Coraline (film)

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Coraline

Theatrical release poster
Directed by Henry Selick
Produced by Claire Jennings
Written by Screenplay
Henry Selick
Novella
Neil Gaiman
Starring Dakota Fanning
Teri Hatcher
Keith David
Robert Bailey Jr.
John Hodgman
Jennifer Saunders
Dawn French
Ian McShane
Music by Bruno Coulais
They Might Be Giants
Cinematography Pete Kozachik
Editing by Christopher Murrie
Studio Laika
Distributed by Focus Features
Release date(s) February 6, 2009
Running time 100 minutes[1]
Country United States
Language English
Budget $60 to $70 million[2]
Gross revenue $104,975,138[3]

Coraline is a 2009 American animated stop-motion 3-D sci-fi fantasy film based on Neil Gaiman's 2002 novel Coraline. It was produced by LAIKA and distributed by Focus Features. Written and Directed by Henry Selick, it was released widely in US theaters on February 6, 2009, after a world premiere at the Portland International Film Festival.

The film made $16.85 million during opening weekend, ranking third at the box office.[4] As of June 2009, the film has grossed over $104 million worldwide.

Contents

[edit] Plot

Coraline Jones moves into the Pink Palace Apartments with her loving but preoccupied and work-consumed mother and father. Bored and seemingly neglected, Coraline explores the house and premises where she meets her eccentric neighbors: Wybie Lovat, an odd boy who tends to a stray black cat; Misses Spink and Forcible, a pair of long-retired actresses who have taken up fortune-telling; and Mr. Bobinsky, a tall Russian acrobat supposedly training a circus of mice. During her exploration, Coraline comes across a small, bricked up door in her apartment. Awakened that night by a "jumping mouse," Coraline follows it to discover a dark passage now extending beyond the door, which leads her to an alternate version of the house in a place called the Other World. There she meets two beings who introduce themselves as her "Other Mother" and "Other Father," surreally pleasant and interesting doubles of her real parents with buttons for eyes. Coraline is guided through the Other World, which proves to be more colorful and enjoyable than her old home.

Coraline continues visiting the Other World where she is entertained by the "Other" versions of Wybie and her neighbors, despite some cryptic (though somewhat incidental) warnings from her real neighbors about what lies beyond the door to the Other World. The black cat from Coraline's world, which has the power to speak in the Other World, further elaborates on the danger she is in. Coraline, however, refuses to listen until the Other Mother offers to let her stay in the Other World forever if she is willing to sew buttons over her eyes. Frightened, Coraline decides to return to her old world, but finds herself unable to leave the Other World. Upon being demanded by Coraline to return her to her real parents, the furious Other Mother assumes her true form of a wretched witch and traps Coraline in a small room behind a mirror as punishment. There she finds the ghosts of three children who, like Coraline, believed themselves neglected and were lured into the clutches of the Other Mother, the "Beldam," losing their eyes and souls to her.

With help from the Other Wybie, Coraline escapes to her own world, only to find that her parents have been kidnapped by the Other Mother. Aided by the cat and a seeing stone provided by Spink and Forcible, Coraline returns to the Other World and challenges the Other Mother to a game to free her parents and the ghost children. In the game, Coraline collects the children's "eyes" and overcomes the inhabitants of the Other World twisted into monstrous beings by the Other Mother that guard them, causing the Other World to deteriorate. Coraline then tricks the Other Mother into opening the door between their worlds, deliberately claiming her parents are behind it, as she finds them hidden within a snow globe. She then throws the cat at the Other Mother's face, which claws out her button eyes as Coraline attempts to escape. In a desperate attempt to capture Coraline, the blind Other Mother transforms the Other World into a huge web, though Coraline manages to reach the door with the cat, the ghost eyes, and her parents. In the process, she slams the door on and severs the Other Mother's hand as she tries to grab her before locking the door, leaving the Other Mother trapped in the Other World.

With her parents safe (with no memory of the incident) and the ghost children having moved on to the afterlife, Coraline must now dispose of the only key connecting her world to the Other World to ensure the Other Mother doesn't return. In a final effort to reclaim Coraline, the Other Mother sends her severed hand after her as she tries to drop the key down a well near the house. Fortunately, with Wybie's intervention, the hand is destroyed and dropped down the well with the key. The next day, Coraline has a garden party with her parents and neighbors, content with her new life. The garden design, as the view becomes top-down view, looks as the Other Mother.

