So what's the deal with Coraline? Is it a kids film? A stoner film? A Neil Gaiman film? The answer is, a little bit of everything. Is it any good? That I can't tell ya, even though I've just seen twenty minutes of footage and listened to a Q&A with the director, producer and top animators. I can say, though, that if you want to take a hallucinogen and go to a movie in February, you'll find no better option than Coraline.
Coraline is written and directed by Henry Selick, the director of The Nightmare Before Christmas and James and the Giant Peach and, as I've recently learned, the man who brought us a new and improved Pillsbury Doughboy. It is based on the novel by Neil Gaiman, author of great fantasy franchises like The Sandman and American Gods. Most interesting, however, is that this is the first stop motion animation film ever shot in 3D.
The footage I saw was screened for a theater full of film and animation students in lower Manhattan. There was no real setup for the scenes, probably a bad idea on behalf of the evening's handlers, as I had no idea what was going on. The first scenes instantly fell flat. Dakota Fanning and her annoying little voice is a puppet upset about some boring stuff going on with her parents. She has an upstairs neighbor with a Russian accent and two old fat women (voiced by the AbFab duo) are in the basement and are really disgusting and annoying. It's in 3D, but so what. That gets old in two minutes and I'm still listening to the horrible shrill Englishwoman. Oh, Lord, anything to get out of this screening.
Then, finally, Coraline opens some door in the floor (I couldn't really say why as there was little setup and, frankly, I'd mentally checked out) and WOAH. Welcome to Oz, Wonderland and within the inner workings of the MCP. The 3D really pops, the colors are fantastic and, dare I say it, I became swept up in the glee of movie magic. There's furniture that turns to bugs, flowers that tickle you, yapping dogs, liquid mirrors, dancing mice....basically, if you are on any kinda substance during a screening, you are gonna lose your mind.
Some specifics: a little girl goes to some sort of "mirror universe" because her parents aren't cool. In opposite land, everything is carnivals and cotton candy (literally) and good times except for one thing: No one has eyes. They have buttons instead. If Coraline wants to stay there she has to trade her eyes for buttons and she's all like "no way!" And if you walk too far from the house of fun everything will go blank like the classic WB cartoon Duck Amuck.
Production took well over a year. Everything you are seeing was actually there. There is no CG. Well, a little digital touching up here and there and the occasional greenscreen - but for the most part this is tactile work. The clothes were knitted. The hair is wire. When crazy stuff is flying around, people were moving it around. The cameras used were built originally as medical scanners - they move within each exposure to recreate the depth of two eyes. Pretty stinking awesome.
The Q&A I was at was pretty typical of a douchebag student-filled New York audience. One smart ass questioned why Selick was copying Tim Burton's style. Others on the panel had to remind him that Nightmare Before Christmas, while presented by Tim Burton, is, in fact, a Henry Selick film. Another guy started complaining that 3D on DVD doesn't really work yet. Producer Bill Mechanic said let's worry about that after the theatrical run. I hate Q&As with the public. If I ever became a famous stop motion animator I'd never allow it.
Selick also let on that Neil Gaiman had precious little to do with the creation of the screenplay. We'll see when we've got a glimpse at the whole film if that is good or bad. We'll also see if the marketing hips older audiences that Coraline is a visual groove and gas and not just a lame kiddie picture.
