Coraline

What a wonderfully creepy fantastical movie! This was based on a short book by Neil Gaiman, fantasy writer extraordinaire, and was made into a stop-motion animated movie by the director of "Nightmare Before Christmas" (Tim Burton didn't actually direct it, just producer/writer). The style was fantastic, it was dark and creepy and colorful, lots of textures. It wasn't as zany as Nightmare sometimes got, part of it was set in the 'real world', it kept it more realistic (well sort of).

So the plot is simple. A girl whose parents are too wrapped up in their work to pay much attention to her move to a new house. Inside the house, she finds a creepy tiny door that leads into a world that is similar to her own, but better...Or is it?? (I could write taglines). The book was creepy and wonderful, but very short, so a lot more had to be added. The kooky neighbors roles were bulked up, and well I think. Also, a 'love interest' type boy was added as well, but he fit in better than I thought he would. Excellent adaptation of a book, not many out there.

One of the BEST things about this film though (besides the art direction), and it was something that I rarely notice, was the soundtrack. I can't think of a more perfect soundtrack that went with a film. It was kind of quirky and strange, but that enhanced the mood of the film in just the right way. There was a lot of strange pianos and violins, some creepy chanting, it reminded me somewhat of the music from "Twelve Monkeys". I'm looking it up on iTunes ASAP.

A note about the genre. With how well this film has been doing so far, and how good it was, I think there is a niche genre of 'young girl in fantasy world' emerging. "Pans Labyrinth" is the best example, but there is also "Mirrormask" that came out at roughly the same time, Terry Gilliams "Tideland" (though I refuse to see it even though I love him) and one coming out this week called "Pheobe in Wonderland". Its a young girl, on the brink of puberty or of adulthood who enters a fantasy world, and then there is the is-she-or-isnt-she making it up to deal with. I think its an important theme to explore, I hope more can come out like this. I certainly identify strongly with it and the characters, I think a lot of girls do.

Also, I'm a nerd and I went on the website. You can make your own 'other self' with button eyes, it was pretty funny: http://www.coraline.com/#/?page=button%20eyes&subPage=0. Go be a nerd too and make your other self.