02/18/06 Mirrormask

Mirrormask (2005), directed by Dave McKean

watched w/ Leslie; DVD rental (Netflix) @ home

Neil Gaiman represents exactly why I need to read more. I've really been trying to read more books over the past few years, and I now own a few Gaiman books. Haven't read any yet, but I'm getting there. I know that he has some great children's books out there with some tweaked out illustrations in them, which always sounds good. This movie seems the next extension of Gaiman's work, coming across the celluloid as twisted & inventive computer animation mixed with live action actors. The whole story is somewhat a fractured Alice In Wonderland tale of a parallel universe, but inhabited with creatures out of a Tim Burton bad dream. A young girl; suffering from the sudden illness of her mother and amidst the Cirque-du-Soleil-on-acid circus of her father; propels herself literally into her artwork on her bedroom walls. She comes across many strange people in trying to find her way back home, but she ain't in Kansas anymore (actually I think she's British, but that's neither here nor there). The world between dark & light hangs between the balance of her journey. It's the darker version of a family movie that I really enjoy. Very Wizard Of Oz for the gothic 2000's. Now all I have to do is read it.

5 out of 5 stars