Coraline
Directed by Henry Selick
Starring Dakota Fanning, Teri Hatcher, John Hodgman, and Ian McShane
With computer-generated animation elbowing its’ way into the future, the world of stop-motion, at first glance, may seem like prologue; the debris of a Pixar spaceship. Yet, “Coraline,” a clear labor of love from the minds of Henry Selick (“Nightmare Before Christmas”) and Neil Gaiman (“Sandman”), is immovably contrary.
“Coraline,” (based on Gaiman’s book) spins the fairytale of its title character. Bored to tears, young Coraline struggles to create adventure. She runs up and down the stairwells of her apartment building, pestering her family and interrogating her neighbors. Her father, distracted by the glow of his work computer, patiently suggest that she do an inventory of the house. At first enthusiastic, she marks off the number of windows, portraits, and leaks in their home, eventually discovering the answer to her boredom: a little square doorway in her living room. Calling it an access to another realm is a disservice. The place she discovers is a playfully masked nightmare…a level of creepiness that would give Freddy Krueger night terrors.
It’s tough not to gush over “Coraline.” The film truly is a testament to design and detail. This, obviously, goes for the painstaking stop-animation, but it also goes for the story. Notice how the film depicts, our heroine, Coraline. She isn’t a screaming, annoyingly inquisitive child by Hollywood’s standards. She is a proper conduit, grasping the unsettlement of her fantasy world, but at first, too concerned with her immediate happiness to worry.
I suspect that the addition of 3-D to “Coraline” is just a ploy, a paranoid attempt to combat the opposition of computer-generated family friendliness. But, if “Coraline” is any indication, there is no need to worry about the future of stop-motion. Similar to what the protagonist discovers about her reality, “Coraline” is a reminder to look closer…value what the world still has to offer.
Directed by Henry Selick
Starring Dakota Fanning, Teri Hatcher, John Hodgman, and Ian McShane
With computer-generated animation elbowing its’ way into the future, the world of stop-motion, at first glance, may seem like prologue; the debris of a Pixar spaceship. Yet, “Coraline,” a clear labor of love from the minds of Henry Selick (“Nightmare Before Christmas”) and Neil Gaiman (“Sandman”), is immovably contrary.
“Coraline,” (based on Gaiman’s book) spins the fairytale of its title character. Bored to tears, young Coraline struggles to create adventure. She runs up and down the stairwells of her apartment building, pestering her family and interrogating her neighbors. Her father, distracted by the glow of his work computer, patiently suggest that she do an inventory of the house. At first enthusiastic, she marks off the number of windows, portraits, and leaks in their home, eventually discovering the answer to her boredom: a little square doorway in her living room. Calling it an access to another realm is a disservice. The place she discovers is a playfully masked nightmare…a level of creepiness that would give Freddy Krueger night terrors.
It’s tough not to gush over “Coraline.” The film truly is a testament to design and detail. This, obviously, goes for the painstaking stop-animation, but it also goes for the story. Notice how the film depicts, our heroine, Coraline. She isn’t a screaming, annoyingly inquisitive child by Hollywood’s standards. She is a proper conduit, grasping the unsettlement of her fantasy world, but at first, too concerned with her immediate happiness to worry.
I suspect that the addition of 3-D to “Coraline” is just a ploy, a paranoid attempt to combat the opposition of computer-generated family friendliness. But, if “Coraline” is any indication, there is no need to worry about the future of stop-motion. Similar to what the protagonist discovers about her reality, “Coraline” is a reminder to look closer…value what the world still has to offer.
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