Anyone else see Mirrormask yet?

[FURYoftheSTORM]

I just saw Neil Gaiman's Mirrormask the other night and I was just wondering if anyone else had seen it yet and what they thought.

 

[Shuley]

I saw it.. It wasn't bad,the chick in it is really cute though. I give it 3 stars as a "liked it"

 

[Mrh7448]

Yeah I saw it. I enjoyed it, it's oddness and they did a good job of giving life to Dave McKean's illustrations.

 

[Obi-Ron]

I just saw it for the first time last night, and I LOVED it.

It's like "Labyrinth" on acid.

 

[Mr.Webs]

I just saw it for the first time last night, and I LOVED it.

It's like "Labyrinth" on acid.

Agreed. An awesome film.

 

[TheSaintofKillers]

If you have any respect for Jim henson, stay away from it, imo.

While Henson used to make puppet and create sets and wonderful designs, the new people at Henson company make everything in ugly CGI, with photoshops background.

Very depressing to watch. Jim Henson must be turning in his own grave right now. Henson movies will never age wrong, for they are unique. But this ? It's already aging badly... in ten years people will find it unwatchable.

Watch the dark Crystal or Layrinth again instead, or if you want a great new take with REAL originality of Alice in wonderland, watch Hayao Miyazaki's Spirited away, ten times the movie Mirrormask will ever be.

 

[Movies205]

I dug it but I'm too tired to get into an intelligent argument with Saint, which I did in another thread.

 

[logansoldcigar]

I enjoyed it, tho i thouyght the story lacked a certain something. It wasnt the enchanting movie I hoped for from the trailers.

 

[Mrh7448]

If you have any respect for Jim henson, stay away from it, imo.

While Henson used to make puppet and create sets and wonderful designs, the new people at Henson company make everything in ugly CGI, with photoshops background.

Very depressing to watch. Jim Henson must be turning in his own grave right now. Henson movies will never age wrong, for they are unique. But this ? It's already aging badly... in ten years people will find it unwatchable.

Watch the dark Crystal or Layrinth again instead, or if you want a great new take with REAL originality of Alice in wonderland, watch Hayao Miyazaki's Spirited away, ten times the movie Mirrormask will ever be.

But they were bringing to life McKean's illustrations not trying to recreate Jim Henson's Muppet world. McKean has a unique style and that's what they were trying to capture, which they did and pretty well. Just as in Labyrinth and Dark Crystal they captured the essence of Brian Froud's work.

The Henson company has to evolve and change or it will stagnate and die out, and that's what they are trying to do.

 

[Shuley]

Neil Gaiman wrote the screenplay for free cause they said to neil "we can't afford you" But he got to work with Dave Mckean again. The film had a budget of $4 million.

 

[Obi-Ron]

4 mil seems awfully low.

 

[WallCrawl]

I enjoyed it, tho i thouyght the story lacked a certain something. It wasnt the enchanting movie I hoped for from the trailers.

That's pretty much how I felt. I'd also agree with Saint. I was excited to hear about a new Jim Henson film written by Gaiman, but was disappointed to hear it would be CGI. Even moreso when I actually watched the movie itself. There were only a couple of scenes where the dramatic tension managed to outweigh and gain dominance over the lower production values.

The film may have depicted the superficial plastic elements of McKean's work, but failed to truly translate and convey the essense of his elegantly regal whimsical art.

 

[Incrediblejeff]

I loved it,I rented it a couple of months ago.Fun movie.

 

[TheSaintofKillers]

I dug it but I'm too tired to get into an intelligent argument with Saint, which I did in another thread.

Yeah, i'm repeating myself, am I not ?

 

[TheSaintofKillers]

But they were bringing to life McKean's illustrations not trying to recreate Jim Henson's Muppet world. McKean has a unique style and that's what they were trying to capture, which they did and pretty well. Just as in Labyrinth and Dark Crystal they captured the essence of Brian Froud's work.

The Henson company has to evolve and change or it will stagnate and die out, and that's what they are trying to do.

Evolve and change ? They could simply make more complicated puppets.

Tell me, which movie will age better in the next ten years, the dark crystal, or Mirrormask, as far as FX goes ?

