DVDpendence .
videophile

CORALINE

With voices by Dakota Fanning , Teri Hatcher , Keith David , Jennifer Saunders , Dawn French , Ian McShane , John Hodgman , Robert Bailey Jr.

Written by Henry Selick (based on the book by Neil Gaiman)
Directed by Henry Selick

When it comes to The Nightmare Before Christmas, most people assume it was directed by Tim Burton due to him hatching the story and acting as producer. Henry Selick is in fact the patient man who directed this stop-animated marvel - as well as James And The Giant Peach. This amazing new addition to his oeuvre is based on the book by Neil Gaiman, and Selick's adaptation follows along the dark and ominous path of his previous work.
Coraline moves to a new home with her self-absorbed writer parents - The Pink Palace also houses several other colourful characters like the two old spinsters (Ms. Spink & Ms. Forcible) and their dogs, as well as the acrobatic Mr. Bobinsky.
Wybie is the only other kid in the area and his weird demeanour makes him even more annoying to Coraline. So, she has to find amusement by herself. When she discovers a small door behind the wallpaper in one of the rooms, a whole new world literally unfolds. At the other side of the door exists an improved mirror image of hers - more colourful, more pleasant and better in every way - except everyone, including her more attentive other mother and father have buttons for eyes...
In escaping to this world, Coraline finds everything the way she'd always wanted it, but things start to turn weird and dangerous, erupting into a full-blown adventure of life and death.

A feat such as this remains a cinematic marvel, and people often forget what a time-consuming art stop-animation is - having to move inanimate figures and objects piece by piece (including the characters' speech), shooting a single frame each time with around 24 frames making up a single second! - all this while maintaining cinematic narrative integrity and style.

This is all made very clear in the Making-Of extra feature on this disc, with director Selick taking the viewer through the many facets of this totally creative process, from the adaptation of Gaiman's story and the construction of the miniature sets, to the meticulous animation (and added technicality of shooting it for 3D). For those who feel the fantasy drenched music is not highlighted in these segments, there is a full feature commentary track by Selick and composer Bruno Coulais. Deleted scenes can also be viewed.

(The imported version has a 3D option and comes with several sets of the special glasses)

6 / A
- Paul Blom

1 2 3 4 5 6
A - B - C

Click below to order DVDs from a selection of 44,000 titles

6 - Volcanic
5 - Blistering
4 - Hot
3 - Smolder
2 - Room Temp.
1 - Fizzled
0 - Extinguished

A: Multiple Viewing Potential
B: Deserves Another Look
C: Once Should Suffice

© 2009 - Flamedrop Productions