Coraline - The first GREAT movie of 2009!

[Cruel_Sandwich]

Posted: 2/7/09 at 4:34am

Holy crap this movie is amazing. It's probably the darkest family movie since the 1970s or 1980s but it's also incredibly touching.

See it see it see it!

[Cruel_Sandwich]

Posted: 2/7/09 at 12:16pm

Henry Sellick is a GOD!

[Iris Chacon]

Posted: 2/7/09 at 12:29pm

Sorry to say that it was flat and boring and the 3D left lots to be desired. Blah.

[Cruel_Sandwich]

Posted: 2/7/09 at 12:42pm

But the mice circus!

[DAME]

Posted: 2/7/09 at 12:49pm

It was pretty boring.

[pushdabutton]

Posted: 2/7/09 at 1:38pm

I really want to see this movie. I am a huge fan of Nightmare Before Christmas. How is this in comparison?

[DAME]

Posted: 2/7/09 at 2:54pm

To me.. it really doesn't. Nightmare is very entertaining.

[MisterRussell]

Posted: 2/7/09 at 4:03pm

I had REALLY minor technical quibbles with the film, but on the whole, thought it was pretty darn brilliant. By far the best script for a stop-motion film since NIGHTMARE (I thought CORPSE BRIDE and JAMES & THE GIANT PEACH really suffered from poor scripts), some genuinely scary images, and some true scenes of magic and wonder. Barring UP and MONSTERS VS. ALIENS being mongo hits, I see CORALINE snagging Selick and Laika (Go, Portland!) an Oscar this time next year.

[DAME]

Posted: 2/7/09 at 4:12pm

Really? But I was so bored. I hated the story. Really? Oh well. Glad you enjoyed. I will be interested to hear what others thought.

[Cruel_Sandwich]

Posted: 2/7/09 at 5:58pm

I loved it and how dark it was.

[Weez]

Posted: 2/7/09 at 6:02pm

Well, I'm a big fan of the original book. I believe it was only meant to be a slightly-supernatural adventure story for kids, but Neil Gaiman has quite the crossover audience, and it's amusing how utterly frightening adults can find the story. I guess if the story is the main complaint, and I already know and like it, then it must then follow that the film truly is awesome and I wil enjoy it.

[CMoore]

Posted: 2/7/09 at 6:03pm

I guess I will give it a chance after all.

[Cruel_Sandwich]

Posted: 2/7/09 at 6:13pm

Yeah this was probably the strongest story Selick has ever worked with. The characters are fully dimensional. This is the first time where the story is as good as the animation.

As great as Nightmare Before Christmas is, I have to admit that most of the interest level from it comes from the animation and the visuals.

[Mekroth]

Posted: 2/7/09 at 6:35pm

I had a wonderful time at this movie. I was certainly not disappointed in any way. I was also very pleased to see that the 3D was not handled like a cheap gimmick.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 2/7/09 at 7:38pm

I liked it, but I didn't love it. I felt like the whole wasn't greater than the sum of its parts. Beautiful to look at, though.

[pushdabutton]

Posted: 2/7/09 at 7:51pm

I am going to see it tomorrow. I'll post my thoughts afterwards.

[MrMidwest]

Posted: 2/7/09 at 7:53pm

Dakota on Letterman last night

[Cruel_Sandwich]

Posted: 2/7/09 at 8:10pm

Two words:

Mouse

Circus.

[wicked_beast4]

Posted: 2/8/09 at 12:00am

I LOVED it!!! I've always been a huge fan of the book, and thought stop-motion was perfect for this! It did not disappoint! I was so delighted that the 3D wasn't used as a cheap gimmick as well. It was wonderfully done. Although I thought the addition of the Wyborn character was unneeded and made her seem much less independent, especially at the end, it was still such a wonderful movie!!

[Kad]

Posted: 2/8/09 at 1:51am

I thought this was an exemplary film. The adaptation of the source material was very strong (I didn't mind the addition of Wybie, and I felt the way the Other World was handled in the film was stronger than in the book. In the book, the Other World is already very creepy and arguably not very enticing when Coraline first enters it.)

The visuals and art direction were incredible, and I felt the voice acting was top-notch from all involved. Loved Keith David as the Cat.

The 3D was excellent. It wasn't used for gimmicky things leaping from the screen (except for the opening), but to give the idea of how the things on-screen actually exist. I really don't see how you could call the 3D "flat". Instead of extending into the audience like a Universal Studios attraction, most of it extended back, giving depth to the world and characters onscreen.

I think it is a superior film to Nightmare Before Christmas. Nightmare... benefits from a very original story (whereas the idea of an adolescent going into an alternate world is a tried fantasy formula), but Coraline's story is hardly weak.

[bwaybabe2]

Posted: 2/8/09 at 3:50am

Hope to see it this weekend...but I can say that a friend saw it and gave it thumbs up.
I'm somewhat of a fan of Burton, so I think I probably will really enjoy it...especially the 3D

[Roscoe]

Posted: 2/8/09 at 8:51am

Another movie about a little girl who escapes into a fantasy world? How original.

[Weez]

Posted: 2/8/09 at 9:03am

Roscoe: you obviously haven't seen or read it. I don't think anyone who has could possibly describe it as a little girl escaping into a fantasy world. XD

[Roscoe]

Posted: 2/8/09 at 9:12am

Fair enough, Weez, I have neither seen it nor read it. A bit of snark on my part that seems to be off. The trailers make it look that way, though, a little girl in a fantasy world. Is it about something else?

[wicked_beast4]

Posted: 2/8/09 at 12:30pm

BwayBabe, this film has nothing to do with Tim Burton.