Once again I'm taking the opportunity to revisit a personal favorite, a visual storytelling masterpiece, Neil Gaiman's Mirrormask.

The narrative follows Helena, the daughter of a couple that owns and performs in a traveling circus. Understandably, their lifestyle isn't quite normal, leaving Helena ironically wishing she could escape and run away to real life, which wouldn't be able to handle her. Despite her desire to experience "real life", she lives out her fantasies in her art collage spanning her wall. She has created an entire city of flying fish, domestic sphinxes and talking boot people.

When her mother falls ill, following an argument akin to Obi-Wan joking that Anakin will "be the death of [him]", Helena finds herself in her own dreamland, escaping the troubles and worries that go with family and responsibility, but entering a world with much of the same. She is mistaken for "the Princess", the daughter of the evil Queen who used the Mirrormask to trick the good King and Queen, then escaped to Helena's world, leaving her native world in discord. Helena must fight her way through the good and evil forces, find the Mirrormask and return everything to its rightful place. Seems simple enough, except when the conflicting forces are part of your own psyche.

Now, not all the credit goes to Neil Gaiman. This heavily visual film is actually directed by and adapted from the illustrations of Dave McKean, who often provides the art for Gaiman's work. I should note that it's actually a Jim Henson production, which definitely fits it in to the Dark Crystal and Labyrinth genre. The photography and cinematography are mesmerizing, albeit dark in brightness and often hard to see in a well lit environment. You can't be distracted during this movie. Watching it in the indy theater back at school, it was a beautiful, immersive experience. Unfortunately, watching it at home, trying to extract the audio/video quality of the Blu-ray out of my 24" HDTV and 2.0 speaker configuration while the lights were on and I was doing laundry, left me missing out on much of the film's beauty. Sure, it was mostly my fault, but I really need the equipment to appreciate Mirromask again.

The one caveat I would give is that the pace and editing leave the story rather rushed. It's quite possibly because it's just "how the English do things", but American audiences might feel the lack of transition between scenes and even acts. It's not terrible, but given how short the film is and how fast it can feel, I would vote for an extended version that adds on another half hour, just to flesh out the pace and give us more to digest.

I won't lie and say this isn't basically just a retelling of The Wizard of Oz or Alice in Wonderland, but it's definitely got a more contemporary tone. Instead of a girl who is just bored with her mundane life who wants to escape to something more fantastic, Helena leads a life that is too unstable for her wishes and somehow slips into a world even more bizarre. She's joined by the masked Valentine, who is a self-proclaimed very important man, although he commands very little respect in others. He's Helena's Tin Man, Cowardly Lion and Scarecrow wrapped into one, a jovial Irish juggler whose only wish is to be appreciated. He's confident in his character, as "Valentines never apologize". He definitely adds the momentum necessary to push Helena through her adventure, but there's still very little to him as a person, just his character.

I can't forget to mention Josephine Cronholm's spellbinding cover of Burt Bacharach's "Close to You" that involves a mechanical-doll dressing room, powered by an authentically uneven wind-up motor that affects the tempo of the music. It's wonderfully soothing and deserves more of a presence throughout the film, which is mostly scored with Jazz saxophone and bass.

Much like the related stories mentioned, it's all metaphor and allegory. Unlike typical Disney featuers that star a female protagonist who sufers from "damsel in distress" issues, Helena is a strong and capable young woman. Not that I know anything about female adolescence, but I'd say this is a good companion to that demographic, but there's plenty for everyone to enjoy. Lastly, this is the only film I've ever watched that literally ends on a "LOL WUT" moment. Bravo.