Coraline

Coraline

“Coraline” is the latest film adaptation of one of Neil Gaiman’s stories. Like “MirrorMask” this is also essentially a fairy tale, but don’t be fooled like I was. It’s not the usual silly and naive kiddy stuff with colorful puppies or robots or dinosaurs or other kiddy friendly characters. “Coraline”, as much as this sounds silly, is a horror story for a younger generation, but appealing to both young and old equally. I’d dare to say to the old even more than the young. The reason for most negative reviews is the same – “Coraline” is too dark, to gritty, to scary and inappropriate for children. “[Coraline] offers an extremely dark view of human nature without providing much to relieve it” as one critic said.

The problem with the western world is the assumption that anything animated must be and is only for kids. That’s the reason why westerners are appalled and terrified at the brutality of some Japanese “cartoons”. They, in turn, understand that animation can be a mean to create anything – from a “Pokémon” tale for preschool kids to “Kite”, a hentai thriller involving sexual child abuse, murder and more, intended for adults.

This is why I was pleasantly surprised when I realized, in the first few minutes, that “Coraline” will offer me so much more than I originally expected. And I surely give me deepest regards to Henry Selick and production companies Laika Entertainment/Pandemonium for actually making “Coraline” the way it is and not cutting or censoring anything for the sake of MPAA rating.

The Jones family just moved to the rustic apartment in the Pink Palace house. Coraline Jones is a girl whose parents pay little or no attention to her, due to their work and busy schedule. So she is left on her own, much to her disappointment. The Pink Palace is very old, and one day she finds a small secret door that lead to… the Pink Palace again, but this time something is different. It’s not the cold and gritty place she knows, and what’s more important – there she meets her “other’ parents, who are the total opposites of her “real” parents.

Featuring the voices of: Dakota Fanning, Terry Hatcher, Jennifer Saunders, Dawn French, Keith David, John Hodgman, Robert Bailey, Jr. and my favorite Ian McShane.

Although I didn’t read the book, I understand there have been a few changes made for the film, of course. I’ve seen very little book fans complain, so I guess it’s alright. “Coraline” features great (and spooky) musical score written by Bruno Coulais. The best part undoubtedly is the astonishing stop-motion animation.

I give the film and 8 for its basic awesomeness and +1 for the beautiful animation. Be sure not to miss it, regardless of your age.

Rating: 9/10

- review by Ventilation Shaft

Recommendations:

Watching on Wednesday: Coraline

Title: Coraline
Type: Movie
Age Group: Youth +
Release Year: 2009
My Rating: 4/5

Coraline moves to a new home out in the country. A curious girl that can not sit still, she looks for something exciting to do. But how exciting can life get when you live out in the middle of nowhere with some odd neighbours?

Her mother decides to show her daughter something so she can stop being a bother. This something? A tiny door, hidden in their house. But there is only bricks on the other side, for now...

Later, Coraline opens the mysterious door again. This time, there is a tunnel leading her into a whole new world. This can be Coraline's dream come true... or her worst nightmare.

After reading the graphic novel version of Coraline,  I was eager to watch the movie. Unfortunately, I had to watch it on an Ipod of a classmate's in between my accounting classes. I didn't receive the full effects to enjoy the movie (cause I was trying not to get caught by my teacher), but it was definitely amazing.

But Coraline appears to be a little too scary for some kids, for I heard that parents had to remove their children from the theatres before. Although this is a children's movie, it may not be suitable for youngsters who are easily frightened.

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Last updated: 2010-04-09 09:03:07 by user01

CORALINE

***½

After a slightly laboured, drawn-out first half that is nevertheless lovely to look at, this Gothic bit of computer-assisted stop-motion settles into something wonderfully creepy and transporting.

Coraline

This was the movie where Henry Selick got serious recognition as a director. Tim Burton was credited for directing James and the Giant Peach andNightmare Before Christmas, however Selick actually did. Disappearing after 2001'sMonkeybone, Selick returned to his stop-motion roots withCoraline. It took a year and seven months to shoot Coralinealong with two years of post-production. Everything that the crew worked on for this delight certainly paid off! Dakota Fanning was amazing voicing Coraline. It makes you forget that she's a teenager now; almost all grown up, since she brings her character to life. The book by Neil Gaiman itself is utter brilliance, and the movie I believe only accompanies it as a modern classic children's tale. To call Coraline better than Uppretty much tells you how much I indeed loved it. In a winter month with nothing good coming out (Tyler Perry and the Jonas Brother, akk!), Coraline came marching through.

