Coraline

We finally went to see Coraline tonight, and it was a special treat. If you can’t see it in 3D, then you should still see it. If you can see it in 3D, then do so. One of the director’s intentional tricks is to make the “other” world seem more special than Coraline’s normal one. So, the 3D effects don’t really pop until she crawls through to the other side. Not quite as dramatic as the switch to technicolor in Wizard of Oz, but it follows the same path.

Coraline follows lots of other paths, too. It’s part Oz, part Alice in Wonderland, part James and the Giant Peach. There’s the over-hyped (and over-done) connection to The Nightmare Before Christmas. And I even thought of Yellow Submarine in spots.

I’m not saying it was perfect. I think it took too long to get to the scary bit and then rushed through it. And it really wasn’t all that creepy…but then I’m 46, not 6 (despite what you might think). But there’s no denying its technical achievement. This has got to be the most brilliantly detailed stop-motion animation picture ever. Even if you don’t enjoy the story (because you have no imagination in your rotten, twisted soul), you should go just to be wowed by the awesomeness of Mr. Selick’s work.