[edit] Cast

Coraline Jones, as she appears in the film.
  • Dakota Fanning as Coraline Jones, the brave, clever, curious protagonist and a self-proclaimed 11-year-old explorer. She is aggravated by crazy grownups (as they all seem to be), not being taken seriously for her young age and outgoing demeanor, and people constantly mistaking her name for Caroline. Neil Gaiman describes her as "full of 'vim' and 'spunk' and all those wonderful old-fashioned words." She and Wybie also appear to have a "love/hate" relationship.
  • Teri Hatcher as Mel Jones, Coraline's busy mother, and the more attentive Other Mother. Her real mother is a writer working on a gardening catalog. Her husband, Charlie, calls her "the boss", as she is the one who keeps her family in line. She loves her daughter, but is very busy and doesn't always give her the attention that Coraline thinks she needs. The Other Mother, the main antagonist, is the creator of the Other World and its inhabitants, and, as Teri Hatcher describes her, the seemingly "perfect mom, because she's a perfect cook and has the perfect answer to every question, and later on she becomes quite monstrous". The three ghost children refer to her as "the Beldam", an archaic word meaning "hag or witch".
  • John Hodgman as Charlie Jones, Coraline's father, and the Other Father. John Hodgman described him as "the kind of guy who walks around a banana peel and falls into a manhole". Author Neil Gaiman describes him as a man who "does that thing that parents do when they embarrass their kids and somehow think they're being cool". The Other Father is a singer-pianist, as well as a gardener. He acts like the Other Mother's slave and is later transformed into a melancholy, pathetic pumpkin-like creature by the her, presumably for giving Coraline too much information.
  • Keith David as The Cat, a nameless black cat from Coraline's world, who appears and disappears at will (much like the Cheshire Cat), and has the ability to speak in the Other World. He forms a bond with Coraline and acts as her guide and mentor throughout her journey, both in the Real World and the Other World. He hates rats and is often tended by Wybie, although Wybie claims he is a feral cat.
  • Robert Bailey Jr. as Wybourne "Wybie" Lovat, the strange, nervous 11-year-old grandson of Coraline's landlady. A character introduced for the film adaptation so that the viewer "wouldn't have a girl walking around, occasionally talking to herself." Wybie wears a metallic skull mask with a three-piece turret lens that he wears outside, as well as a handmade motorized bicycle used to patrol the woods. He is known to be overly talkative and annoying. Coraline calls him a "psycho nerd," a "jerk wad," and "Why-Were-You-Born." His Other World counterpart, Other Wybie is very sweet and has been rendered incapable of speech by the Other Mother as she thought Coraline would prefer him that way. He later turns out to be one of the most helpful people Coraline finds in the Other World, but is punished and eventually destroyed by the Other Mother for his disobedience. Wybie and Coraline seem to have a "love/hate" relationship.
  • Jennifer Saunders and Dawn French as Miss Spink and Miss Forcible respectively, a pair of retired burlesque actresses. They own several Scottish Terriers (including the stuffed remains of their dead ones) and talk in theater jargon, often referencing their time as actresses. The Other Spink and Forcible are young, beautiful, Shakespeare-quoting acrobats (briefly wearing costumes resembling their Real World counterparts) and their dogs behave like humans. They are later transformed into a two-headed beast made of stale taffy (a reference to the stale candy they serve Coraline in the Real World), and their dogs into light-sensitive bats.
  • Ian McShane as Mr. Bobinsky, (his full name is Sergi Alexander Bobinsky, and friends call him Mr. B) one of Coraline's neighbors. He is a blue-skinned Russian giant who once trained as a gymnast and lives on a steady diet of beets. Coraline's mother believes him to be drunk. The Other Bobinsky is the ringmaster of a circus of rats disguised as jumping mice, and is later transformed into a plethora of rats.
  • Carolyn Crawford as Mrs. Lovat, Wybie's grandmother and the owner of the Pink Palace Apartments. She originally grew up in the old Victorian mansion with her twin sister who mysteriously vanished. Believing that someone 'stole' her sister, Mrs. Lovat moved out of her childhood home, and divided it into three apartments, which she rents. She is afraid of the house claiming another child, and did not allow any tenants with 'kids' to rent the apartments, nor does she allow Wybie to enter it.