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-Nick

Coraline (3-D)

I recently had the opportunity to rewatch “Coraline” in 3D at the Alamo Drafthouse. Before I go any further, let me comment on the Alamo Drafthouse. If you have the privilege of living near the Austin area, (Texas, that is) you are missing out if you don't see a movie at any of the four Alamo Drafthouses.  Three of the four are original Drafthouses, an Austin institution for over a decade, and despite the fact that the fourth one is a franchise, I can personally vouch for it. The Alamo Drafthouse is a unique movie going experience. Movies, good food, a wide selection of beer and other potent potables, no commercials before the movies, and unique pre show entertainment, not to mention a generally cool and laid back Austin attitude.  If you only go to see a first run movie, you have only scratched the surface of the Drafthouse experience. I could go on and on, but I'll stop gushing there. If you really want to know more, there is a link above and RSS feeds from the Drafthouse on the right of the page.

     Now, “Coraline”. Based on a novella by Neil Gaiman, who is well known for, rather graphic, graphic novels, as well as some recent, spooky children's books, and directed by Henry Selick of "The Nightmare Before Christmas" fame, “Coraline” is not your typical kiddie flick. Young children should not see this movie. It'll only frighten them. However, for children mature enough to handle a little bit of scary stuff, and for adults of all ages, "Coraline" is an amazing experience and a great film. Now, I don't say stuff like "adults of all ages" lightly. This is not like most kids films, where the kids are entertained, but not really challenged, and the adults are bored with the overly simplistic plot and occasionally entertained by some off color jokes that go over the kids’ heads, you hope. "Coraline" is a very well made and developed movie. Great writing, great direction, great voice acting, a really solid script, and visually, this movie is stunning. The film is shot entirely in stop motion animation, using miniature puppets, and augmented in places with a little bit of CGI, in 2-D, "Coraline" is truly an amazing visual experience. However, in 3-D, well, I was blown away. I can say, without a doubt, that this movie is the only one to date that has used this new 3-D technology correctly. All the other 3-D, animated kids movies to date, computer animated, every one of them, don't do 3-D well, mainly because a computer generated image is, well, flat, and you have to fake the third dimension. Other live action movies, well, they use it as a gimmick. "Coraline", however, was the perfect vehicle for 3-D. The little puppets and miniature, handmade sets, are all in three dimension to begin with. They translate over very well and allow a world of miniature puppets seem quite real. Also, most of the 3-D is inside the screen, not popping off the screen into your face. There are a few, brief moments like that, but they are all appropriate for the action on the screen and don't take you out of the movie. Rather, they draw you in. Well, except for the needle in the opening sequence, but you can forgive one 'ohh ahh' moment in the opening title sequence before the movie has really started. If you have the opportunity to see this movie, in a theater, in 3-D, do it. You will not be disappointed. (You will be disappointed with the DVD 3-D. Just skip that.)

     "Coraline" is a modern day fairy tale, done in the tradition of Grimm's fairy tales, about a maybe 12 year old girl, Coraline Jones, voiced by Dakota Fanning, who has just moved into an aging boarding house with her parents, voiced by Teri Hatcher and John (I'm a PC) Hodgman, and is utterly bored and alone. Her parents work at home as writers and are trying to finish a gardening catalog that they are desperately behind on, so, at the moment, they have little time for their daughter. The new neighbors are elderly and eccentric or just plain odd, and it seems to be raining most of the time, confining Coraline to the inside of a old house with very little to do. That is, until, she finds a small, mysterious door that leads to another world; a world where everything is the same, except better. However, this other, better world comes at a price, and Coraline soon finds herself fighting to save herself, her parents, and the ghosts of other children trapped there. Truly, a wonderful story, a great movie, an incredible experience in 2-D, and an absolute must see in a theater in 3-D.

     I would be remiss if I didn't mention some of the other voice talent in this movie. Robert Bailey Jr. does an excellent job as Wybie Lovat, the slightly weird neighbor kid who, initially, irritates Coraline to no end. Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders, of British comedy fame, do an incredible job as Miss Spink and Miss Forcible, former British (bawdy) stage actresses, who are now well past those days but still maintain a love of theater. Keith David provides a wonderfully mellow baritone voice to Wybie's pet cat, who only talks in the 'other' world, maintaining a separation of real and magical realms. And Ian McShane, from HBO's Deadwood and, more recently, NBC's Kings, lends his incredible voice talent to the Amazing Mr. Bobinsky, a former Russian acrobat who is now, supposedly, training a mouse circus in his attic apartment. Credit, ultimately, must go to Henry Selick though, for directing all of these incredible voice talents. This, once again, isn't your typical kiddie film, where a couple of top name comedians go nuts on the mic for a few days and they write half the movie around their manic style. Henry Selick took years to record carefully directed voice work from each of his actors and got, from each one, a magnificent performance.

