The Song Fight Bulletin Board

This is worth seeing.
http://www.sonypictures.com/movies/mirrormask/

Most reviews I've read went something like this:

"This movie is gorgeous, but unfortunately the plot isn't up to Gaiman's usual high standards. BUT IT'S GORGEOUS."

I haven't seen it, but I really want to. McKean's visuals are always worth seeing.

It was beautiful and the characters were interesting, but now that you mention it, I didn't feel like I was completely absorbed in the story as much as, say, Spirited Away, for example. I can't put my finger on it exactly. Meanwhile, Scott loved it completely and saw it twice already.

I wanted to see this one in theaters, but it wasn't to be, mostly because I don't live in freaking Toronto. Overall I did not like it. The best and worst thing about it are the visuals, which ooze style but overwhelm the eye. They are very creative, but inconsistent, with an emphasis on quantity over quality. I think with 5 times the budget this movie could have looked mind-blowing.

The visuals aside, Gaiman's story is surprisingly generic, toeing the line drawn by Labyrinth, Spirited Away, The Wizard of Oz, and the 900 pound gorilla of the "girl-falls-asleep-and-dreams-of-a-maze-like-fantasy-land-where-she-must-help-its-inhabitants-in-order-to-save-herself" genre, Lewis Carol. The movie has about half a dozen very inspired, awesome 5-minute segments, but the rest is clumsy dialogue and meandering plot. It's a movie that works much better as a half hour collection of music videos. As for the music, with the exception of one absolutely fantastic interpretation of The Carpenters' Close to You (the best part of the movie, by far), the soundtrack is mostly distractingly loud saxophone jazz, which I despised. Could you enjoy Labyrinth if it was set to 90 minutes of Kenny G? No, you would slit your wrists long before Jennifer "Ass-to-Ass" Connelly ever reached the peeing muppet. C+

I bought this, but would recommend renting it. It has some occasionally great visuals, but Puce is right - that soundtrack is a deal-killer. C+