Creepy. Creative. Coraline.

So, this past weekend I went to go see Coraline at Mayfaire. It was visually amazing. Creepy, but amazing. The animation was brilliant and extremely detailed. Every strand of hair on coraline’s head was visible and they glimmered in the light. The other mother’s skin resembled cracked porcelian after she had her break down, and the first garden scene was elaborate with colors, lights, and shadows; it was a dreamland within a dream…
We originally were going to go see Slum Dog Millionaire that night, but we arrived kind of late for the show, so we decided on Taken, but it was soldout within seconds of getting in line. Our next choice: Coraline. I enjoy animated films, so this was my next choice. The creepiness started when it was revealed that Corline’s father who is named Charlie appears typing away at a computer and is later horrified after Coraline accidentally turns off an electrical switch. I thought to myself that that was me earlier typing away at an assignment that had been due that evening….and which caused us to be late for Slumdog… Also, one of the neighbors downstairs was called Miriam, my mom’s name…kinda of creepy too. If only my sister was called Coraline… Anyway, the story was nice and simple. Girl creates fantasy world to escape boring life and supposedly unloving parents only to discover that in reality reality is the best and less dangerous. It reminded me of Pan’s Labyrinth which also has a girl who escapes reality through an imagined world, but Pan’s Labyrinth is of course so much more intense and tragic.
The pace of the film was a little slow, but the visuals helped to offset that. The characters were enjoyable, inventive, and sometimes a little insane (April stuffs all her deceased pet dogs and has them all aligned on several shelves dressed as angels…they must die off pretty quickly). The most sly and creepy character is of course the other mother who is the perfect mom who has the perfect answer to everything…besides her button eyes, that in itself is creepy. Later on, her ultimate skeletal and dark transformation, reminiscent of Cruella De Vil, bolsters her creepy appearance and wicked nature, and in the end it is a battle to the death between her and Coraline.
As I was watching Coraline, I kept thinking about the stop-motion project we did last Thursday. It took forever, but it was so much fun to do. And as a result, I had a greater appreciation for stop-motion animation while watching Coraline. The animators obviously put in so much time and dedication into this film, and I have to say that it was worth it. I hope they feel so too.