Not having seen Coraline yet, I'll base this response on what information I was able to glean from it and whether I would be likely to see the movie. I will try to keep my response independent of reviews from friends and my own enjoyment of stop-motion animation.
While I feel that I didn't learn as much from this script as from the Inglourious Basterds screenplay, I did get another useful glimpse into taking one's time to let the story build, instead of just trying to rush the exposition out of the way and race through the rest of the story. The story really only takes place in two locations: the Pink Palace and the Other Pink Palace, which means that the story had to focus entirely on Coraline and her miserable, attention-starved life. There is a lot of time spent wandering in the garden and interacting with neighbors in seemingly trivial manners that provide entertainment and foreshadowing for their significance later in the story. Nonetheless, in this wandering, we learn a lot about Coraline and relate to her.
Structurally, we have a very distinct first turning point, where Coraline decides to return to the Other world, though it comes fairly late, around page 40 or so. We have a spot-on midpoint, where Coraline realizes that this fantasy world is actually hostile, and finally, our second turning point marks Coraline's need to return to the Other World for the final time to finish off the witch that took her in the first place. Littered throughout are imaginative images and fun characters, my favorite being mad Mr. Bobinsky, set up according to the rule of threes, which adds variety to Coraline's interactions up until Act 3 when all three mini-worlds have to come together.
I'd watch the movie for the sheer imagination of it. I think it has a unique message, that while life may be dull and empty at times, it sure beats having one's soul devoured by a witch with buttons for eyes. I'd like to see how it comes across on the screen, so I'm adding it to my Netflix queue.
While I feel that I didn't learn as much from this script as from the Inglourious Basterds screenplay, I did get another useful glimpse into taking one's time to let the story build, instead of just trying to rush the exposition out of the way and race through the rest of the story. The story really only takes place in two locations: the Pink Palace and the Other Pink Palace, which means that the story had to focus entirely on Coraline and her miserable, attention-starved life. There is a lot of time spent wandering in the garden and interacting with neighbors in seemingly trivial manners that provide entertainment and foreshadowing for their significance later in the story. Nonetheless, in this wandering, we learn a lot about Coraline and relate to her.
Structurally, we have a very distinct first turning point, where Coraline decides to return to the Other world, though it comes fairly late, around page 40 or so. We have a spot-on midpoint, where Coraline realizes that this fantasy world is actually hostile, and finally, our second turning point marks Coraline's need to return to the Other World for the final time to finish off the witch that took her in the first place. Littered throughout are imaginative images and fun characters, my favorite being mad Mr. Bobinsky, set up according to the rule of threes, which adds variety to Coraline's interactions up until Act 3 when all three mini-worlds have to come together.
I'd watch the movie for the sheer imagination of it. I think it has a unique message, that while life may be dull and empty at times, it sure beats having one's soul devoured by a witch with buttons for eyes. I'd like to see how it comes across on the screen, so I'm adding it to my Netflix queue.
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