I can’t talk about Neil Gaiman without mentioning Dave McKean, the man, the illustrator without whom Gaiman’s Sandman graphic novels would never have seen the light of day. And when you start talking about these two, it’s almost impossible to avoid one of the biggest joint projects they’ve ever had in their long-spanning and illustrious careers. I speak of the fantasy film Mirrormask,

Mirrormask, as far as magical films released in recent years go, is as good as it gets. The story is about Helena Campbell, and her journey through a dreamlike land that she must rescue in order to keep her own mother from dying. The magical City of Light and the Land of Shadows is not unlike Carroll’s own Wonderland, which has its own rules (as any self-respecting magical land should), as well as its fair share of protagonists and antagonists and, as with the case of the giants, extremely strange creatures.

The Jim Henson Company did a good job in filming the fantastic scenes that provide the very backbone to the entire film. The various creatures that populate the City of Light, most of which look like people dressed for a harlequinade, blend well with the magical and whimsical environment that surrounds them, while the Land of Shadows is your typical haunted forest and more, teeming with danger and the occasional intriguing mystery. The environment couldn’t have given Gaiman’s screenplay more life, more vibrance, and all this was brought to order by the masterstroke genius of McKean’s direction.

Forget Stardust, forget Beowulf. Mirrormask is Gaiman at his record best, mixing illusions with reality and giving us a heartwarming story that will cling to the outer fringes of our dreams like the fragrance of frangipani clinging onto your sense of smell.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 22nd, 2008 at 4:34 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.