Plot Details: This opinion reveals minor details about the movie's plot.

MirrorMask (2005) Directed by Dave McKean, Written by Neil Gaiman.

Helena is a 15 year old girl who lives in a circus. Therefore, she is totally miserable and wants to run away and join real life, the exact opposite of all the children who have real life and want to run away to join the circus. She is spiteful and obstinate with her mother in the way that only 15 year old girls can be. But then her mother collapses, and is rushed to hospital.

Guilt ridden, she visits, and watches her dad flounder about, trying to keep the circus afloat. But the Circus has to move to perform, and Mom anchors them to the town. And money is running out.

Then she wakes up in a very strange land. A creeping darkness is killing the inhabitants, who all wear masks. There are many strange creatures, flying schools of fish, inhabitants built out of boots, and strange sphinxes that demand riddles to not eat you. Helena is a bright and eccentric girl who manages to get by with the help of one of the natives, Valentine.

(Helena’s riddle is, What is green, hangs on the wall and whistles?)
Helena: Riddle? Riddle. So have you thought of an answer yet?
Sphinx: You can’t pass. I give up, I think, no wait, wait... Fine. What's the answer?
Helena: Okay. It's a herring.
Sphinx: But a herring isn't green.
Helena: You can paint it green.
Sphinx: But a herring doesn't hang on a wall.
Helena: You can nail it to a wall.
Sphinx: But a herring doesn't whistle!
Helena: Oh, come on. I just put that in to stop it from being too obvious.

Helena and Valentine discover that the lands of light are ruled by a wise queen who has recently fallen into a coma. Surprise, she looks like Helana’s mom. She had received a visitor recently, a princess from the land of shadows who looks exactly like Helena. And now the Queen of Shadows is hunting for her missing daughter. The key to finding her is a charm she stole called the MirrorMask.

Further, Helena discovers that certain windows look out into her bedroom, through her drawings of buildings in her mural. She sees herself, acting a horrible brat to her family. She realizes that that is the real princess, and she has some how stolen her life. Helena must find a way to get it back.

Helena and Valentine face many obstacles, a herd of mini sphinx who only say “Hungry” and the creeping darkness, murders of crows who plaster their selves to people’s faces, turning them into servants of the Shadow Queen.

And of course, it does not always take magic to co-opt people to the dark side; Valentine is suborned by simple greed. And the Shadow Queen is overjoyed to have her daughter back, and everything right (relatively speaking) with her world.

There is an absolutely wicked rendition of the Carpenters “Close to you” performed by mechanical maids who dress Helena as the princess. Slightly mechanical with very slight odd pauses and fractionally off tones, this number is one of the creepiest things I have ever heard. It is very subtle, but horribly effective. Brilliant!

But Valentine regrets what he has done, and Helena is not yet through resisting. The truth, when it is not what they want to hear, is a wonderful weapon against control freaks.

Eventually, she solves the riddle, and is restored to her home. There, a much changed, a much matured young woman awaits news of her mother’s operation.

And then, working in the circus she bumps into a young man with a very familiar voice: Valentine. They hit it off.

The Cast
Stephanie Leonidas ... Helena / Anti-Helena
Jason Barry ... Valentine
Rob Brydon ... Morris Campbell / Prime Minister
Gina McKee ... Joanne Campbell / Queen of Light / Queen of Shadows
Dora Bryan ... Aunt Nan
Stephen Fry ... Librarian
Andy Hamilton ... Small Hairy
Simon Harvey ... Sphinx
Lenny Henry ... Cops 1-4
Robert Llewellyn ... Gryphon
Eryl Maynard ... Mrs. Bagwell
Eve Pearce ... Future Fruit Lady
Nik Robson ... Pingo / Bing

The Analysis
This movie is a wonderful allegory for growing up. The mirror world allowed Helena to face a world that did not care whether she was happy or not, that did not care if she thought it was fair. And she had to face it, deal with it, and move on.

In many ways, this story has elements of a Faery Tale. Helena is a changeling; she is in a strange world with odd rules that she must learn, while her doppelganger takes over her real life.

If you are familiar with The Sand Man Comics, Dave McKean did much of the cover art in a collage style of art. This entire movie is shot in that same multimedia layered approach. The Sphinxes all have the same photographic face on a painted body, with rainbow coloured wings. It is very interesting, but can get a bit overwhelming after a while.

The music is jazz and circus. Sometimes it’s a bit of both. It is not my favorite style, but it fits this movie very well.

The performances were all quite acceptable. Stephanie Leonidas was outstanding as Helena, which is very good since the entire work hinges on her performance.

This is a very strange art piece. It is not designed to appeal to everyone, but if Cirque Del Soliel put on the stage production of Pink Floyd’s The Wall, this is what it would look like. It is worth watching on that basis alone.

Most people will love this, some will hate it, and some will just scratch their heads, but what ever the case, this movie will make an impression.

Check out these Faery Tales.
MirrorMask
Night Breed
The Dark Crystal
The Spiderwick Chronicles
Legend
The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
The Water Horse
Princess Mononoke




Recommended: Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Fit for Friday Evening
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children up Ages 8