Coraline, 4 stars
Watched a three-dimensional version of Henry Selick’s Coraline today.
The story is well-rendered from the original novel by Neil Gaiman. It’s been a while since I read the book, but no scenes immediately sprang forward as being added for drama’s sake.
The technology behind the film is interesting. Like Selick’s earlier masterpiece, Tim Burton’s Nightmare Before Christmas, this is a stop-motion film. The thousands of objects used in the film have been produced with threedimensional printers and used to great effect.
The plot is pleasantly weird, as are the characters. Nowhere near the surrealism so prevalent in Alice in Wonderland – this is a more restrained fantasy, with a very limited cast. It’s not an easy film – it’s scary and thought-provoking. Coraline is not a movie for small children – I know I would’ve been spooked speechless by the spindly Other Mother at the end. And even though it bears a positive undertow, it’s nowhere near as saccharine as the worst excesses put up by Pixar. Of which this year’s Up still looks impressive in trailer form.
Next in line: the graphic novel drawn by P. Craig Russell. Sometime in the summer.
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