Coraline was one of those movies I wanted to see in the theaters, but missed. It looks like a terrific picture, and anything that's crafted by hand is something I want to see. The DVD and Blu-Ray are out now, so now I'll have the chance to catch up.
Hand-crafted animation, in all its forms, is in danger of becoming a lost art. I sincerely hope movies like this can inspire a new generation to continue the tradition.
6 comments:
it certainly did look terrific.
i think i rather agreed (in my unoriginal fashion) with the critical reviews, though, as far as the story-telling went...
We can only hope it won't die out too far. I saw Coraline in 3D when it was out and loved what I saw. The design and execution was top-notch and a story that made me want to read the book!
The novel has so many wonderful lines. Reading it will likely make one hate the film for leaving them all out, not to mention it's habit of interpreting things in manner which undermines the integrity of the story. But regardless of narrative and subjective concerns, the worst thing about this film for me was that all that wonderful design and animation is rendered pointless by the near-constant cutting between shots: for this it's more impressive as stills than as a film, and my opinion of Henry Selick-directed films echoes Harry Hill's big brother Alan's opinion of Woody Allen films: I'd enjoy them if only it weren't for the direction.
On the more positive side of things, here and over here give some idea of the admirable, Ocelot-like obstinacy in the face of industry pressure to resort to computer-generated imagery which was involved, though which was often difficult to tell from the film itself due to the huge amount of digital composition and touch-up. KAWAMOTO Kihachirô's Shisha no Sho, with its relatively minimal use of such things, was more successful for me in that respect (though, on the other hand, it can cause them to stand out rather too much when they are used).
Cartoon Brew also has numerous interesting posts concerning the film, particularly this one.
kawamoto - ahhh.
Daniel- So have you seen Coraline yet? Are you going to write a review?
@anon: Actually, I still haven't seen it. Now that you mention it, I should try to rent a copy from the Uptown Hollywood Video. It has been on my to-do list since getting the BD-ROM for my computer (The Searchers and 2001 have never looked better), but I've been so busy covering Ponyo that I just haven't found the time.
I'll see if I can watch Coraline this weekend, and then write a review.
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