"Coraline", 2009
*Originally posted by Brett*
So apparently, Henry Selick is growing tired of goth. After two movies celebrating goth sensibilities with childlike glee, he must have asked himself, "What do I do next?" So Henry, like a true artist, decided to evolve and advance his creative endeavors to a new challenge - the stylistic glamour of EMO!
Coraline is actually a pretty damn good movie. The protagonist namesake has mommy/daddy issues, "They don't pay attention to me!" (like a good pre-pubescent emo should). Fortunately for her, she finds a magic hole in the wall that takes her to a world mirroring her own except it's everything she ever hoped for - family love, home cooked meals, and all that bullshit. But is everything as good as it seems?! BWA HAHAHAHAH!
*cough*
I wouldn't be surprised if Henry Selick was raised on Edward Gorey stories. He definitly can't stay away from the macabre. Add in Neil Gaiman, and a dash of Lewis Caroll, and you got a twisted little story which will be sure to make the kids squirm. The combination of stop-motion animation and CGI is pretty amazing. Selick has a god damn eye for creating mise-en-scene. The world is filled with so much detail and nuiances, I know a repeated viewing would reveal more than I was able to take in the first time. I found myself intrigued by small, un-important characters (stop-motion extras, if you will) that really added color to an otherwise un-important short or moment. The dialogue was alright, a couple lines had me chuckle and there are a few witty things, but the main drive was to get the story told. As a whole, the narrative was slightly bumpy at times, but got the job done. The storytelling never got really deep nor did things get explained any further than a surface gloss - which was a sufficient, but left you with a slight feeling there could have been more narrative substance. But that's pretty much it for the negative. Honestly, with the animation and pretty colors on the screen, it's hard to lose interest or get caught up on any lacking story elements.
This film has:
-blue russian acrobat with beer belly and short shorts
-gianormous naked grandma boobs (nipples covered by starfish pasties to protect the innocence of children)
-scottish terriers
-cute, costumed mouse who gets it's neck snapped in a cat's mouse
-creepy thread and needle fetish/theme
-with thread/sewing comes spider analogies
-awesome score (the composer did a combination of Elfman and his own thing)
The best thing about seeing this movie was sitting next to the little girl who lost her shit after the cute, costumed mouse was killed. After that moment, she wanted nothing to do with this movie and the subsquent disturbing imagery/scenes that followed. For that, I love this movie. Who can remember the first time they went to a family movie as a little tyke and were traumatized by some random moment from the filmmaker that said, "Fuck you, little brat! Life is hard, take it!" For me, I believe it was The Neverending Story when Artax drowns in the mud - shit fucked me up.
Consumed the following beverage while watching: small Cherry Coke
Next Movie: Taken
...IT'S GOT LIAM NEESON AND HAS A 8.0 SCORE ON IDMB, SHUT UP!
*Originally posted by Brett*
So apparently, Henry Selick is growing tired of goth. After two movies celebrating goth sensibilities with childlike glee, he must have asked himself, "What do I do next?" So Henry, like a true artist, decided to evolve and advance his creative endeavors to a new challenge - the stylistic glamour of EMO!
Coraline is actually a pretty damn good movie. The protagonist namesake has mommy/daddy issues, "They don't pay attention to me!" (like a good pre-pubescent emo should). Fortunately for her, she finds a magic hole in the wall that takes her to a world mirroring her own except it's everything she ever hoped for - family love, home cooked meals, and all that bullshit. But is everything as good as it seems?! BWA HAHAHAHAH!
*cough*
I wouldn't be surprised if Henry Selick was raised on Edward Gorey stories. He definitly can't stay away from the macabre. Add in Neil Gaiman, and a dash of Lewis Caroll, and you got a twisted little story which will be sure to make the kids squirm. The combination of stop-motion animation and CGI is pretty amazing. Selick has a god damn eye for creating mise-en-scene. The world is filled with so much detail and nuiances, I know a repeated viewing would reveal more than I was able to take in the first time. I found myself intrigued by small, un-important characters (stop-motion extras, if you will) that really added color to an otherwise un-important short or moment. The dialogue was alright, a couple lines had me chuckle and there are a few witty things, but the main drive was to get the story told. As a whole, the narrative was slightly bumpy at times, but got the job done. The storytelling never got really deep nor did things get explained any further than a surface gloss - which was a sufficient, but left you with a slight feeling there could have been more narrative substance. But that's pretty much it for the negative. Honestly, with the animation and pretty colors on the screen, it's hard to lose interest or get caught up on any lacking story elements.
This film has:
-blue russian acrobat with beer belly and short shorts
-gianormous naked grandma boobs (nipples covered by starfish pasties to protect the innocence of children)
-scottish terriers
-cute, costumed mouse who gets it's neck snapped in a cat's mouse
-creepy thread and needle fetish/theme
-with thread/sewing comes spider analogies
-awesome score (the composer did a combination of Elfman and his own thing)
The best thing about seeing this movie was sitting next to the little girl who lost her shit after the cute, costumed mouse was killed. After that moment, she wanted nothing to do with this movie and the subsquent disturbing imagery/scenes that followed. For that, I love this movie. Who can remember the first time they went to a family movie as a little tyke and were traumatized by some random moment from the filmmaker that said, "Fuck you, little brat! Life is hard, take it!" For me, I believe it was The Neverending Story when Artax drowns in the mud - shit fucked me up.
Consumed the following beverage while watching: small Cherry Coke
Next Movie: Taken
...IT'S GOT LIAM NEESON AND HAS A 8.0 SCORE ON IDMB, SHUT UP!
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