[edit] Production

“ Coraline [was] a huge risk. But these days in animation, the safest bet is to take a risk. ”

—Henry Selick, [5]

At its peak, the film involved the efforts of 450 people,[5] including from 30[6] to 35[5] animators and digital designers in the Digital Design Group (DDG) directed by Dan Casey and more than 250 technicians and designers.[6] One crew member was hired specifically to knit miniature sweaters and other clothing for the puppet characters, using knitting needles as thin as human hair.[5]

Coraline was staged in a 140,000-square-foot (13,000 m2) warehouse which was longer than a Hillsboro city block; the building was formerly the home of a company called Southern Plastic Mold.[5][6] The stage was divided into 50 lots,[7] which played host to nearly 150 sets.[5] Among the sets were three miniature Victorian mansions, a 42-foot (12.8 m) apple orchard, and a model of Ashland, Oregon including tiny details such as banners for the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.[6]

[edit] Release

Focus Features distributed the film. Coraline appeared at Comic-Con 2007. A trailer was shown with the films Beowulf, U2 3D, Twilight, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Inkheart, Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa, My Bloody Valentine 3D, and The Tale of Despereaux.[citation needed]

[edit] Reception

Coraline was acclaimed by critics. As of May 2009, the film has an 88% "Certified Fresh" rating at Rotten Tomatoes,[8] and a 80 out of 100 at Metacritic, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[9]

Carrie Rickey of The Philadelphia Inquirer asked "Is it premature to assign it classic status?" Film critic Leonard Maltin of Entertainment Tonight called the film "the best 3-D movie I've ever seen," and "a beautiful piece of work on every level". Pete Hammond of Hollywood.com called it "a visual stunner that takes animated films to new heights". Tom Maurstad of The Dallas Morning News wrote that "sweet and creepy blend beautifully", and added that Coraline "is the best kind of children's entertainment — smartly told and deeply felt." Michael Phillips of the Chicago Tribune called the film "an adventurous movie with brains, personality, a look and a knack for inducing shivers." Peter Howell of the Toronto Star said that it "leaps off the screen, whether you see it in 3-D or not." Jennie Punter wrote in the Globe and Mail that Coraline is "quite possibly the best 3-D movie ever made." David Edelstein said the film is "a bona fide fairy tale" that needed a "touch less entrancement and a touch more … story":[10]

A. O. Scott of The New York Times called the film "exquisitely realized" with a "slower pace and a more contemplative tone than the novel. It is certainly exciting, but rather than race through ever noisier set pieces toward a hectic climax in the manner of so much animation aimed at kids, Coraline lingers in an atmosphere that is creepy, wonderfully strange and full of feeling.[11] Scott concludes that the film is "grounded in the pluck and common sense of its heroine, who is resilient, ingenious and magically real."

[edit] Box office

According to Paul Dergarabedian, a movie business analyst with Media by Numbers, for the film to succeed it needed a box office comparable to Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, which grossed $16 million its opening weekend and ended up making more than $192 million worldwide; prior to the film's release, Dergarabedian thought Laika "should be really pleased" if it made close to $10 million on its opening weekend.[6]

In its U.S. opening weekend, the film made $16.85 million, ranking third at the box office.[4] It made $15 million on its second weekend, bringing its U.S. total up to $35.6 million, $25.5 million of which coming from 3D presentations.[12] As of June 2009, the film has grossed $75,229,518 in the United States and Canada and $104,975,138 worldwide.[3]

The movie was released on June 19, 2009 in Italy. It was distributed to 205 cinemas in its opening weekend, making €918,869 and ranking first at the box office.[13] It made €495,089 during its second weekend, ranking second.[14] So far Coraline has grossed €1,914,445 in Italy.

[edit] DVD and Blu-ray

The film is scheduled to be released on DVD and Blu-ray Disc on July 21, 2009. A 3D version is to be included with a set of 4 3D glasses, specifically the green-magenta type.

[edit] Other media

The soundtrack for Coraline on E1 Music (formerly Koch Records) features songs performed by French composer Bruno Coulais with one, "Other Father Song", by They Might Be Giants. They Might Be Giants wrote ten songs for the film; when a melancholy tone was decided, all but one were cut. Coulais's score features choral pieces sung in a nonsense language. It was released digitally February 3, and in stores since February 24, 2009.

The website for Coraline involves an interactive exploration game where the player can scroll through Coraline's world. It won the 2009 Webby Award for "Best Use of Animation or Motion Graphics," both by the people and the Webby organization. It was also nominated for the Webby "Movie and Film" category.[15]

On June 16, 2008, D3 Publisher announced the release of a video game based on the film. It was developed by Papaya Studio for the Wii and PlayStation 2 and by Art Co. for Nintendo DS. It was released on January 27, 2009, close to the film's theatrical release.[16]

[edit] Animation Technology

The film's creators used 3D printing technology from Objet Geometries. The Polyjet matrix technology allowed animators to create thousands of models to animate the characters and sets from the movie.

