Endor College is run by domineering headmistress Madam Mumblechook (Kate Winslet) and the oddball Doctor Dee (Jim Broadbent), and it's a realm of eerie beauty — alternating between steampunk bustle and space - age grandeur, a place of water - holograms and tornadoes of light, where fish sentries buzz about and people are carried on puffs of clouds. (villagevoice.com)
But every time your eyes are about to roll back into your head at the film's slovenly direction and editing, it'll throw in moments of pathos or images of eerie beauty (everything involving gold or water is aces). (rogerebert.com)
His camera captures the eerie beauty of the stately orphanage, but does it in a way that always suggests someone is watching. (maddwolf.com)