Coraline

Coraline (3D)

Henry Selick is a genius and one of the best animation directors working today. I wasn't able to see the Nightmare Before Christmas in 3D when it was rereleased a few years ago but it remains one of my favorite animated films (but I'm not a fan of his James And The Giant Peach). Based on the book by Neil Gaiman and released by Focus Features (my favorite domestic art-house production company), Coraline is about a girl who lives with her uninvolved parents, and how, after moving into a new house, discovers a doorway to antoher reality where she is center of all attention and everything she wants is for the taking...but for a price.

Dakota Fanning voices the purple-haired heroine who is constantly searching for adventure, for something interesting to do, for distraction from...her boring parents and humdrum world. Well, to be fair, her parents aren't "boring", just mired in their repetitious lives and tedious work, providing little entertainment for their daughter, and even little attention. Attention is something she does obtain, at first from a pernicious black cat that wanders around her house, and also from Wybie Lovat, a boy from a few houses down who is a bit eccentric and seems overly needy to be her friend (or anyone's friend, for that matter). Her neighbors, Miss Spink and Miss Forcible, are retired burlesque dancers who collect their stuffed terriers and decades-old candy; and Mr. Babinsky (voiced with zest by Ian McShane) a Russian acrobat who longs wo perfect his mouse circus. All three, as you can imagine, are eccentric and do nothing to ease Coraline's life.Coraline discovers a hidden doorway in her house one day, and discovers a brighter, more vibrant world on the other side where she is the center of attention, and everything she ever wanted is hers for the taking. Or so it seems.

I had never read the short story upon which this is based, but from those who have read it I am told that the tone was perfect, and the additions (particularly of Wybie, who doesn't appear in the story) actually improve upon the source material. Selick's slick direction does what few stop-motion animated movies do: keep the camera moving, and allowing the characters each small moments and gestures that make them seem alive and real. Despite the fantasy elements, Coraline is perhaps Selick's most real-feeling animated film. The employment of 3D effects also adds an new element to the story, but he doesn't ham it up: not every scene requires 3D, so not every scene employs it. His use of the technology is subtle enough to go unnoticed (even when the point of a pin strikes staright at the audience) and actually made me a fan of the technique (I still consider it a gimmick, but if done right it can elevate a film).

Nearly every element of the film clicked, from the direction, to the character and set designs, to the voicework (Dakota Fanning wasn't as annoying as she was in War Of The Worlds, and Teri Hatcher really surprised me with her different inflections for the two Moms, even Keith David as the Cat worked). However, the music was solid, beautiful, and haunting (especially that first theme). Composer Bruno Coulais's opening theme created the perfect melancholic melody that the film needed, composing a dirge-like choral piece sung by a children's choir...as soon as I heard the music I knew the film was going to be good, and I wasn't wrong. The score added heaps of emotion in a film that was already deeply seeped in emotion (loneliness; helplessness; fear; these are common themes) an instances that anyone, including kids, could relate (weird neighbors; inattentive parents; a boring home/life; the temptation of a perfect life; the price one must pay for happiness). It's not every day a kid's movie is this experimental (not just with style, but with substance), but every so often kid's movies need to be this classic.

However, the second act moved too quickly for me (Coraline needs to find three eyes of three other children who got trapped in the dreamworld before she can be set free), and while her finding of the first two were rather difficult, her loss and reaquitsition of the third one just seemed like a throwaway move; some time needed to pass between her losing the third eye and finding it again. But that's pretty much the only issue I noticed with the entire film. Everything else worked perfectly.

I had seen this film immediately after seeing The Curious case Of Benjamin Button, and despite my being exhausted after that meandering movie (see my review below) this one picked me right up again and was definitely the better of the two. Mr. Selick is 2 out of 3 with me, and those are good odds in my book. Here's to hoping his next film doesn't take eight years to make.

If you didn't get to see this in 3D when it was in theatres, I hoep you are somehow able to do so when the DVD and Blu-Ray are released.