Mirrormask: The Illustrated Film Script of the Motion Picture from the Jim Henson Company

The full color illustrations are pictures from the movie, which was amazing! I loved the movie and now I fell in love with the book! This is a must have for the collector!

When I saw this book and looked through it, I thought one thing. "Wow - for a "children's edition", this thing really has a lot of words. I think I'll take a peek inside." The next thing i know, I'm inside the house with my head stuck to a small book, looking through it as if it held something amazing. I've always had this thing for fairytales and, well, mirrormask is a modern day telling of something worthwhile. It has its harrowing portions for the young and it has the funny little portions for the not-to-young, and it has the drawings that one can expect along the way. It really was more than I thought I would EVEr find in a book like this. It had the dark side and the light side and the point to all the sides. Altogether, it was like the movie and yet it was its own thing. If you do not know mirrormask, it rests in the hands of a young girl. She is part of a circus, her father's pride and joy, and everyone would think she would love it there. Her mothe rloves to point out that kids would love to run off and be part of this world, but all she wants to do is "run off and join Real-life." This provokes her mother, who says "you will be the death of me." And then her mother becomes ill and, truly, it seems like she might be the death of her mother. While her mother is sick, she finds herself pulled into this othe rworld, where the queen there is sick and no one knows why. They only know that light is faltering and darkness is arising. So the girl, consumed by enough darkness, tries to cure this world of its affliction. The book is a thing that is a child inside, and I like that. I liked the movie, too, but thebook has more of the fairytale feel to it. It is light in places and dark in others, and it teaches a system of notions and emotions to people who perhaps don't know them or need a nice reminder. Me - I enjoy the reminders and I enjoyed this book, liking the characters and the fact that darkness has a lot of the same reasons as light does. This is uplifting and, at the same time, dark and Gaimanesque.

Helena has been raised in a family of circus performers and dreams of a normal life - until haunting music leads her far from home to a magical world where her real life is stolen. Her only hope is to rescue her new home from a threat - if she can. MirrorMask is a film: Gaiman's story here pairs with artist/director Dave McKean to provide a blend of novella and art, supplemented by images from the film. An appealing, visually vivid format is presented. Diane C. Donovan California Bookwatch

The Children's book, like all of McKean's work, is beautiful. The story is good and funny, although not as full or deep as some of Mr. Gaiman's work. I wish the movie had wider distribution. My children are enjoying the book.

Writer Neil Gaiman has crafted dozens of dark fantasy books and graphic novels over the years; the only thing to expect from him is stuff that is a bit twisted and bizarre. In a good way, that is. But in 2001, he embarked on a different kind of creative journey: Penning "Mirrormask," a Carroll-ian fantasy movie, directed by book illustrator (and Gaiman collaborator) Dave McKean. While the movie isn't yet out, the screenplay is a lavish affair with concept art, photos and background information. Helena is a bored young girl in the circus, wanting a taste of real life. But then real life strikes: During a performance, her mother falls seriously ill and is hospitalized. Unhappy and directionless, Helena falls into another world -- a bizarre place full of masked people, griffins, orbiting giants and malevolent shadows. She is soon told by the Prime Minister that an evil princess (who resembles her) has stolen a magical charm, sending the Queen of that city into a coma -- and her city into chaos. With the comically mercenary Valentine at her side, Helena finds herself sent on a dangerous quest to find the charm -- the mysterious Mirrormask. Half of "Mirrormask"'s appeal is the eerie presentation, along with an archetypical heroine and opposing light/dark kingdoms. And it's a credit to both McKean and Gaiman that their screenplay is a good read on its own, letting eager fans know what to expect when the film finally sees the light of day. What sets "Mirrormask: The Illustrated Film Script" apart from most screenplays? The fact that Gaiman and McKean included storyboard pictures with the dialogue. It's not easy to visualize what's happening in a movie just by reading the script, and so the storyboard images let the readers follow the dialogue more easily. And of course: the photographs -- weird ones, usually patched together with surreal CGI, computer animation and wild makeup. Valentine's masklike face in particular is odd, but strangely convincing. There are even some behind-the-scenes photographs, including bluescreen shots and faux-aged pictures of anti-Helena. To add to the wealth of information, the correspondence between McKean and Gaiman about this film, abbreviations and grammatical errors intact. "Fantasy stories rely on cliche too much, fairy stories about fairies I think are pointless, fairy stories about the people who need to believe in fairies I think are fascinating," McKean writes in one letter. "Mirrormask" seems to be what one would expect from a Gaiman creation: Weird, strange, and surreal, yet also funny and touching. And for anyone anticipating the film, "Mirrormask: the Illustrated Script" is a must-have.

Fifteen years old Helena works very hard in her family's circus. She hates her life, hoping to one day escape and become part of the real world. However, one day her wish comes true, just not her real world. She has ended up in a fantasy realm filled with mythological creatures in which two kingdoms exist in natural balance side by side. One eternally in light, the other forever in darkness. However, the harmony is gone as Helena and her double from this world beyond her imagination have switched places. To return home, Helena must restore the balance. Above is an overly simplification of the delightful fairy tale plot that is some ways will remind the audience of the Wizard of Oz. The book is not a novel, but instead the film script with story boards of Mirrormask Motion Picture. This different tome is fun to follow whether Helena is performing as a sock, working at the circus as a juggler or selling tickets, or meeting strange beings in the fantasy realm as she seeks "ruby slippers' to get back home. Interesting but not for everyone, this is an intriguing picture book that tells the fun tale, but keep in mind it is a script not a graphic novel. Appendices add understanding as the MIRRORMASK -- THE ILLUSTRATED FILM SCRIPT OF THE MOTION PICTURE FROM THE JIM HENSON COMPANY is fun family entertainment with a movie to follow in the Fall. Harriet Klausner