 The 3D Works. |
| Review Date: July 28, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Emad Khan, Chicago, IL United States |
I was let down when I saw the paper glasses that it comes with. I was expecting clear, transparent 3D glasses but the glasses that it comes with have Pinkish and Greenish lenses.
But after watching the movie with glasses I found that they worked pretty good. I haven't seen Coraline 3D in theatres, but I was blown away with some of the 3D scenes. The glasses do take away the bright vibrant colors (not too much though, Coraline's bright orange coat and Blue hair were still vibrant) but add a completely new feel and mood to the movie that's very appropriate for it.
Some people have said that only a few selected scenes are in 3d. I didn't feel this at all. The entire movie was in 3D. Maybe a couple close up scenes where there wouldn't be too much depth to begin with may be 2D, ( I don't know) But the rest was completely 3D.
I watched the movie on Blu-ray and on an HD TV. That's the only way to get the best picture possible.
There are almost 2 different version of Coraline. The 3D and the regular versions. They both create two completely different experiences. When watching in 3D, you feel like you've been transported into a different world that's gloomy and dark. In 2D Blu ray, you get to observe the same world with rich details that aren't visible in the 3D.
So this is defiantly worth buying. The 3D is not as good as the theatres but still works splendidly.
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You are not my mother
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| Review Date: May 6, 2009 |
| Reviewer: E. A Solinas, MD USA |
Nobody can drench a book in creepy, dank atmosphere like Neil Gaiman, infused with humor and more than a little horror.
Fortunately that flavour is kept alive in the movie adaptation of "Coraline," brought to life by the talented Henry Selick. It's a haunting little dark fairy tale full of decayed apartments, dancing rats and eerie soulless doppelgangers, as well as a gutsy heroine who finds herself in this ominous "other" world.
Newly moved into an aged apartment, Coraline (Dakota Fanning) is bored. Her parents are too busy to do anything with her, and her neighbors are either insane or boring. The one exception is Wybie, a boy who annoys her no end.
It's the sort of relentlessly dull world that any little girl would want to escape from -- until Coraline does. She encounters a plastered-up door and a colourful wormhole, leading to a doppelganger of new home. In fact, it's so similar that she has a button-eyed "other mother" (Teri Hatcher) and matching "other father," (John Hodgman) as well as great food, games, a shimmering magic garden, a chorus of circus rodents and magic toys.
At first Coraline is fascinated by the other world, especially since her other parents are as attentive as her real ones aren't. Then she finds her real parents sealed inside a mirror. With the help of a sarcastic cat, Coraline ventures back into the other world. But with her parents and a trio of dead children held hostage, Coraline's only hope is to gamble with her own freedom -- and she'll be trapped forever if she fails.
Neil Gaiman's book "Coraline" is a brilliant dark fairy-tale vibe -- decayed apartments, dead children, spiderwebs, beetles, disembodied hands, button eyes, and an insectile button-eyed woman who wants to claim Coraline for herself. It's a fairy tale world that turns into a nightmare realm where souls are lost and horrific things scuttle in the shadows.
Most directors would turn the story into a cutsy, unscary affair... but not the director of "The Nightmare Before Christmas" and "James and the Giant Peach." Instead, Selick gives it a dark, cobwebby atmosphere, brilliant colours and surreal details (the button eclipsing the moon). And it's full of lovely details that could have been silly (the creepy-crawly claw hand) yet work brilliantly.
The story starts off as merely surreal, but grows more ghastly and eerie as the movie unwinds -- and in the last third, the slow-moving story suddenly spins into a thoroughly spooky territory, and a truly terrifying climax where the Other Mother shows her true self. And along the way, there are plenty of wonderfully creepy moments -- the three ghosts in a rotting bedroom/mirror, the offering of buttons and thick black thread, weird circus acts, and much more. The horror is subtle, the delicious creepiness is not.
Coraline -- the Alice in this Notsowonderland -- is a wonderful little heroine: strong, sensible, self-sufficient but still fairly freaked out about what is happening around her. Normally I'm not crazy about Dakota Fanning, but voice-only she's quite good in this role.
The sarcastic cat is a wonderful counterpoint, and the movie's original character Wybie makes a nice companion (albeit an extraneous one). And the other mother is the stuff of nightmares -- she's utterly inhuman and merciless, and by the movie's climax she's become the stuff of nightmares. Oh, and French and Saunders make a pair of fun cameos as the kooky neighbors.
"Coraline" is a brilliantly dark little movie, full of dark magic and eerie creatures. Definitely one of this year's must-sees. |
Alice Skellington, The Movie
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| Review Date: June 5, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Karen Joan, Texas |
Question: What would you get if Alice Liddell married Jack Skellington?
Answer: CORALINE
The animated film, CORALINE is a deliciously eerie movie adaptation of the novel by Neil Gaiman. This dark odyssey starts with a young girl's boredom and ends with her being appreciative of her own backyard. Both figuratively and literally. It is a well-told tale reminiscent of Through the Looking Glass, The Wizard of Oz, and Hansel and Gretel. What I particularly liked about the tale was that CORALINE's parents are alive and remain so from beginning to end. Yeah for living parents!