     Ok, I should end this review, but I have one more thing to say. Not only is this a kids movie that is actually enjoyable to adults, and enjoyable on an adult level, (parents may even be scared a bit, but not by what scares their children) but it is also one of those rare children's movies that has real characters in it. The adults act like adults, not arch stereotypes or like children themselves, and the kids act like kids. This is a huge departure from any Disney film you've ever seen and nothing like most kids movies. It is so rare to get a kids movie with real, believable characters in it that it is worth mentioning.

     If you get the opportunity, watch "Coraline." If you get the rare opportunity to see it in 3-D, don't hesitate. You won't be disappointed. 

Brian
Ciné Critique Américain

Last updated: 2010-02-14 11:24:05 by BrianSmith

Movie Review - Coraline

This review was written viewing the 2D version only. I'm sure the 3D version would have been even better.

Ah, being young and adventurous again; curious about the world and the way it works, never afraid to step on toes by exploring places you might not be allowed to go... That's where Coraline takes me, anyway - a fairytale world where the only thing off-limits is the imagination.

Director Henry Selick brings the adventure out of the film's animation, with the colors and rich environmental detail sucking the viewer in to the strange, inviting textures of both the realistic and illusional worlds. Coraline is a perplexing and intricate young lady, and Selick explores her personality by situating her in positions that require her to act.

The plot is charming, and since it came from Neil Gaiman, dark, vivid, strange, and full of wild hallucinatory sequences, as if we're on some good drug trip. The animation brings Gaiman's visions to life with wonderful scenery and choreography; perhaps the most successful of these sequences is the blooming of Coraline's Other Father's garden, in which we're treated to lush landscapes of glowing colors and intricate set pieces that pop out of the screen in both 2D and 3D.

Coraline looks fantastic, it really does. And the story lends itself to the animation. The film retains a creepiness with the button-eyed people that is fantastically dark and crooked. It resembles a Grimm fairy tale - it's got a good message for kids, designed for kids, but there's also a violent side to it that appeals to adults as well. Plus, the game-like nature in which the film progresses is so enthralling that one can't help but follow with wide eyes.

I mentioned adventure earlier; Coraline's direction brings out the curious kid in all of us, and I soon found myself imagining myself in Coraline's shoes. Maybe it puts the film into a perspective of realism, giving me the ability to ask myself if this seems plausible or if that would really happen. I can safely say yes to both; if I was Coraline, I'd have done the same thing. But even more-so, for an adult to relate to a child in this way speaks for how children might relate to the wonderful protagonist themselves - they'll get the themes of loving what you have vicariously through Coraline, an adventure all on its own.

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Last updated: 2010-01-17 04:07:36 by user01

Coraline

(The version I watched was in 2D)

Violence and strong imagery can be suggested implicitly; “Coraline” does this so well it manages to be creepier and scarier than most of Hollywood’s horror output. It’s a terror film for every age — it doesn’t insult anyone’s intelligence. It’s absolutely freaking charming in its spookiness, visual design and imagination. It already starts with a doll having its buttons (representing her eyes) taken off her face, and her “mouth” ripped open — an image with an obvious violent undertone, but nothing more serious than a simple object being meddled with.

Coraline is a whiny young girl, but she has a reason: having just moved to a house she dislikes and with parents who are grumpily immersed in their work, she has nobody to talk to but her strange neighbor, a kid brilliantly called Whyborne, two eccentric old ladies and an old, overweight acrobat . Trying desperately to find something to do, Coraline discovers a door that leads to the same house — only its inhabitants are happy, successful versions of the people from the real house. Her father and mother, especially, are loving and caring. Another difference is that all of them have buttons instead of eyes. That’s when Coraline finds out that, in order to be able to stay in the house forever, she needs to sew the buttons to her own eyes – literally.

