Mirrormask

[marycrawford]

We walked into the movie theater to see Mirrormask and ended up right behind Roger Corman, who was presented with a lifetime achievement award later on. (No, Corman didn't have anything to do with Mirrormask, which is a Dave McKean/Neil Gaiman production, but he was the Guest of Honor for the Amsterdam fantastic film festival.)

Interesting movie - entrancing, fantastical images, to which the story seemed to play second fiddle. Distinctly Gaiman, but it felt like a retread of images and ideas he used earlier and better in other stories, like Coraline and Neverwhere. Still, I'm glad to have seen it, and I wish I could see it again in a theatre where the sound isn't turned up to 11 - this one almost blew us out of our seats.

I've seen mentions of Mirrormask somehow being a sequel to Labyrinth, but I don't think that's really the case. It's a story of a magical world, growing up and taking responsibility, sure, but that's a very broad similarity. The only specific reference I saw was someone juggling four crystal balls in one hand, exactly as Jareth (or rather, Michael Moschen) did in Labyrinth. And the Valentine storyline resembles Hoggle's, but I'm not sure if that was intentional.

Off to bed now. *fwomp*

Comments

[ltlj.livejournal.com]

I think the sequel stuff comes in because Gaiman was originally asked by Henson to do a Labyrinth sequel, but he hadn't worked on it very long when they realized they didn't have the budget to do it right. So they scrapped it and started another original project with him, which turned into Mirrormask. I remember Gaiman talking all about it in his blog; it was very interesting.

[suchthefangirl.livejournal.com]

Neil and Dave wrote Mirrormask in the Henson house in England. They had tapes of the movie including stuff that didn't make it. My memory is faulty, but I think maybe they had storyboards and the like as well. I know they are friends with the Frouds as well as the Hensons. Anyway, I don't remember it ever being a sequel, but I easily could be wrong there. I know that once in the house they were working in vastly different working styles with one upstairs and the other down, each working on pieces and then sharing and changing, etc. Hearing either, or better yet, both together talk about the experience is very amusing.

Once it was written, it really was all just Dave. He directed it, then did all the special effects on computer. In fact he didn't even make it to ComicCon this past year because he was finishing it off, and that is the first time I can remember him not being there.

I don't think it is a perfect movie, but I really enjoyed it.

[marycrawford.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the info, both! I do remember seeing Gaiman talk about it on his blog, especially the bit where they were sitting in that house amid dusty props from Labyrinth. Wow. I just didn't remember the details well enough, I guess, or I may have conflated it with news from other sources. (Also, a perfectly done sequel to Labyrinth? Be still my heart.)

I enjoyed it too, especially things like the orbiting giants and the automata singing 'Close To You'.

[kseenaa.livejournal.com]

I have wanted to see that movie for a looong time... I should now, shouldn't I? ;-P