MirrorMask is a 2005 British-American dark fantasy film designed and directed by Dave McKean, and written by Neil Gaiman from a story they developed together.

Produced by The Jim Henson Company, the film stars Stephanie Leonidas, Jason Barry, Rob Brydon, and Gina McKee.

Initially intended for the direct-to-video market,[2] MirrorMask premiered at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival before receiving a limited theatrical run in the United States on September 30, 2005.

Helena Campbell works alongside her parents Joanne and Morris at their family circus, but desires to join real life.

The third, a juggler named Valentine, helps to quickly direct Helena to safety via magical flying books.

Helena notes the resemblance of the Queen and Minister to her mother and father, and offers to help recover the charm along with Valentine.

As they strive to stay ahead of the shadows, Helena and Valentine follow clues to the charm, called the "MirrorMask".

The doppelgänger soon becomes aware of her presence in the drawings and begins to destroy them, causing parts of the fantasy world to collapse.

The film also features appearances by Dora Bryan and the voices of Stephen Fry, Lenny Henry, Robert Llewellyn, and others.

Executive producer Michael Polis mentioned that the idea of creating MirrorMask began when The Jim Henson Company and Sony Pictures expressed interest in making a film that would sell as well in video release as Labyrinth and The Dark Crystal based on the two films' consistent DVD sales in 1999.

"[10] McKean and Gaiman worked on the story and concepts for the film over a span of two weeks in February 2002 at the Henson's family home.

[8] McKean said that Labyrinth provided something of a starting point for the project, and that he liked the "human element of that film," but that ultimately the story of MirrorMask was something that he and Gaiman came up with on their own.

[10] He assigned entire sequences rather than tiny pieces to individual artists, so that the young professionals working on the film would have the creative opportunity to make part of it their own.

[14] Artist Ian Miller also contributed to the designs of trees and certain other objects in the film, and also provided some of the illustrations pinned to Helena's bedroom wall.

McKean said that they could not afford to have a full orchestra due to budget constraints, but that they commissioned several of Ballamy's contacts to help record the music.

[24] Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film two out of four stars, praising the film's visual artistry but stating that there is "no narrative engine to pull us past the visual scenery", and that he "suspected the filmmakers began with a lot of ideas about how the movie should look, but without a clue about pacing, plotting or destination.

[27] Desson Thomson of The Washington Post described the film as "so single-minded in its reach for fantasy, it becomes the genre's evil opposite: banality.

[30] In 2005, Tokyopop, in partnership with The Jim Henson Company, announced plans to publish a manga-style comic prequel to the film, which would center around the Princess' escape from the Dark Palace and how she acquired the MirrorMask.

[34] A book containing the film's complete storyboard and script as well as some photographs and archival text by Gaiman and McKean, titled The Alchemy of MirrorMask, was also published by HarperCollins in November 2005.