Helena Campbell is a girl in the thralls of puberty. Her parents own a circus and when her mother falls ill, Helena blames herself because of the huge fight they had just before her mother collapsed; its subject being Helena’s desire to live a normal life. On the night that her mother is undergoing surgery, Helena is submerged into a metaphorical dream world made up of her own drawings; featuring magical creatures, disappointed books and a comatose queen who requires a charm to be revived, or else this world will be devoured by shadow.

Mirror Mask, is created in unison with the Jim Henson Company, designed and directed by Dave McKean and written by Neil Gaiman from a story idea by Gaiman and Mckean. The film is mostly computer-made. A lot of the sets are digital and most of the actors are digitally altered, but if you’re thinking Sin City right now, you’re very much mistaken. In Mirror Mask often only (parts of) the performers’ faces are used. For instance: the only thing visible of Stephen Fry (who is inspiredly cast as the librarian) is his mouth. The majority of the other performers (digital or otherwise) wear masks and/or have had their faces digitally transfigured.

There is no argument that Mirror Mask is visually stunning. It may very well be one of the most beautiful films you’ll ever see. But it’s all beautiful wrapping; there is a vast emptiness beneath its exterior, due to the very flimsy story at the base of it. And that means that all the pretty pictures before your eyes come to nothing more than filler, their splendour and virtuosity eventually becoming tiresome. The fact that Neil Gaiman is the co-writer of Good Omens, one of the funniest books ever, makes this lack of narrative particularly disappointing. Gaiman can do so much better than he has done here!

This “appearance over content“-approach extends to Stephanie Leonidas, the young actress playing Helena. She was clearly chosen for her good looks (not to mention a mouth that could give Angelina Jolie a run for her money). Leonidas’ acting is as flat at the proverbial dime and she has only one facial expression at her disposal to convey Helena’s turmoil. This is even more annoying since, being unmasked, she is the only one actually using her face. The other actors (including the delectable Mr. Fry) are not visible (long) enough to make a difference.

In a weird way, this film made me want to see Zang Yimou’s Hero again. The first time I watched that movie I was stunned into silence by its visual beauty. To me Hero is chapstick for the soul. The reason I bring this up is that Mirror Mask achieved the opposite in me. Created from a digital world where anything should have been possible, Mirror Mask has only managed to make me irritable. By the time I was more than halfway through (56 minutes into the movie, so don’t say I didn’t give it a go) I had lost patience with it and just did not care where it would lead. Mirror Mask is too much varnish and not enough substance.

Where Hero offers me tranquillity and peace every time I see it, a feeling that is only increased by the storyline, Mirror Mask’s empty vessel feels like a facial scrub that has gone on too long. What should have been soothing and refreshing, has become an unpleasant grinding sensation, and really al you want is for it to stop.