Written and directed by Henry Selick (no, not Tim freaking Burton), the director of “The Nightmare Before Christmas” (no, it wasn’t directed by Tim freaking Burton, for crying it loud), based on the book by Neil Gaiman, “Coraline” is a creepy film. With a mostly greyish cinematography, it strongly portrays the poor girl’s loneliness while, at the same time, showing signs of her selfish, attention-craving behaviour. The art direction, which is motherloving phenomenal, also contributes to this with the house she lives in, which is empty and devoid of life (especially her furniture-deprived bedroom), and the character design – her mother and father both have bags under their tired eyes and slouched stances. The acrobat has a prominent, hairy belly and the two eccentric old ladies, a collection of dogs — stuffed dead dogs that they didn’t have the heart to bury (this leads to one of the darkest and funniest jokes in the film, when one of the old ladies is sewing a pair of wings). To make things worse, they’re both weird-looking – one is fat and rugged, the other has freaking huge breasts.

However, the other world is completely different. Colorful and magical, it’s no wonder Coraline is enchanted by it – everyone wants to make her happy there. They seem to have no other goal, even personal ones — something Coraline, in her selfish young mind, fails to notice. But this world gradually reveals itself something entirely different, and this is where the art direction truly shines (the visual of the “other mother” is quite an image).

Full of suggestive scenes, this film is at the same time innocent and cruel – and extracts humour from this attitude, with cannons that fire cotton candy and nearly-nude women who turn out to be wearingcostumes of nearly nude women (I could hear the parents gasping in the theatre, than being guiltily relieved when they see they’re just costumes — a touch of genius from the film). The movie acknowledges its obvious Lewis Carroll influence through the black cat that is capable of moving between worlds, as the legend says they do.

If the visuals and the art direction alone are imaginative and brilliant (not to mention the exceptional soundtrack), the same can be said of the animation achieved via the charming stop-motion technique. The characters have appropriate facial expressions and their movement reflects their mood and personality. Henry Selick added some digital touches to it, but nothing that outshines the animation at all. Wisely, however, he does not rely on the animators alone, choosing beautifully-composed camera angles — and the camera isn’t static, either; like the characters, it moves around as well (which is not easy to do in stop-motion).

Selick has no trouble with Neil Gaiman’s wittily dark sense of humour either, adapting it to film smoothly – the aforementioned stuffed dogs, the old woman’s humongous breasts, Whyborne’s name — it all creates an enchanting universe and easily made me care about those characters — which is vital to make the film tense.

And it is. While filmmakers like Eli Roth seem to believe the more blood on the screen, the scariest it’ll be, Selick and Gaiman know that tension is created by putting a character we care about in a seemingly unsolvable, dangerous situation — which is what happens to poor Coraline. In “Hostel”, I couldn’t seriously give two poos about the protagonist being trapped in a torture chamber — but I certainly hoped that Coraline could escape from that faux-wonderland and go back to her monotonous, but undeniably real life.

As for the cast, which includes the talented Dakota Fanning — I can’t say, because this is a “kiddie film” and therefore dubbed in Portuguese. I have to say the Portuguese voiceovers surprised me — they are even worse than I thought they would be. Fortunately, that didn’t come even close to ruining the film.

“Oh, but IS ‘Coraline’ a kiddie film indeed? I hear it’s quite scary for kids…” It’s scary for everyone. What’s wrong with that? Don’t kids love being scared? Aren’t fairy tales quite scary? Isn’t Red Riding Hood’s grandmother eaten by a huge wolf? And that is in the re-told, “sanitized” version of the tale, which is originally far, far worse and more gruesome.

No, “Coraline” is a terrific film. It’s imaginative, fun and charming in a delightfully spooky way. It’s an adventure that any person can enjoy. Its imagery, however strong and whatever it implies, is implicit; like the swearwords in this review. So take your kids, take your own butt as well and have some fun.

Written by André Navarro on February 20th 2009 

http://andrenavarro.wordpress.com/

Last updated: 2009-12-21 05:17:41 by andre_navarro

An enjoyable, escapist fantasy

Right from the start, the 3D experience was mesmerizing. During the introduction sequence, when a doll is being sewed, I thought I could feel the doll if I just stretched my hand out. This is one movie where the 3D experience was definitely worthwhile. Based on the novel by Neil Gaiman, I certainly wasn't expecting a run-of-the-mill children's show. Though this movie had its dark tone, I think children, especially those who can appreciate films other than those that Miley Cyrus appears in, will enjoy this show. It'll make children feel wishful (if not too frightened by the visuals) and adults whimsical.

Full review at Yuhui's Movie Blogger: http://bit.ly/2AT3zh

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