MirrorMask is from a screenplay by Neil Gaiman ( Stardust, Beowulf) and directed by Dave McKean ( N) executive produced by Martin G. Throughout their journey they encounter monkey birds, dangerous riddle-loving sphinxes, giants and hypnotic jack-in-the-boxes.

Helena sets out on a quest with the skittish Valentine to find the mask and restore order to the kingdom. The only way the balance can be restored is through the MirrorMask. It is here that Helena learns that the World of Light is dying, slowly being consumed by the World of Shadows because the balance between the two lands has been upset. Helena and Valentine narrowly escape the dark shadow by jumping through a door into the Dark Lands. She reaches out to the duo, but before any real connections can be made a destructive shadow washes over the fiddler and turns him into ash! Now begin the bizarre twists and turns. She goes outside to explore and finds a couple of bizarre circus performers. One night she awakens to the sounds of a fiddler and a masked juggler named Valentine (Jason Barry). Helena’s guilt for what she said is palpable and this young woman retreats into her own head to deal with her sadness. That very evening, in an unfortunate twist of fate, her mother is rushed to the hospital with an unknown illness. One night before a performance, Helena and her mother get into an argument and she wishes her mother dead.

Ironically, the place where other children threaten to run away to is the one she wishes to run away from. Helena is a young teen filled with angst and rage who has had an unusual upbringing – she lives in a circus owned and run by her parents (Rob Brydon, Gina McKee). MirrorMask is a spectacle, a fantasy and a Dadaist examination of the human condition. Her inventive mind takes her on a dreamlike adventure where she must rescue a world thrown out of balance. This is a story of Helena (Stephanie Leonidas – “Beneath the Skin,” “Dracula”), a 15 year-old budding artist and circus performer who is struggling to find comfort amidst her mother’s illness. From the fantastical imaginations of Neil Gaiman (Beowulf, Stardust), Dave McKean (N) and The Jim Henson Company (The Dark Crystal, Labyrinth) comes the surrealist fairytale MirrorMask. (November 20 2008) – Sony Pictures Home Entertainment releases the cult fantasy film MirrorMask on high definition Blu-ray Disc on Novemfor the SRP of $28.95.

Mirrormask by neil gaiman