Coraline is a modern day fairytale, but not your backyard Disney variety. Instead we are treated to a dark and grim world in which the heroine is not a nice innocent little girl, but an unpleasant outspoken tween with an attitude. A refreshing change if you ask me.Coraline's world is anything but perfect. Her parents are busy with their own lives and largely ignore her efforts for attention. As a result of a recent move she has no friends, although she makes no attempt to gain any either. One evening she finds a small hidden door in the living room. Upon opening it she finds herself in an alternate version of her life; a mirrored opposite if you will. At first glance this world appears more suitable to Coraline, her Mother and Father adore her, her new stalker friend can no longer speak and the crazy neighbors seem more inviting, but on closer inspection things might not be all they seem. The story shares more than a few similarities to Alice in Wonderland and the usual array of morals and values are also included.
The film looks incredible, it is safe to say that it creates a visual style all of its own. The stop motion gives a level of realism and dimension not seen in current CGI fare. The use of 3D was not as distracting as I thought it would be, though I still think 3D has a lot of work to do if it intends to be mainstream.
1 comment:
It wasn't until a few films later that I could definitely say that the 3D in Coraline was actually one of its weakest traits - and that is mostly down to the shoddy technology they were using. It's even worse when you try to watch the 3D version on DVD with the green and red glasses - it's actually tiring. If they'd had access to whatever tech Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs had been using, I might have enjoyed the garden sequence a lot more.
This was a great book, but only an interesting film... Sigh. Fortunately, Neil Gaiman has plenty of other stories in his bag of tircks just waiting to be adapted.
Post a Comment