hile most kids dream of running away from home and joining the circus, Helena (Leonidas) dreams of running away from the circus and joining real life. But since she's stuck in the family business, she escapes through her imagination, creating stories and elaborate drawings to entertain herself. Her disinterest causes tension between her and her parents, especially her mother (McKee), who tells her she "couldn't handle real life." One night, when Helena refuses to do the show, she has a fight with her mother during which they both say things they later regret. Unfortunately, Helena doesn't have a chance to take them back before her mother takes ill and is rushed to the hospital.
On the night that her mother is to have surgery, Helena falls into a dream that strangely resembles her own drawings. In her surrealistic dream world, nothing seems to make sense. Schools of fish fly through the air, animals speak in riddles, disgruntled buildings wander away from their owners, and everyone wears a mask.
This world is divided into two kingdoms—light and dark—each ruled by a corresponding queen (both also played by McKee). When Helena arrives, she learns that the queen of the light has fallen into a deep sleep and her absence has caused an imbalance between the two halves. The one thing that can awaken the queen and prevent the light from being swallowed by the dark is something called a mirrormask.
With the help of a roguish juggler named Valentine (Barry), Helena sets out to find the mirrormask and wake the queen, but there are many dangers along the way. Why are there wanted posters with her face on them everywhere? What connection does she have to the queen of the dark land? And why does everyone keep calling her "princess"?
Pretty to see, not much to say
This is one of those rare films that defies categorization or comparison, because there's never been anything like it before. While the story has obvious roots in children's stories such as Alice in Wonderland and The Wizard of Oz, the look of it is wholly and refreshingly original. It's something that children will likely enjoy, but it's certainly not for children alone. It's beautiful and strange and fantastic and disturbing, often all at the same time.
McKean is an artist who embraces the collage, and loves to play with different media. His pieces, seen on the covers of many of Gaiman's works (including the entire run of Sandman, the comic book that made them both famous), can include a mixture of photography, painting, sculpture, textiles and found objects together in one image. As a director, he employs this technique in a moving form, but it's not meant to be realistic. In fact, it's just the opposite. In a time when most directors are trying to achieve verisimilitude with digital effects, to make them look as real as possible, McKean is interested in creating a world that's as far from reality as it can be.
The story takes a back seat to the strong visuals, which is a disappointment considering the involvement of Neil Gaiman, one of the pre-eminent storytellers working in fiction today. There are echoes of his previous works, and a hint of something more going on in the story than just a young woman's guilt-fueled dream, but those complexities are never fully explored. The pacing is uneven, with the especially slow scenes coming in the middle of the dream sequence. Fortunately, there is plenty of mind-bending scenery to look at while you're waiting for the plot to advance. The best of these interludes is a musical number in which creepy, life-size mannequins pop out of mechanical music boxes and sing an unsettling rendition of "Close to You" while transforming Helena into a dark, goth princess.
Like the story, the cast is there primarily to serve the visuals, which they do remarkably well. McKee looks stunning in a variety of elaborate costumes and makeups, particularly in her incarnation as the queen of darkness. Newcomer Leonidas handles the difficult job of being the lone human face in a world of CG-created backgrounds and creatures. She gives the film a strong footing while everything else is floating in the clouds.
