I Love Childrens Movies

Whats everyone thinking about Coraline?

I just saw a trailer for Coraline the other night and was pretty intrigued.  I believe they said  it was "hand drawn digital animation"--almost seems like a contradiction of terms but intriguing none-the-less.  Anyone heard much about this or seen it?

I'm hoping its not just another "visual masterpeice" with little or no substance beyond some snazzy animation.

Re:Whats everyone thinking about Coraline?

seely:

I just saw a trailer for Coraline the other night and was pretty intrigued.  I believe they said  it was "hand drawn digital animation"--almost seems like a contradiction of terms but intriguing none-the-less.  Anyone heard much about this or seen it?

I'm hoping its not just another "visual masterpeice" with little or no substance beyond some snazzy animation.

Well, I saw the movie a couple of weeks ago, and I liked it, but I wasn't blown away. I loved the book back in high school, and I feel like a lot of what made it so effective was lost here. I'd have loved to see some of Dave McKean's influence (his illustrations are a big part of what made that book), and I feel like the animation, although it's obviously state-of-the-art, was too smooth. Part of the issue might have been the fact that I didn't see it in 3-D, so things might have looked a little flat.

The reason I love stop-motion, and Henry Selick's older movies, is the evidence of human interference: slightly stilted movements, fingerprints, stuff like that. "James and the Giant Peach" remains one of my favorite movies to this day largely because of stuff like that. It looked scratchy, a tad creepy and off-kilter and wonderful. This movie had none of that. If you're going to make a stop-motion movie, make it look like a stop-motion movie. Otherwise, just go ahead and computer animate everything.

That's my rant. Otherwise, I thought it was a good movie, worth seeing, and probably a better credit to Neil Gaiman's body of work than was "Stardust," although I gotta admit I did like that one.

Re:Whats everyone thinking about Coraline?

indieabby88:

That's my rant. Otherwise, I thought it was a good movie, worth seeing, and probably a better credit to Neil Gaiman's body of work than was "Stardust," although I gotta admit I did like that one.

Skypilot and myself are both big Stardust fans.  You kind of confirmed what I suspected--the animation did seem really smooth and polished in the teasers I saw and lacked the imperfection that made some of the other films so endearing.  I'll still see it anyways :-}

Re:Whats everyone thinking about Coraline?

Does anybody care about the content  of this movie?   It was shocking to say the least.  Many moms I talked to thought this would be an innocent movie, with little sounds that go bump and make you jump.  Nobody said this was going to be perverted!  I will not reccomend this to anyone.  Who cares about digital FX,  protect the kids!

Re:Whats everyone thinking about Coraline?

CaPeach:

Does anybody care about the content  of this movie?   It was shocking to say the least.  Many moms I talked to thought this would be an innocent movie, with little sounds that go bump and make you jump.  Nobody said this was going to be perverted!  I will not reccomend this to anyone.  Who cares about digital FX,  protect the kids!

You bring up a good point, CaPeach! Definitely something we should address. Here's my take:

Neil Gaiman has been quoted in interviews as saying that adults are way more creeped out by the content of the book (and the movie) than children are. I think I'd be inclined to agree. Granted, I was 13 or 14 when I read the book for the first time, but it never gave me nightmares. Still, I wouldn't recommend the movie to children under the age of about eight, for sure. I think you have to give kids credit for being a bit stronger than we like to think. I mean, my generation grew up watching "The Goonies," (which is a pretty harrowing movie when you think about it) and "Nightmare Before Christmas" (Again, pretty creepy) and we turned out okay...right?

Re:Whats everyone thinking about Coraline?

indieabby88:

CaPeach:

Does anybody care about the content  of this movie?   It was shocking to say the least.  Many moms I talked to thought this would be an innocent movie, with little sounds that go bump and make you jump.  Nobody said this was going to be perverted!  I will not reccomend this to anyone.  Who cares about digital FX,  protect the kids!

You bring up a good point, CaPeach! Definitely something we should address. Here's my take:

Neil Gaiman has been quoted in interviews as saying that adults are way more creeped out by the content of the book (and the movie) than children are. I think I'd be inclined to agree. Granted, I was 13 or 14 when I read the book for the first time, but it never gave me nightmares. Still, I wouldn't recommend the movie to children under the age of about eight, for sure. I think you have to give kids credit for being a bit stronger than we like to think. I mean, my generation grew up watching "The Goonies," (which is a pretty harrowing movie when you think about it) and "Nightmare Before Christmas" (Again, pretty creepy) and we turned out okay...right?

Good to see you back here Abby!!!

I have no idea what the context is for Coraline, and now I'm really interested.  What is this all about?

Re:Whats everyone thinking about Coraline?

Risselada:

Good to see you back here Abby!!!

I have no idea what the context is for Coraline, and now I'm really interested.  What is this all about?

I'm only too happy to fill you in!

"Coraline" is a chilling little Grimm-caliber fable about a girl (named Coraline) who doesn't get much attention from her busy parents. Her family moves to a new apartment building filled with weird characters. One day, while exploring the house, she discovers a doorway to an alternate world where everything is just like it is back home, but better. Her house is prettier, the food is better, the garden is lovlier and, most importantly, her "other parents" in the mirror-world are attentive to her every need. The only unnerving thing is that everyone in this alternate world has buttons for eyes. Coraline's other parents want her to stay there forever, but to do so, she would also have to replace her eyes with buttons, which she obviously doesn't want to do. When Coraline goes home, she discovers that her real parents have been kidnapped by the Other Mother, who is really a horrible monster. Now Coraline has to face down the Other Mother in order to get her parents back.

That's it! Sorry it was a tad long, but I wanted to be a little juicy in my synopsis.

Re:Whats everyone thinking about Coraline?

indieabby88:

Risselada:

Good to see you back here Abby!!!

I have no idea what the context is for Coraline, and now I'm really interested.  What is this all about?

I'm only too happy to fill you in!

"Coraline" is a chilling little Grimm-caliber fable about a girl (named Coraline) who doesn't get much attention from her busy parents. Her family moves to a new apartment building filled with weird characters. One day, while exploring the house, she discovers a doorway to an alternate world where everything is just like it is back home, but better. Her house is prettier, the food is better, the garden is lovlier and, most importantly, her "other parents" in the mirror-world are attentive to her every need. The only unnerving thing is that everyone in this alternate world has buttons for eyes. Coraline's other parents want her to stay there forever, but to do so, she would also have to replace her eyes with buttons, which she obviously doesn't want to do. When Coraline goes home, she discovers that her real parents have been kidnapped by the Other Mother, who is really a horrible monster. Now Coraline has to face down the Other Mother in order to get her parents back.

That's it! Sorry it was a tad long, but I wanted to be a little juicy in my synopsis.

Wow that does actually sounds pretty interesting.  For some reason I had no interest in even looking at what it was about before, but now I'm a bit more curious in seeing it.

Also, it's good to hear from you again Abby.  I love hearing from you on Spout.