When first we see CORALINE (not Caroline, as she has to remind folks quite often) (voiced by Dakota Fanning), she is bored. She lives in an apartment with her mother and father, both of whom work from home but can't give her the attention she craves. She tries visiting the old Vaudevillian ladies who live upstairs as well as the crazy old man who trains the mice, but she just doesn't understand them. Huh. Then she finds the key and the door, and the passage beyond that's sometimes there and sometimes not. The old man says that the mice have a message for her: don't enter the passage. If only CORALINE had listened.
What CORALINE finds beyond that passageway is what makes this story interesting. It's what makes all classic fairytales interesting. Temptation, morality, determination, and heroism, all wrapped up like a spooky burrito with a side order of eerie dipping sauce.
CORALINE is a dark movie, full of black magic and creepy critters. Brilliantly directed by Henry Selick (who brought us THE CORPSE BRIDE, JAMES AND THE GIANT PEACH, and THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS) and Michael Cachuela, CORALINE is fast paced and contains just the right amount of spookiness. My 12 year old LOVED this film, and my 4 year old liked it, too. She did not have any bad dreams, and she completely understood that it was not real. The animation is unique and very moody - perfect for this film. The voice talent is all outstanding, but truly you are more interested in this weird and wonderful story than you are the voices.
CORALINE is a MUST SEE movie for 2009 and is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED by my entire family. We had a great time watching it together. CORALINE might not be typical family movie night fare, but it worked for us.
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Darkly Creepy and Delightful
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| Review Date: February 19, 2009 |
| Reviewer: thornhillatthemovies.com, Venice, CA United States |
Every so often, you see a film so special, so different, you can't help but count the moments until the film officially becomes a Classic. Such is the case with "Tim Burton's Nightmare Before Christmas". Tim Burton, working with director Henry Selick, conceived a story so unique and original, most people were instantly transfixed and captivated by the new characters and the magical quality of the film. The film has rightfully earned the title of "Classic", enjoying limited re-release every year near Halloween. Disneyland transforms the Haunted Mansion every year, inviting Jack Skellington, Zero, Oogie Boogie and Sandy Claus to make appearances throughout the venerable ride. A couple of years ago, the film was converted to 3-D, and now it is a very different experience to see the film in theaters. It is, of course, also available on DVD. Burton and Selick followed "Nightmare" with an adaptation of Roald Dahl's "James and the Giant Peach". It's very good, but not really a classic.
A number of years later, each of the director's made a new entry in the stop- motion animation genre. Tim Burton, working with another director, created "Corpse Bride". And Selick chose to make the live action - stop motion hybrid called "Monkeybone" starring Brendan Fraser and Whoopi Goldberg, among many others.
Both of these films lack a crucial element making the material flawed, at best, and downright awful at worst. What is that crucial element? The other half of the team. In "Corpse Bride", Burton's unique visual style is fully evident and the film is stunning visually. This is really no surprise for a Tim Burton film. All of his films have a stunning, fable like visual quality. But like all of Burton's films, "Corpse Bride" really falters in the storytelling. "Monkey Bone" is, quite simply, a dreadful film. Selick clearly can't guide the human actors as well as he can a puppet and all of the acting is dreadful. Considering the stop motion animation is relegated to a supporting role in this film, the worst part of the film takes center stage.
Now, both directors are returning with new stop motion animation projects. Selick returns as writer and director of "Coraline", based on a book by Neil Gaiman, and presented in 3-D. Burton teams with Timur Babmenetkov, director of the Russian films "Night Watch" and "Day Watch", to bring us "9", a film that appears to be about robot figures trying to rebuild a post-apocalyptic Earth. It will be released on 9-9-09.
"Coraline", written and directed by Selick, is as close to a magical film as I have seen in a number of years. I would definitely recommend seeking out a theater showing the film in 3-D. The film doesn't contain a lot of 3-D tricks, hands and objects flying at the screen so the audience will have the effect of the item flying at them, and 3-D isn't necessary to enjoy the film, but it adds such a depth to the story and the visuals that I can only imagine the film would be completely different without the 3-D glasses. The backgrounds and characters seem to belong in the real world and we get to experience a little of this thanks to the addition of 3-D.
Coraline (voiced by Dakota Fanning) and her parents (Teri Hatcher and John Hodgman, "The Daily Show withy Jon Stewart") move to a new apartment in a dreary old building in the middle of a large field almost completely devoid of both color and plant life. Bored, Coraline tries to get her parents to go on a walk, or to play with her, to do anything, But they are both so busy writing their new gardening catalog (and each hates touching dirt) that they start to get upset with her for being a nuisance. She decides to explore the house and the grounds and soon meets Whybie, the grandson of Coraline's new landlord. As she continues to explore, she meets the elderly British sisters, Miss Forcible and Miss Spink (Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders), former vaudevillians, who live upstairs and a former Russian gymnast, Mr. Bobinsky (Ian McShane, HBO's "Deadwood", "Deathrace") who lives downstairs. She soon finds a small door behind some wallpaper. It's locked, but her annoyed mom is only too glad to open it, anything to stop her daughter from nagging. As Coraline peers inside. She finds a passageway to a parallel world. In this new world, her mom and dad are very attentive and loving, seeking to entertain her all the time. The apartment is bright and colorful. The gardens are overgrown with colorful flowers. A little Scottish Terrier (Keith David) talks. It seems like everything in this new world is designed to make her happy. All Coraline has to do to make her stay in this world permanent is to adapt to it completely and make herself look just like everyone else. And everyone else has black buttons sewn in where their eyes should be.
