Magical Style, but not much substance

Just saw this- I think the low rating (currently 5ish) is a bit low but fair enough.

The movie has magic, that's true; the costumes, the fairy tale motifs and turns of phrase, and the sequences of children's imagination are all wonderfully done. Despite the trailer, this is no retelling of "Peter Pan" or "Alice in Wonderland," but it does like to blend those worlds into the story.

But even while watching it, I was a bit confused about what was real and what wasn't. Obviously, a fight on a pirate ship wasn't real... but then when two under-ten kids sneak away in the middle of the night to a pawnbroker's in London, and they're helped by some Baker Street Irregulars, and everything's all magical, it really isn't clear what's going on. By the ending, which I won't spoil, I think the director herself was a bit confused on what happened. It almost felt like the story stopped moving halfway through, leaving the characters to bumble around.

So, while I commend the style and the acting, it really seemed to rely a bit too much on the fantasy elements.