Mirrormask

[magid]

What a beautiful movie. The images are definitely Dave McKean (with a dash of Cirque-ness), which is much more to my taste in 3-D. The plot? Well, I won't post spoilers. Fun, fascinating, funny, with a somewhat predictable ending, but what a trip getting there. I am incredibly impressed with all the visuals, the interesting textures and lighting, the creatures and characters (the books!), the masks and hats. A tiny nit: two very short scenes where briefly-appearing characters' lines were mostly indistinguishable to my ear, other than it was likely to be English.

Gaiman wrote in his blog that the book has somewhat different material, not being as limited to Helena's point of view. Now that I've seen the movie, I'd like to read the book (the other order is usually unsatisfying for me, and since the book was written as a novelisation of the movie, it doesn't feel as wrong as with movies made from established books).


Though the styles are very different, I was also reminded of paintings by James Christensen.

Comments

[zebraartist.livejournal.com]

I'll have to look for that movie - sounds like something I'd be very interested in seeing!

James is one of my all time favorite fantasy artists!
I've met him twice, and have several art items (books, framed prints, porcelain figures) signed/personalized to me. (I used to coordinate/plan artist's shows in galleries in Denver)
He's a great guy!

[magid.livejournal.com]

It's really fantastic, in both senses of the word. I hope it ends up in wider release than it is now, so more people will be able to see it on the big screen.

I have a calendar of James' pictures I picked up by accident one year, and really liked: there's so much detail that I saw new things throughout the month. I couldn't find one the next year, though. Now that I've found his stuff online, I might buy something more substantial than a calendar. (Not that I know where I'd put it...)

[jarel.livejournal.com]

I love everything I've seen by Dave McKean, so I hope I get a chance to see the film sometime.

[magid.livejournal.com]

I assume it'll be released in the UK as well as here. Though it's in limited release just now in the US.