Friday, January 21, 2011

Coraline


Everything I had to say about thematics, I've already said here. Instead, I'd like to present the following for the reader's consideration:


The soundtrack is a gorgeous mix of haunting chorals and toe-tapping jazz beats that I will be adding to my collection to hear again. It really is reason enough to explore this story beyond the script.

Otherwise, in terms of the adaptation, it did sort of strike me strangely how old the characters were. I realize the script had them in their early teens, but the written story made it easier to envision the characters much younger. I didn't mesh with the voice acting at all, though I do have to give Teri Hatcher credit for shedding most of her flustered Desperate Housewives whine during her transformation into the Beldam. The ghost dialogue bothered me because it felt like video game dialogue; if I'm going to hear video game dialogue, I'd rather it be in a video game.

In terms of the visuals, I think I expected a little too much Nightmare before Christmas in terms of bright, ghostly lighting and eerie shadows, compared to the surprisingly "realistic" fantasy design of this film. Some choices I could have seen differently, but nonetheless, this was an engaging film made remarkable by its sound design. I'm sure it would have been spectacular in 3D as well. I'll give it four stars, because I'm still logged onto Youtube, listening to clips from the soundtrack.

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