"Coraline", based on a book by Neil Gaiman, has a dark, fairy tale quality that really helps to set it apart, to make it a little special. All of the best animated films and the best fairy tales are at least a little dark. All of Roald Dahl's children's books have a slightly sinister quality to them; parents die leaving children in strange circumstances or children find escape in slightly sinister adults. Gaiman borrows this quality, bringing a darkness to Coraline's world, both literally and figuratively. Coralline has both of her parents, but she maybe wishes she didn't because all they seem to care about is work leaving her to entertain herself.
When the Jones family moves into their new apartment, Coraline is shocked to find everything so dark and gray and devoid of character. The entire apartment building appears to have seen no sunlight in decades, everything in covered in a gray pallor. When she goes outside to explore, an overcast sky prompts her to wear a rain slicker. But the area looks so devoid of life we have to wonder if the sun has taken a permanent vacation from the area. When she meets Whybie, he doesn't seem to realize there is an alternative because he is so used to the barren landscape.
As in any fable, there has to be an alternative, either good or bad. And in "Coraline", the alternative initially appears very good to the little girl. She follows a secret passageway and ends up in a complete copy of her apartment. It is exactly the same in every way except that it is colorful, furnished with comfortable, homey furnishings and her parents seem particularly intent on making sure their daughter is having fun. In other words, she recognizes it because it is the same, but she is shocked because it is so completely different. She also finds that animals talk in this new world, plants grow and seem to perform and her mom seems particularly interested in making sure her daughter is happy. But as the poster for the film says, "Be careful what you wish for".
Selick and his team do an amazing job of giving each character a distinctive look and personality. And this attention to detail continues throughout every aspect of the environment and story. As Coraline explores the family's new apartment, she looks very large in hallways and small and insignificant in some of the huge, high ceiling rooms. It is a nice way of illustrating how foreign the environment is to her, how much she feels like an alien in these new surroundings.
The large Victorian that houses her family's new apartment is also particularly dark, spooky and unwelcoming. So when Coraline enters the alternative world and everything is painted in deep, but vibrant colors, and everyone seems so welcoming, she dives into the new world.
Not only are her parents very different, but her neighbors are also different. Whybie tries to warn her, but soon, he appears with buttons as eyes and seems much more complacent. Coraline finds a theater in the building and watches an extended performance by the British sisters, the highlight of which is a reenactment of "The Birth of Venus" by the two women and one of the very buxom sisters appears wearing nothing but some pasties and a very small bikini bottom.
"Coraline" has much to discover that I could go on for pages and pages, but that would ruin a lot of the fun. It is better for you to discover it on your own.
I will say that I think "Coraline" is a great film for families with kids over a certain age. The film has some dark elements that might scare some younger kids and even though this is an animated film, if you take very young kids to see it, you'll only have to leave the theater early when they get scared. I know some parents have difficulty taking their kids to films like "Curious George". If this is you, stay away from "Coraline". But if your kids are, oh, at least 10, this is a great choice for the whole family because there is something for everyone to enjoy and delight in.
I hope this film quickly earns the title it deserves allowing it to be enjoyed by generations to come. |
Delicious
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| Review Date: August 5, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Andrew Rowland, |
People keep declaring stop-motion dead, but every couple of years, a movie is made of the very format that used to comprise all mainstream visual effects films. "Coraline" is 2009's entry in this not very long list of feature-length films.
"Coraline" is basically a darker "Alice in Wonderland" with much worse things waiting on the other side of the "Rabbit Hole"(here, a tunnel behind some wallpaper). Director Henry Selick, who's only previous directorial works comprise of "the Nightmare Before Christmas" and "James and the Giant Peach", adapts the book written by Neil Gaiman extremely well, keeping the creepiness intact. If you have kids, at least let them see the movie around the age of 6(the age Gaiman's daughter was when he first read her his book). No one takes such a predictable moral and ending, and makes it worthwhile like Gaiman. In fact, parents are known to be more likely to be scared by this movie than kids. Depending on how old you are(and your outlook on life), you'll either see this as a wonderful, empowering story, or a truly terrifying one. The thing that makes parts of thisith movie (conceptually) disturbing is it's story, which makes it scarier than most horror films of recent years.
The blu-ray's visuals are top-notch, with sharpness, vibrant colors, and very good black/white ratio. The DTS-HD audio track is excellent, with everything heard clearly, and nice use of surrounds for atmosphere. With 3 pip tracks, BD-Live connectivity, all the bonuses on the standard dvd, and a DVD of the film(forget the digital copy. It's useless with the DVD), this film is highly recommended. |
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