Did you see it in 3D?
On Sun, Feb 8, 2009 at 10:43 PM, Jim Davis <[email protected]> wrote: > > 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:287780 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.5
