The Film
The revered scribe Neil Gaiman (creator of the Sandman series of graphic novels) is, along with Alan Moore (Watchmen, V for Vendetta), considered "one of those Brits," a modern master who has elevated the entire comic book medium with a staggering wit, intelligence and originality. Many of those same virtues are on display in MirrorMask, a fantasy directed and co-written by Sandman collaborator/artist Dave McKean.
Here a teenaged girl in the midst of a family crisis suddenly finds herself transported to a bizarre and awesome world where she is charged with a strangely familiar quest. The quirky, youthful vibe of other Jim Henson productions is definitely here, although the necessary combination of live-action and CGI doesn't quite work despite some memorable imagery. The results too often have that we're-not-even-trying look of Doctor Who composite shots, as if the budget was far too small for the ambitious story they wanted to tell.
The Picture
McKean's visual style is marked by use of collage, evoked by the layers of CGI he uses here, like one of his comic books come to life. The movie appears to have been captured digitally, no doubt to assist the extensive post-production. Colors are exaggerated, but there is also a nasty strobing in fast motion and harsh transitions in the shadows. There's a frequent softness to the image, portions of the 1.85:1 frame noisy, sometimes severely so. Weird artifacts are introduced in this master, with horrible edges, along with unintentional flickering and moiré. The overall quality of the CGI here is comparable to a cut scene from a videogame, or perhaps a music video, and watching it at such high resolution only drives home its limitations.
The hallmarks of this Dolby TrueHD 5.1 mix are the high fidelity of the jazzy musical score and lots of aggressive rear-channel use. Sound is most assuredly being used to help sell the image, notably the clear, trebly rattling of bones as when a group of spindly creatures scurries along. The entire soundstage is quite active throughout, be it for a big swarm of evil black birds, random voices drifting by, the boom when an enormous stone figure hits the ground, rocks skipping from front to rear-right, and surreal moments such as a chorus of robotic handmaids all around, singing The Carpenters' "Close to You," with ample bass.
The Extras
The supplements have been ported over from the DVD edition of MirrorMask. The audio commentary by director/co-writer/designer McKean and screenwriter Gaiman is more entertaining than many I've heard. A collection of featurettes and interviews can be viewed individually or straight through, totaling 52-and-a-half minutes, in standard-definition: "Neil Talks...," "Dave Talks About the Film," "Beginnings," "Cast & Crew," "Day 16" (an especially interesting detailed study of a single day of production), "Flight of the Monkeybirds," "Giants Development" and "Questions & Answers" from a live Dave/Neil panel discussion. The disc is BD-Live-enabled but I found absolutely no MirrorMask content online, even two months after street date.
Final Thoughts
Witnessing the unfolding of an excellent script, brought to life by an exceptional ensemble of actors, I feel a measure of disappointment: How would this movie have turned out if fully realized, visually? Even so, the journey is a highly entertaining one, and the technical specs have never been better than on this Blu-ray edition.
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