At least we'll always have the book

Rating: 5/10 (22 March 2009)

Coraline moves into a new house with her parents and finds that she has other parents who love her through a small door in a wall.
Neil Gaiman's neo-classic children's (YA?) book comes to the screen from Laika Studios and specifically Henry Selick as one of the rare stop motion animated features made these days. The bonus of the film is that it was made in 3D which enhances the depth of the picture but isn't the reason to see the film (I watched about half a film with out the glasses).
I'm not a fan of the film. Its okay but to be honest it kind of bored me. I don't blame the story, I liked the novel when I read it ages ago, I blame Henry Selick, who in my opinion is a lousy director when left to his own devices. (Oh come on Selick hasn't made a really good film since James and the Giant peach 13 years ago.) I'm not talking abut the animation or the set pieces (which are for the most part stunning-the theater bits rock as do several other bits) I'm talking about the tone of the film and the story construction.
Tone-wise the film is rather weak. I was never scared or creeped or anything. there was never any real tension. Selick's adaption of the novel seems to have been missing something. There is a step that is missing. Things are and they start and while I'm a fan of not explaining everything, I kept thinking there was a step missing.(If I had read the novel sometime recently I might be able to tell you what it was but its too long in the past) Selick jumps too deeply into the story too fast. I never got hooked. I'm not a fan of Selick's color scheme (I always thought it should have been in black and white) and some of his designs which both overstate and understate things (The real parents are much too wimpy). Frankly Selick's visuals don't match Gaiman's words.
I'm also not a fan of most of the score which in my humble is almost completely wrong.
Its not a bad movie, its just not a great one...or even a scary one.
I'd wait for home video (The 3D isn't spectacular enough to warrant running out)