My daughter (7 years old) and I read the book recently and so we were really excited for the movie.
We actually tried to go see last night but it was sold-out by the time we got there (there's not much to do in Scranton) - even the matinee today was nearly sold out when we got there, but we did get in. I'm glad the movie appears to be doing well because it's absolutely wonderful. Everything about it: the art direction, the acting, the music, the set-pieces, everything. From a technical stand-point the movie is an excellent reminder about how far the art of stop-motion has come in the years since the same director did "A Nightmare Before Christmas". The characters and environments here are more fluid, more active and much more versatile - there are CG elements, but they are very sparsely used and never distract from the tactile experience of the stop-motion. The movie is quite different from Neil Gaiman's book, but in this case the changes (which apparently had complete approval from the author) don't affect the character or intensity of the story. As usual some of my favorite scenes from the book (such as Caroline's memory of her father saving her from the hornets) never make it into the movie, but it's clear to see why they didn't. One main character was invented whole-cloth by screen writer/director Henry Selick for the movie and in general the addition works well. I did feel that the ending was tarnished a bit however as this new character, rather than Coraline's bravery and ingenuity, was instrumental in the climatic scenes. Not to wax too deeply on it, but I felt the movie's climax was very "male" - heavily action oriented; essentially a beat-'em-up. The book's climax was more "female" - subtle and clever. In the book Coraline played a clever trick which took lots of advance planning and nerves of steel. In the movie we get unorganized mayhem and the bashing of things with a rock. That's not to say that the movie was poor at all, but it did strike me that Selick may have enjoyed the character he invented a bit too much and indulged him in rather shallow heroics. Other characters and scenes were altered, sometimes greatly, but almost always to better utilize the visual medium and the dynamics of animation. Many of the more disturbing scenes in the book were curtailed and many of the more grotesque imagery eliminated completely or inferred. That's not to say that the movie was sweetened down into generic family fare - many of the comments I heard as we left the theater were about how "Scary" it was young kids and how this or that shouldn't have been included. The movie is one of the few (like Selick's other films, including "Nightmare" and the criminally overlooked "James and the Giant Peach") that isn't afraid to portray true ugliness and real, tangible dread in children's entertainment. The underlying message of the story hits differently for each audience: kids are told that life is often better than you think it is while parents are admonished to pay attention to their children before somebody else does. My daughter loved both the book at the movie. I might recommend that parents of young children read the book prior to sharing it with your children as some of the scenes are definitely pushing the limit. However the movie is toned down quite a bit so I don't think it will bother most folks (unless you have a problem with old ladies with giant bosoms parading about in bikinis). I hope that Coraline continues to do well, if for no other reason than if it flops we may have to wait another dozen years before the next Henry Selick movie. I rather hope this is the start of a "Pixar"-like dynasty of a marvelous film produced every few years. Jim Davis ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Adobe® ColdFusion® 8 software 8 is the most important and dramatic release to date Get the Free Trial http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;207172674;29440083;f Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:287771 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.5
