I first became aware of what stop-motion animation was as a kid while watching a “Making Of” special about The Empire Strikes Back. It was then that I realized I had been watching films and TV shows that utilized stop-motion for many, many years prior to that. I grew up spending Saturday afternoons watching the original King Kong, Son of Kong and the Ray Harreyhausen films as well as, of course, the Rankin/Bass Christmas specials. For a period of time, stop-motion was the way to go as far as creature effects in films. Flash forward a few years later to the wonder that was Tim Burton’s A Nightmare Before Christmas, which was the first full-length stop-motion feature film. Directed by Henry Selick, A Nightmare Before Christmas was a true joy to behold, if only for finally getting to see a film on the big screen made entirely in stop-motion. All the little flaws, the things that get brushed or move accidentally by the animators as they move the puppets, were very visible and the entire panorama of the sets was viewable in detail like never before. Selick continued on with James and the Giant Peach and the live-action, stop-motion combination film Monkeybone. This is a path that carried Selick onward to what is perhaps his best film to date, Coraline.
Coraline tells the story of a young girl, Coraline Jones (Dakota Fanning), who is trapped in a dull life. She has just moved with her mother (Teri Hatcher) and father (John Hodgman) into a house that has been divided into apartments. To her writer parents, Coraline is more nuisance than daughter, so she spends much of her time outside. Exploring her surroundings, Coraline meets another kid, a strange and annoying neighbor named Wybie (short for Wybourne) Lovat (Robert Bailey, Jr.) and his pet black cat. Coraline also meets her odd neighbors; Miss Forcible (Dawn French) and Miss Spink (Jennifer Saunders) are two retired actresses who live with several Scottie dogs (some living, some stuffed) in the basement, while the top-floor apartment is inhabited by Mr. Bobinsky (Ian McShane), a blue-skinned Russian who is a trained gymnast and eats primarily beets. One day Coraline discovers and unlocks a small door in her new living room that is bricked off during the day, but at night leads to a parallel reality, a brighter and happier imitation of the real world. In the other world, Coraline meets her Other Mother and Other Father, who are kind, loving and appreciative of her. Forcible and Spink are still actresses in their basement theater where they perform for their Scottie dog audience. Mr. Bobinsky is the ringleader in a hopping mice circus. And Wybie is now sweet yet unable to talk, while his cat, in actuality the same cat from the normal world, speaks fluently (Keith David). There’s just one small catch. The doppelgangers in the Other world all have buttons for eyes and as Coraline becomes more and more enamored with this happy life, she discovers that she, too, must have her eyes replaced with buttons. Things go decidedly pear-shaped from then on with a lot of ensuing wacky-hijinks. That’s enough of a set-up for you, to see how it all works out requires you to see the film!
The film is based on the award winning novella written by Neil Gaiman and illustrated by Dave McKean. The general story is the same, but, as with any adaptation, some changes were made. The biggest change is the addition of the character Wybie. Early on, Gaiman encouraged Selick to make the story his own and, as part of that, Wybie was introduced to turn Coraline’s internal monologues into external dialogue and to give her a character to play off of. Selick obviously has a love and deep understanding of the source material, so Wybie and other changes only serve to enhance the story for the motion picture medium. And the choice to make this using stop-motion was perfect. The style and look of the film wonderfully captures the tone of the book. The voice acting is spot on for all the characters, with the added bonus, thanks to Gaiman’s insistance, of a French & Saunders reunion in Miss Forcible and Miss Spink. Everyone is just perfectly suited to their character and, along with the superior puppetry, really bring the characters to life.
Selick also gives us another first with this being the first stop-motion film to be released in first-run in Real 3-D. There have been many movies released recently using this new technology and nearly every one of them makes significant gratuitous use of throwing things at the audience for the sake of showing off the 3-D effects. While this is fine when you have the glasses on, it has the unfortunate side-effect of looking rather ridiculous when viewed in regular 2-D, specifically on the DVD release. That is not the case here. The 3-D effects are done as part of the story and I think they will look just as amazing in your own home. Kudos to Selick and company for using it to add to the story instead of distracting from it. While this will be rather magical to see in a standard theater, I highly recommend you see it the first time in 3-D. That’s right, I said first time. You will want to see this more than once in the theater, I’m certain of that. Bottom line, I know the phrase that starts “If you can only see one film…” has become clichéd, but I really think it is appropriate in this case. Truly, if you can only make it to one film over the next few days, you would be doing yourself a favor by making it to Coraline. And check Pop Culture Zoo after you see the film as later this weekend we will have interviews with both Neil Gaiman and Henry Selick.
