So, I dragged myself and Harold out of the apartment Saturday night and saw "Coraline" in 3D at the Mira Mesa Edwards. The film was quite enjoyable. If nothing else, it's worth seeing for Henry Selick's artistic mastery of the stop-motion form.
Story-wise, I found the film entertaining, but a little flat compared to Tim Burton's efforts in the genre. If "Nightmare Before Christmas" were a 10, and "Corpse Bride" an 8, then "Coraline" would be a 7.5. I think what Neil Gaiman's plot attempted to achieve, yet missed, was the whimsy of the Burton films, even going back so far as "Beetle Juice."
The story has a decent pedegree, with the villainness strongly resembling Cruella DeVille from the Disney Dalmations film, with a little Ozian Wicked Witch and Wonderland Red Queen thrown in for good measure. Gaiman knows his modern mythology. The "smothering mother" is a nightmare we all can share; at least those of us with a mother! The cat, "wuss puss," was a little Puss n' Boots, and a lot Cheshire Cat. He was one of my favorite characters.
Tim Burton accomplishes something I like to call the "happy macabre," making his stories a visit to death and decay that you're actually glad to have embarked upon. For all Coraline's struggles, in the end, hers is just a slightly dark, scary spider story.
A very good work; only a near miss on greatness. Nevertheless, I intend to buy the Blu-Ray when it comes out for sale.
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