Review of Coraline (2009) by Eliasc — 01 Sep 2009
Neil Gaiman has always been an acquired taste. His visions of twisted reality in all of his works has always been more appealing to me as in book form rather than as a visual entertainment. Coraline is no exception.
His foray into children's books with the publication of Coraline was a surprise to many but his quirky story was well written and appealing on paper. On film however, it just seems...well, strange.
Not exactly a kid's movie and not exactly a film for adult's either. The skill it took to animate using stop action movement should be appreciated. Some stop motion techniques exhibited in this film were simply astonishing.
But technique alone does not make a good film. A great film for film students does not make a great film for the average viewer. Consider the twisted universe of the film's reality and the even more twisted vision of the film's alternate reality.
Look at the scenes with the almost nude acrobatic sisters. Listen to the awful vocal music, This is not a film for children. Let your kids read the book instead and let them use their own imagination to fill in the blanks.
And a final note: The 3D theatrical version must have been something to watch. DO not fall for the DVD's 3D version. It is simply bad. Using red and green cardboard glasses, the film is colorless, dark, eye-aching awfulness.
The producers of the DVD's 3D packaging should be ashamed.
This review of Coraline (2009) was written by Eliasc on 01 Sep 2009.
Coraline has generally received very positive reviews.
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