Sunday, February 8

• Is Coraline Too Dark?

  With Coraline opening on Friday, reviews called the movie aimed at families "dark." Will audiences find Coraline to be too dark, especially for children? When ReelzChannel spoke to the cast, we heard a variety of opinions. Director Henry Selick, as mentioned in our Coraline review, said: "I'm more concerned about the parents being scared...the eight-year-olds can hold their mom's hand."

  When author Neil Gaiman was asked if Coraline was "too scary," he replied:

  I hope so. I think a little bit of fear is a wonderful thing. And in 'Coraline' what you're telling them is that here's something big and it's something scary and it's something that's worth being a story. Look, she's a smart kid, and she doesn't have magical powers, and she's not the 'chosen one,' there's nothing cool or magical going on. She's just like you and she's going to win. And for most kids, and not for most parents, they read 'Coraline' as an adventure. I think for adults it tends to be much scarier. For adults you've got a number of things going on. For an adult, a story about a child in danger, that's big. That's scary. That's dangerous. And also of course, for adults, they get to watch it, and all sorts of long-forgotten, long-buried, repressed, and abandoned childhood memories start coming to the fore and worrying them. And children don't have repressed memories because that's where they live.

  Coraline star Teri Hatcher also felt that there's more to Coraline than "darkness:"

  I think it's really an individual family's choice. I think you hear about three-year-olds going to see 'The Dark Knight' and I didn't take my 11-year-old to see that movie. I think whenever you have an opportunity to communicate with your kids in an open and imaginative humorous way, which this movie provides, I think even if there are scary feelings that come up I think the communication behind that and the message in this movie makes it worth seeing as opposed to some of this scary kind of trash that's out there that I think is influencing some of our children on the Internet or in video games.

  Whether audiences find Coraline scary or not, it hasn't stopped the movie from receiving extremely positive reviews.

  
  

  Posted 02/08/2009 by Ryan

  Related: Henry Selick | Teri Hatcher | Neil Gaiman | Coraline

Wednesday, February 4

• Coraline Review

  In Coraline, a young girl discovers a secret door in her new home and finds an alternate world -- and life -- that appears better than the one she has. But as the movie's promotional alphabet cards warn, Be careful what you wish for.

  With director Henry Selick's inventive stop-motion animation, the latest 3-D technology, and a script based on Neil Gaiman's terrific novel, is it too much to wish for a movie that will dazzle kids and parents alike? A movie worth the price of admission and the overpriced tub of popcorn? Find out in our Coraline review.

  
  

  Posted 02/04/2009 by reelz

  Related: Henry Selick | Neil Gaiman | Coraline | Coraline 3D

Wednesday, December 17

• Early Coraline Review

  Ain't it Cool has just posted a very early review of Henry Selick's Coraline, which won't hit theaters until February 9, 2009. Word is that, unlike a lot of adaptations from novels, this one has managed to push the envelope while staying true to the spirit of the Neil Gaiman original. One key factor in pulling this off, according to the review, is an incredible attention to detail:

  "Look closely at the various sets in Coraline's house and the Other House and you'll see that they first appear to be the same. Look at them further though, and the 'real' sets are deliberately smaller and more cramped to heighten the illusion, while the 'other' sets are wider and more comfortable. The characters even move differently in one set versus the other. If you're a stop-motion geek like me, this stuff will blow your mind."

  If the rest of the movie lives up to this description, it may well turn out to be a worthy successor to Selick's earlier classic The Nightmare Before Christmas.

  
  
  

  Reelz Clip

  From the mind of Neil Gaiman - Releasing Feb. 6, 2009

  Posted 12/17/2008 by reelz

  Related: Henry Selick | Coraline

Tuesday, November 18

• Neil Gaiman Gets Animated About Coraline

  In a video interview with Wired, Neil Gaiman lays out the Alice-in-Wonderland-like story of Coraline, showing clips of the film -- due out February 6 -- along the way. Gaiman, who authored the award-winning novella on which the movie is based, also explains how his story was adapted for the first stop-motion animated film shot in 3D. It is, he says, "the biggest, most strange, expressive, peculiar, enormous stop-motion film I think that's ever been made." And that's certainly what audiences are hoping for from director Henry Selick, who worked with producer Tim Burton on The Nightmare Before Christmas.

  A collection of five earlier Coraline featurettes can be viewed online at The Animation Blog. And Empire offers a look at the quirky new international poster.

  
  

  Posted 11/18/2008 by reelz

  Related: Henry Selick | Neil Gaiman | The Nightmare Before Christmas | Coraline