Mirrormask

    This film The Mirrormask, was very stunning with the visuals and the story. The idea of using the reversal of what a mirror does and make it work for a fantasy world (the world of a 15 year old girl that was created from her drawings) was interesting. Gaiman has a talent for creating stories of strange fantasy that can also be a bit scary or threatening to the main character. One of the things that I liked about this movie was that is was made under the Jim Henson company. Even though it not a film of placing an actor with puppets, it's nice to see that the Jim Henson studio is still working and maybe it's just the start of future films from them (I really hope so, next to Disney films I grew up with watching all the muppets and their films. Like Labyrinth, Dark Crystal).

   I like how in this mirrored world was a relfection of Helena's world. While Helena is in this other world, the Shadow Princess is in Helena's world. The Shadow Princess is the reflection of Helena and while the Shadow Princess in the world of Helena's life. She is ruining Helena life and destroying her drawings that connect to the kingdom. Helena must find the mirrormask to save the kingdom from destruction (by the shadows) and return to her world. It like the story is fighting the darker side of yourself (or at least that's how it looks like when I  was watching Helena confront to the Shadow Princess, telling her that she doesn't belong there.) Also to be greatful of what you have and when you are ready, you can handle life on your own.

    In the begining of the film you see that Helena is living with her parents and they run a circus, but Helena is tired of it and yells at her mother and wishes that she was "the death of her." When her mother then falls ill, Helena is angry and upset that she yelled at her mother and wants to tell her that she's really sorry. This is similar to what's going on in the kingdom. In the other world there are two kingdoms, one is light and the other is shadow. The Kingdom of Shadow, their Princess ran away from her mother (the Queen) and wants to have her own life. This is probably what Helena thought and felt at the time when she was angry with her mom and wished she was done living the dream of someone else (it's her father's dream to run a circus and she is thrown into it).



    To me this movie is similar to Gaiman's other story (that also was made into a film) Coraline. Both stories have a main girl character (the heroine) and she has relationship problems with her parents, mostly towards her mother. They both long to escape and that's what they get (weither they asked for it or not). But the wonders of the other world turn against them and they must defeat the villain that's keeping them from returning to their real world (both villains are female).