 

[Obi-Ron]

They could simply make more complicated puppets.

That's exactly what CG is, from a certain point of view.

 

[TheSaintofKillers]

That's exactly what CG is, from a certain point of view.

Um, no.

 

[Mrh7448]

Evolve and change ? They could simply make more complicated puppets.

Tell me, which movie will age better in the next ten years, the dark crystal, or Mirrormask, as far as FX goes ?

It's part of a learning process yeah, it may not have been as great as some other stuff but I'm sure they learned from doing it.

I'm trying to say they shouldn't keep with the muppets either, but there's room for them to do both and not just keep to the one field, business expand as new technology come into play and they are trying to adapt to that.

They were going for a certain look for this movie and their CGI fit better than just using puppets. Does this mean for the Dark Crystal sequel they should use the same thing, know it wouldn't fit.

Would you have preferred Yoda to stay as a muppet in the movies when they have the technology to make him move and walk and talk. (That's not to say the animation was perfect, but it exceeded what a puppet could ever do)

 

[primemover]

Decent flick, a bit too 'out there' for me, I need SOME grounds in reality

Dark Crystal and Mirrormask are completely different types of films, while one worked with puppets and real sets, this one needed more surreality which CG is capable of and brought.

 

[Mrh7448]

Decent flick, a bit too 'out there' for me, I need SOME grounds in reality

Dark Crystal and Mirrormask are completely different types of films, while one worked with puppets and real sets, this one needed more surreality which CG is capable of and brought.

Exactly, Henson's company is branching out into different areas. It's not a bad thing as long as they don't forget what got them to that point.

 

[TheSaintofKillers]

It's part of a learning process yeah, it may not have been as great as some other stuff but I'm sure they learned from doing it.

I'm trying to say they shouldn't keep with the muppets either, but there's room for them to do both and not just keep to the one field, business expand as new technology come into play and they are trying to adapt to that.

They were going for a certain look for this movie and their CGI fit better than just using puppets. Does this mean for the Dark Crystal sequel they should use the same thing, know it wouldn't fit.

Would you have preferred Yoda to stay as a muppet in the movies when they have the technology to make him move and walk and talk. (That's not to say the animation was perfect, but it exceeded what a puppet could ever do)

Yoda as a puppet DID work better, actually. So, yes, I would have preferred a puppet yoda, and maybe a cgi yoda when he does some ninja moves.

A mix is better than full CGI. I can accept CGI, but it has to be well used. In mirrormask, it sure wasn't. It was even worse than the star wars prequel, good lord...

 

[TheSaintofKillers]

Decent flick, a bit too 'out there' for me, I need SOME grounds in reality

Dark Crystal and Mirrormask are completely different types of films, while one worked with puppets and real sets, this one needed more surreality which CG is capable of and brought.

If I can create surreal images myself for my movies with a mere 2000$, they sure as **** can with their 4 millions, without having to use CGI.

They have no excuses. It is lazyness.

 

[primemover]

If I can create surreal images myself for my movies with a mere 2000$, they sure as **** can with their 4 millions, without having to use CGI.

They have no excuses. It is lazyness.

You're going to have to show us these images that compare to a Hollywood movie, or you have no grounds, oh yeah and they should hold up to theater resolution. The onus is on you now.

The only method I can see them using to do this type of movie any better was to do something like the stop-motion in those early Tool videos. Those videos always put me on edge.

You also have to realize that not all of that '4 millions' goes to the special effects, there are other costs like you know, actors, writers, directors, producers, grips, best boys, cinematographers, caterers, assistants, sets, cameras, lights, musicians, editors, casting agents, sound, stunts, and more. They'd be lucky to have a few hundred thousand for visual effects and art direction at the end of the day.

 

[DOG LIPS]

Rented it not too long ago, it was a mind-trip kind of movie, but it was pretty good. The girl was cute.

 

[FURYoftheSTORM]

I'll admit I loved the Dark Crystal and I miss the charm of the puppets but I don't feel it necessary to condemn the film simply because they decided to go with cgi. There are just some things that you can't do with puppets if you want to have the film completed inside of a decade.

But I would like to say that I did think puppet yoda was much better than cg yoda.