Filmmakers used three of the cutting-edge 3D printing systems from Objet in the development and production of the film. Thousands of high-quality 3D models, ranging from facial expressions to doorknobs were printed in 3D using the Polyjet matrix systems, which enable the fast transformation of CAD (computer-aided design) drawings into high-quality 3D models. The characters of Coraline could potentially exhibit over 208,000 facial expressions.

[edit] References

  1. ^ "Coraline rated PG by the BBFC". BBFC. January 29, 2009. http://www.bbfc.co.uk/website/Classified.nsf/c2fb077ba3f9b33980256b4f002da32c/7af591781e6867a4802575460031e934?OpenDocument. Retrieved on 2009-04-05. "Run Time 100m 19s" 
  2. ^ Schuker, Lauren (March 27, 2009). "Film: Taking it to another dimension: Can 3-D movies save Hollywood?". Wall Street Journal. p. W10. 
  3. ^ a b "Coraline". Box Office Mojo. http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?page=main&id=coraline.htm. Retrieved on 2009-03-13. 
  4. ^ a b "Moviegoers into Into You". The Hollywood Reporter. February 8, 2009. http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3ib2336cb7507211a2e4389b8078d6194b. Retrieved on 2009-02-16. 
  5. ^ a b c d e f McNichol, Tom (February 2009). "Hollywood Knights". Portland Monthly. http://www.portlandmonthlymag.com/issues/current-issue/articles/0209-knights/?print=1. Retrieved on 2009-02-15. 
  6. ^ a b c d e Mesh, Aaron (February 4, 2009). "Suspended Animation". Willamette Week. http://wweek.com/editorial/3513/12165/. Retrieved on 2009-02-10. 
  7. ^ "Backstage view (19th of 21 backlot production photos)". David Strick's Hollywood Backlot. Los Angeles Times. August 7, 2008. http://photos.latimes.com/backlot/gallery/coraline/2008/9/15/Coraline_facility. Retrieved on 2009-02-15. "Backstage view of the facility in which Coraline's stop-motion animation is filmed in Portland, Oregon. The Coraline stage is divided into approximately 50 units separated by black curtains. Each unit contains a different set that is in the process of being dressed, lit, rigged or shot." 
  8. ^ "Coraline Movie Reviews, Pictures". Rotten Tomatoes. February 5, 2009. http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/coraline/. Retrieved on 2009-02-10. 
  9. ^ "Coraline (2009): Reviews". Metacritic. February 5, 2009. http://www.metacritic.com/film/titles/coraline/. Retrieved on 2009-02-10. 
  10. ^ Edelstein, David (February 1, 2009). "What You See Is What You Get". New York Magazine. http://nymag.com/movies/reviews/53785/. Retrieved on 2009-02-16. 
  11. ^ Scott, A.O. (February 6, 2009). "Cornered in a Parallel World". The New York Times. http://movies.nytimes.com/2009/02/06/movies/06cora.html?ref=movies. Retrieved on 2009-02-16. 
  12. ^ "Holdovers Live Under Killer Friday Debut". Box Office Mojo. February 15, 2009. http://www.boxofficemojo.com/news/?id=2548. Retrieved on 2009-02-16. 
  13. ^ "Week-end Top20 Italia del 19/06/2009". MyMovies. June 22, 2009. http://www.mymovies.it/boxoffice/italia/top20/?weekend=21/06/2009. Retrieved on 2009-06-22. 
  14. ^ "Week-end Top20 Italia del 26/06/2009". MyMovies. June 30, 2009. http://www.mymovies.it/boxoffice/italia/top20/?weekend=21/06/2009. Retrieved on 2009-06-30. 
  15. ^ "Webby Awards". http://www.webbyawards.com/webbys/current.php?season=13. Retrieved on 2009-06-13. 
  16. ^ Remo, Chris (June 16, 2008). "D3 Announces Coraline And Shaun The Sheep Adaptations". Gamasutra. http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=18932. Retrieved on 2008-06-16. 

[edit] External links


v • d • e
Films directed by Henry Selick

The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) · James and the Giant Peach (1996) · Monkeybone (2001) · Coraline (2009)
v • d • e
Neil Gaiman bibliography
Novels and anthologies
Short fiction
Comic books
Screenplays and films
Non-fiction
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