{"id":13873,"date":"2009-02-22T20:27:06","date_gmt":"2009-02-23T03:27:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/?p=13873"},"modified":"2009-02-22T20:27:15","modified_gmt":"2009-02-23T03:27:15","slug":"movie-review-coraline","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2009\/02\/22\/movie-review-coraline.html","title":{"rendered":"Movie Review: Coraline<\/i>"},"content":{"rendered":"

Margie, Katherine and I went to see Coraline <\/em>this afternoon. I’ve read the novella, so I had some idea of what to expect. Here’s the report.<\/p>\n

\n

Coraline<\/a><\/em> (2009)<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
Overall<\/strong><\/td>\n <\/td>\n Story<\/td>\n <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Production<\/td>\n <\/td>\n Acting<\/td>\n <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

 <\/p>\n

Story<\/strong>: This is a fine tale of selfishness, demanding relationships, sacrificing liberty for security (or even fun), and what parent-child love should (not) look like. It’s got bits for adults and for kids, and it provides thoughtful entertainment for all.<\/p>\n

The screenplay by director Henry Selick is based on Neil Gaiman’s original 2002 novella and most of the differences have to do with punching up the visual wonderment and the end-of-movie action-suspense. It does so reasonably well, though it detracts a bit from Gaiman’s more subdued domestic horror. Given a choice between movie and book, I’d recommend both — but book first.<\/p>\n

The film is rated PG, and rightly so. Katherine (at age 8) was fairly scared at the end, as the suspense and scary horror ratcheted up quite bit. She was nowhere near the youngest kid in the movie this afternoon, however. “Oh, it’s stop-motion, so it must be for kids.” right.<\/p>\n

Production<\/strong>: That said, the stop-motion work in this movie is spectacular. Indeed, it is so fine that on those infrequent occasions when it’s obvious, it’s almost jarring. Visually, the movie is just stunning, in a fashion that could not be reproduced in any other medium (CGI or real life or a combination of the two).<\/p>\n

The music is an interesting mix (an extensive sound track by “They Might Be Giants” was dropped save for a single song), and fits in with the mood of the piece — off-kilter, disturbing, creative — perfectly.<\/p>\n

We saw the movie in its last weekend in 3D, and it was (as others have noted) well worth it. The 3D effects are not used as a substitute for a quality production, but to enhance it, and did so quite well.<\/p>\n

Acting<\/strong>: It is a tribute to the quality of the animation (esp. with the solidity of stop-motion) that it is almost impossible to consider the voice acting separately. Suffice it to say that it was all marvelously acted.<\/p>\n

Overall<\/strong>: Heartily recommended. I will definitely be getting the DVD when it comes out. I also recommend the official website<\/a> for some fine behind-the-scenes bits.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Margie, Katherine and I went to see Coraline this afternoon. I’ve read the novella, so I had some idea of what to expect. Here’s the report. Coraline (2009)  Overall Story Production Acting   Story: This is a fine tale of selfishness, demanding relationships, sacrificing liberty for security (or even fun), and what parent-child love should (not) … Continue reading “Movie Review: Coraline<\/i>“<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[41],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13873","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-media-movies"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":11949,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2007\/12\/24\/hush_and_shush.html","url_meta":{"origin":13873,"position":0},"title":"“Hush and shush …”","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 24-Dec-07 3:19pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Not really a trailer, but a sneak peak at some Coraline footage via Neil Gaiman....","rel":"","context":"In "Movies"","block_context":{"text":"Movies","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/media\/media-movies"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":13317,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2009\/01\/22\/two_movie_reliated_videos.html","url_meta":{"origin":13873,"position":1},"title":"Two movie-reliated videos","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 22-Jan-09 11:14pm","format":false,"excerpt":"A nice ... and utterly creepy ... Coraline-related feature starring Neil Gaiman. Alas, no embeddable video, so you'll actually have to click here\u00a0to go to it. Over with The Watchmen,...","rel":"","context":"In "Movies"","block_context":{"text":"Movies","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/media\/media-movies"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":12612,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2008\/03\/11\/coraline_trailer.html","url_meta":{"origin":13873,"position":2},"title":"Coraline trailer","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 11-Mar-08 5:24pm","format":false,"excerpt":"I think this will be very good, even if the new\u00a0trailer isn't all that exciting. (via De)...","rel":"","context":"In "Movies"","block_context":{"text":"Movies","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/media\/media-movies"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":13530,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2008\/11\/21\/coraline_trailer_2.html","url_meta":{"origin":13873,"position":3},"title":"Coraline trailer!","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 21-Nov-08 9:48am","format":false,"excerpt":"Squee! \u00a0 Though\u00a0(a) I worry the trailer gives a bit too much away\u00a0(though that may be because I've read the\u00a0book) and (b) I'm annoyed that not only is Neil Gaiman...","rel":"","context":"In "Movies"","block_context":{"text":"Movies","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/media\/media-movies"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":17882,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2010\/07\/16\/unblogged-bits-fri-16-jul-10-0201.html","url_meta":{"origin":13873,"position":4},"title":"Unblogged Bits (Fri. 16-Jul-10 0201)","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 16-Jul-10 12:01am","format":false,"excerpt":"Links (most recent first) that caught my eye, but did not warrant full-blown blog entries .... Functional Exoskeleton for the Disabled - Wow. Very, very cool. Conflicted meat-eaters may deny that meat-animals have the capacity to suffer, study finds - Like Les, I enjoy meat too much not to eat\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Potpourri"","block_context":{"text":"Potpourri","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/potpourri"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":23606,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2011\/11\/10\/sci-fi-for-ya.html","url_meta":{"origin":13873,"position":5},"title":"Sci-Fi for YA","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 10-Nov-11 9:06pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Cool list here from David Brin of SF for Young Adults. Of course, \"YA\" is a broad arena. Where does it start? \u00a0Where does it end? \u00a0Given that I still read some of these, as an adult -- but started reading them in my teens ... where is the boundary?\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Books"","block_context":{"text":"Books","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/media\/media-books"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/hugo-award.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13873","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13873"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13873\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13873"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13873"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13873"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}