CORALINE (Alliance, 2009) D: Henry Selick, w/ Dakota Fanning, Teri Hatcher (voices). Rating: NNNNN DVD package: NNNNN Rating: NNNNN
Coraline is the best stop-motion movie yet made, and a visual treat in both 3-D and flat versions.
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Coraline, voiced by Dakota Fanning, is a lonely 10-year-old who crawls through a forgotten door and discovers an alternate world with a much nicer mother than her grumpy real one (both voiced by Teri Hatcher), though other-world mother’s nasty agenda eventually emerges.
Director Henry Selick isn’t much for flinging things in your eye. He’d rather use the 3-D effect and elaborate camera moves to give depth and life to Coraline’s richly detailed world. The set pieces – an exotic garden and a pair of bizarre circus acts – are like nothing seen before, but even ordinary shots of Coraline at home project a subtly more powerful mood than the flat version.
But the 3-D has one serious flaw: the red/green glasses leach out the nuances of colour and design. Flip the disc for the 2-D version and be amazed.
The making-of doc covers everything from the art of miniature knitting to the methods of creating a character one frame at a time. Selick, on hand throughout, communicates his love of the work so well that some kids may see there the seeds of a career.
EXTRAS Disc one: commentary, 3-D and 2-D versions. Widescreen. English, French, Spanish audio and subtitles. Disc two: 10-part making-of doc, voice acting doc. Four pairs of 3-D glasses.
