Mirrormask

Could be Exhibit A for anyone arguing the case that modern filmmaking lacks a strong sense of story.

Leonidas walks this tightrope quite engagingly, showing us a girl on the cusp of womanhood, torn between two competing needs -- to become an adult, to remain a child, to vilify, to revere.

McKean's inexperience as a director trips the film. There is so much going on that the viewer can't take in all the imagery, and McKean's devotion to his skewed vision slows the story to a crawl.

Too long, and too rich, for its own good, but clearly Gaiman and McKean were bursting with ideas. Those ideas fly all over the place, sometimes landing with a thunk, but more often taking the breath away.

With its mind-numbing excess of digital imagery and lack of compensatory storytelling, MirrorMask suggests that something of Gaiman's is getting lost in translation.

Mirrormask eventually establishes itself as an thoroughly interminable piece of work that substitutes endless creativity for context and character development...

Dense, dreamlike fantasy isn't for every kid.

An alluring original piece of fantasy...

The story is interesting, in a twisted fairytale sort of way, but the novelty of this dream world does eventually wear off, and we're left checking our watches.