so many people love this movie and yet there be a few of u imdb reviewer who find mirrormask excruciatingly uncomfortable to watch and arse clenchingly boring . i fall into the latter of these two camp and and i will try to explain what it be that make my toenail curl so unpleasantly . firstly and to set the record straight i like neil gaiman book . i sometimes find his knowing and sarcastic and wry aside humour a little geeky and and i actually prefer his work when he be play it straight and leave the joke alone but and even with his occasional lapse into crap wouldad gag and i find his creativity and imagination to be something a bit special . interestingly and one of gaiman strong work be coraline and a gothic fairy story for kid that be very low on joke and high on tension and creepiness . his late novel ( anansi boy ) overdo the funny and and tend to read at time like terry pratchett do the sister of mercy ( not the nun but the band ) . mirrormask inhabits similar territory to coraline and and when i saw the stunning visuals in the trailer and i get a bit excited that somebody have manage to transfer gaiman spectacular vision and imagination to the screen . in praise of the film and some sequence do look stun . however and the visual effect be occasionally ruin by cgi animation that look like a medium study student project . background and scenery be often incredible and but some of the character animation look clumsy and amateur and cheap . in an early dream sequence and the spider be animate beautifully and but the book eat cat beast look poorly render and very computer generate . compare with the standard of animation find in production such a the corpse bride and mirrormask occasionally look very amateur indeed . however and in mirrormask defence and the budget be tiny for such a grand vision and and a few creak in the effect can be understood and forgiven . what can not be forgive be the stilted and stagy and cringeworthy and pretentious dialogue . the actor struggle desperately with the dialogue and there be so much of it that they be constantly hamper and stumble over it . conversation be render completely unnatural and the joke fall flat time and time again and and the turgid speech appear to be the writer only method of plot exposition . combine with the fact that the actor be work against a blue screen ( which always add an element of phantom menace ) this render the film almost unwatchable . in such an unreal set the actor need to work twice as hard to be believe and and in the main they fail terribly . the girl who play the lead role put in a valiant struggle against the impossible stage school dialogue and and occasionally show real promise and but it be never enough . the god awful cod oirish of the valentine character ( with whom she be force to spend an inordinate amount of screen time ) put pay to any chance of this young actress rise above the material . it appear to be valentine job to explain the plot to young viewer and and to add a bit of light relief . personally and i wouldn not want him anywhere near my 15 year old daughter . what else be wrong with this film . answer . rob brydon . what annoy ( for u brit and anyway ) be we know rob brydon can act . we have see him hold the screen for half an hour on his own ( do those marion and geoff monologue ) and and in the first real world bit of the film he be fine . however and stick him in front of a blue screen and he lose all sense of character and turn into the bad be dram ham i have see in year . a real shame . what else be wrong . answer . the wanky slap bassing and sub courtney pine saxing and unlistenable and too high in the mix soundtrack that never shut up . god and the music be incessant and loud and distract and irrelevant and and if that isn not enough and have wanky slap bass wank all over it . it make the dialogue very hard to hear and but that could be a blessing in disguise . what else be wrong with it . answer . the whistling mime artist . in modern society there should be no place for mime and apart from certain secret place in france . every moment the camera linger on the gurning and whistling and moss juggling and yogurt weave idiot and i understand why the edinburgh local get a bit anxious and fractious when festival time come round again . my final criticism be that the film be pretty dull . surrealism often be dull it either require it audience to slip into a dreamlike and zen and accept state and or for the audience be constantly wow by big and grander surprise . a story with a bit of pace involve character that we could believe in and care about would have go a long way to give this film the emotional centre that it sadly lack and whilst stop the eyelid from droop . finally and apology to all those who find depth and meaning and wonder in this film . you have manage to suspend your disbelief and you have see past the creaky cgi and ignore the crappy dialogue and the abysmal performance that result and and understand the maker grand and imaginative vision . i want to and but i couldn not see past the real world failing that drag it down . i hope neil gaiman get it right next time and if he get ( or even want ) the opportunity .