Sunday, August 2, 2009

CORALINE

coraline wallpaper Pictures, Images and Photos

I have just met an amazing young lady.
Her name...is Caroline.
Oops, sorry. CORAline.
A simple mistake, but a mistake nonetheless, and when I am speaking of such high-quality storytelling as Coraline most definitely is; I do not wish to trigger and launch my avalanche of praise with a mere mistake. No matter how simple.
Speaking of mistakes, errors, general oversights or false beliefs; allow me to make one thing remarkably clear:
Coraline http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0327597/ will (hopefully) be the film that finally sets all of the misguided souls straight and makes them understand just who it was that directed The Nightmare Before Christmas.
Henry Selick, hand in hand with Coraline, will finally be led out from the dark, musty, shadow of that other guy and into the blinding spotlight where he will receive the long overdue praise that he rightly deserves.

I loved this film.
I thought it was going to be good. I was not expecting it to be amazing.
I'll not spoil the experience for you by laying out the whole plot but I'll just say that Coraline is a young girl who discovers a seemingly perfect alternate world via a tunnel in her new home. If I say any more, plot-wise, I'll be doing you a disservice. Just go and watch the damn thing. It's simply awesome.
I'll also throw in that I love Alice In Wonderland, and this film definitely shares some of the same ingredients. But please know that Selick and Neil Gaiman (who wrote the original novella) have baked a completely different cake with Coraline.
I have to be honest with myself; it's better than Alice In Wonderland...and that's saying a lot coming from me.
It's better than Pan's Labyrinth. (You heard me.)
It's better than Labyrinth. (Sorry, Bowie.)
Coraline has easily taken the crown from these previous works of the 'girl in fantasy world' genre and confidently sits upon the throne as queen.
I do believe she will enjoy a very long reign, indeed.

Alice In Wonderland Pictures, Images and Photos
(Sorry, Alice. Coraline is the better film.)

Coraline is like being in a fantastic dream...but then you wake up and the real world is just as fascinating. This film does not suffer from a condition that I call 'Matrix Syndrome', where the real world within a story is ridiculously bland and tasteless compared to the fantasy realm. This is often the case in tales that involve 2 separate worlds and one can often find themselves saying, “Holy crap. PLEASE return to the magical and interesting postcode.”
Because, really; once you've seen a guy flip off walls and pull an entire catalogue of martial arts moves out of his ass...you're really not in the mood to then watch them sit around in a tin can...in the dark...and eat oatmeal or dance in a cave.
For 3 movies.

The Oracle Pictures, Images and Photos
(Stop discussing baking and do a jump kick.)

Thankfully, (for the audience) Coraline's real world is just as intriguing as her 'other' world and there is no sense of dilution or begrudging tolerance whenever we're watching her everyday life.
As soon as the film began...with an unsettling opening credit sequence involving rag-doll surgery...my senses were locked on a variety of settings ranging from wonder, awe and pure childlike fascination. I marvelled at the stop-mo animation (that still manages to look badass in a market flooded by CG), delighted in the brilliant score (that reminded me of the classic Peter and The Wolf vibe of individual pieces and musical themes for individual characters) and allowed myself to become fully immersed in Coraline's adventures.
...Then something changed.
Coraline, and myself, started to feel...a tad suspicious about things that we were seeing and hearing.
There seemed to be a dark shadow to accompany every light.
There was a bittersweet aftertaste to our surroundings.
Subtle hints popped up like a forced smile or a stuffed octopus playfully saying that it wants to “hug your face”.
...Really, octopus? Soooo...like, suffocate me? Interesting.
It was a sense of foreboding that you couldn't quite latch your fingers around and get a solid grip upon, but it was there.
And it was growing.
I believe that particular unspeakable sense of menace that dwells behind the warm, friendly, candy-scented world is one of the main reasons why this film is so damn exceptional.
If you're gonna make a memorable kids movie, you must accept the darkness.
Just look at old Grimm's fairytales and such. Nice old lady makes a delicious home of candy and baked goods? Yeah? Wonderful.

That bitch wanted to EAT children.

Hansel and Gretel pieces Pictures, Images and Photos
(Bake? She has no arms. Her story is full of holes, kids.)

Hansel and Gretel is a classic, yo. And for good reason.
Stories like that stand the test of time because they have the balls to call it like it is.
The life of a child is not all happiness, naps and sandwiches sans crusts.
There's drama to be found in the playground, folks.
I remember when I was a kid. You believed that there were all kinds of unspeakable shit living within your closet, beneath your bed...and within the old wooden crate in the woods that stunk of old meat and shrieked when you threw rocks at it. Timmy said not to go near it, but what did he know? His mum was a drunk and she screamed at the leaves while raking.

...Ahem.

My point is, that generally, the best kinds of children's story, fairytale, junior fiction and so forth that go down in history as classics are the ones that EMBRACE and acknowledge the dark, evil and sinister sides of life that are present at all times...EVEN during childhood.
Coraline is one such story that is undoubtedly destined to become a classic.
Now that a film like this exists, current and future generations of young girls and daughters are going to be able to respond without thinking twice when asked what their favourite film is.

Hell, I'm a 28 year old guy and this film made me feel like I was 13 again. I wanted to hang out with Coraline and explore her new home until we were called in for dinner time.
Then do it all over again.

HIGHLY recommended.

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