It a Shyamalan all over again. This movie starts very well and the plot is entrancing when it builds up. But somehow the ending and the antagonists and monster reveal make all expectation loss.
The movie prologue is excellent the camera tries to keep a scene where Mina is watching by something like a fashion doll or people in the street or when someone is talking to her the face is covered like she is talking to a mirror as well as the bathroom scene. An appetizer for the main story. Although an element of the problematic main character didn't fully deliver it makes Mina look like just a normal teenager.
The Forrest introduction is just a missing poster in a gas station and a random guy getting caught by something the only thing that makes this introduction a gimmick is that the forest is unescapable due to it acting like a maze and having low visibility. The mirage thing is trying to deliver the Mina trauma and the back story doesn't work out as it should be
The story and character design are built very poorly there is too much back story of each that has to be delivered and the movie loses its focus on the main character, Mina's story just appears late in the shelter and her drawing habit is just there for the sake of continuity of the movie it doesn't contribute to her personality. Her backstory is fully explained and used only for the final arc which they already escape the forest, idk why the movie has to build it so long from the beginning just to use it only in the final and it doesn't deliver impact that much, feeling like it a kid cartoon when protagonist changes antagonism mind to become a better person. Ciara is just a side character with poor development nothing crucial about her. Daniel has very high expectations of his development love story and his belief, that he has high screen time to shine but Ishana's writing at its finest strikes again. Madeline is supposed to be an unexpected twist on the final arc but there are so many loopholes in the story that just make her story not make sense making the impact low.
The Monster is scary when it does not appear. It doesn't mean that the costume design and story are not good but before we can see it the movie tells us that you cannot see this thing or maybe it don't want to be seen. This makes it very mysterious and scary but the reveal just makes this monster become just a violent creature that can't exposed to light, killing all expectations built before.