that watching nine giant CGI puppets dressing a girl in a spooky/cool outfit while eerily singing "Close To You" by the Carpenters didn't blow my mind or even make my day. It somehow wasn't real enough, or unreal enough, or something. I'm really wanting to blame the actors but I don't know if I can do that. I tried to run an experiment on it. If one repeats any of the lines later, they're actually pretty funny, but those same lines weren't funny while one is actually watching the film. Is that poor acting, thoughtless directing, or weak writing? If anyone figures it out let me know.
So who should see this film? Anyone who is interested in 3D animation, graphic design, foley editing, or mask-making. Costumers won't really care, lighting designers will be mildly curious, fantasy-novel-readers will angry about having to work far too hard to get their story fix, novelists might observe that what looks good on paper doesn't quite work on screen, and all actors and directors will gnash their teeth wishing to get in there and do something -- anything -- with the all resources so richly squandered in this film.
