Wow. Talk about your one-of-a-kind films that come out of nowhere, make an indelible impression on the viewer, and then disappear back where they came from....? Dave McKean, a Brit producing in Canada, had a vision of a story which, some fans have opined, was as good as or better than the Wizard of Oz. Whereas both stories are about young ladies who have a mystical experience that may or may not be true (depending on the interpretation of the viewer) the unknowns in Mirrormask (Stephanie Leonidas?) deliver and deliver and deliver. Not only great characters, but the special effects are not to be sniffed at either. I revere this film so much that I don't want to give much away, lest I spoil your pleasure, but the notion of a young girl with a sick family member who, under stress, ends up in a place she does not understand -- nicely riffed with the idea of parallel dimensions and characters who look like the people here BUT ARE NOT! -- is nothing short of brilliant. If there was a higher score than 10, I would give it to this film. And the ending in particular is noteworthy because these sorts of films (consider Oz, and the goofy conclusion there) almost never deliver an ending that works. Here the ending not only works, but, if you have been following the subtle nuances of the film, it may even bring a tear to your eye. Brilliant. And lost to an unappreciative public.

MIRRORMASK looks exactly like the kind of arty, pretentious little fantasy film that an A-level art student with a budget would produce. Despite the presence of such creative artists as Neil Gaiman, this comes across as a desperately low budget little film which has all of its imagination and creative energy put into the visuals rather than the plot, which leads to a narrative that wanders and meanders all over the place.

When it comes to film-making, the writing is the most important thing in a movie (the only exception are action films, where the fight choreography is equally important). Sadly, it's the weakest thing about this. I liked the parallels in the story between the dream world and the real world, but they're never really explored to their maximum potential and there's just too much wandering around the make-believe locations.

Before long it quickly becomes apparent that the whole film merely consists of a few actors wandering around in a single room with the animated backgrounds put in afterwards. The jerky, line-drawn animation isn't all that great if I'm honest, and I was never convinced of the 'reality' of that other world for a second. The cast isn't much to write home about either, with Gina McKee probably doing the best job in a dual role. And it doesn't help that the characters are even more one-dimensional than the dream world setting. I really wanted to like MIRRORMASK, but the truth is I couldn't no matter how hard I tried.

A 15-year old circus girl enters a strange land occupied by bizarre characters, where she must find a 'mirrormask' in order to restore order to her life.

Whilst disaffected goths, weirdos and Gaiman fanboys might lap up this pretentious crap—a tepid fusion of Labyrinth and Alice in Wonderland—anyone with one iota of sense will recognise this bilge for the unadulterated piffle that it is.

Before you get the wrong end of the stick, I would like to say that I like fantasy. I love dark fantasy. And I absolutely adore dark, twisted fantasy with surreal visuals. Labyrinth, Dark City, The Wizard of Oz, The Dark Crystal, City of the Lost Children, Babe Pig in the City: all are great examples of the genre that I have enjoyed. But Mirrormask failed to connect with me on any level.

It's almost as if the makers were trying too hard to be freaky and bizarre.

An hour-and-a-half of complete narrative codswallop and absolutely naff CGI effects, Mirrormask is perhaps the worst example of this kind of film that it has been my misfortune to witness.

On a positive note, however, Stephanie Leonidas (who plays Helena) is a total hottie—like a much better looking (and younger) Helena Bonham-Carter.