Coraline [2009]

Making a good adaptation is weird. Just because the movie of the book isn't just like the book doesn't mean that it's a bad movie. Of course, this isn't always the case. The Tale of Despereaux movie was terrible, and The Hobbit trilogy is... well, it's a big enough problem that I had to say trilogy.

Coraline on the other hand, isn't just like the book, but it's an awesome adaptation.

Where do I start... well, the film is stop-motion, and it is gorgeous. The sets are so detailed, and I heard that a crewmember was hired to knit clothes for the characters on teeny-tiny little knitting needles! The character design was cool, too. Especially Coraline and The Other Mother. I like the versatility you can get in stop-motion when it comes to designing characters.

I love the music, it's got kind of a Danny Elfman feel to it, but the composer is actually Bruno Coulais. There's some very good use of pizzicato strings and a creepy kid's choir singing in nonsense language.

Wybie, as always, dressed like a fireman.

Anyhoo, there is a few things that they added that weren't in the book- but it didn't bother me at all. The biggest change they made was that there's another kid who lives next door to Coraline- the unfortunately named Wyborne, or Wybie. Usually, adding characters is not a good idea (Boldo from the disastrous, evil incarnate Despereaux movie), but I actually really liked Wybie. The book has a lot of inner narration and Coraline wandering around exploring by herself. So it makes story-telling a lot easier if they have a second character for Coraline to work off of.

Aside from the addition of Wybie, the story is kept mostly intact from the book. A little girl, roughly 11 or 12 years old moves into a duplex with her mum and dad. However, the other side of the duplex isn't occupied, and there's a little door in Coraline's house that's bricked off. Late one night, Coraline finds herself drawn to the other side of the door (now mysteriously opened up), and on the other side, she finds a world just like her own, except that everyone inexplicably has button eyes. There's another mother, another father, even another Wybie. Things seem way better on the other version of her life. Her parents now have endless amounts of time for her, and there's always delicious snacks around. However, Coraline soon finds out that this other world is actually quite sinister.

The Other Mother

The movie doesn't distill any of the dark or slightly disturbing elements of the book, and the story plays out very well on screen. It's always neat to see how a book plays out in movie-format, especially something as strange and unique as Coraline.

Well, as much as I love this movie even I have to admit that there are... problems. Well, one problem. See, two of Coraline's neighbors, Miss Spink and Miss Forcible, are implied to be former burlesque dancers, and in the Other world, there's a scene where they are **ahem** scantily clad. The movie gets away with this because it's actually two younger women in old lady costumes. Before that gets revealed though it's um... more disturbing than the Other Mother in her spider mode.

My reaction to the above mentioned scene.

Oh, and speaking of The Other Mother... Coraline is a story written for all ages, children to adults, and the same goes for the movie. But there are a few things that you might want to know before you pop this into the player for the young'ns. Naturally, spoilers follow.

If Coraline wants to stay in the Other world, she has to let The Other Mother replace her eyes with buttons. Coraline refuses, and soon finds out that this has happened to at least three other children before. And the other children are kind of, well, dead now. It's kind of a disturbing twist, and it might freak out young children. My little sister is ten, and she wasn't scarred for life, but more sensitive kids might be freaked out. So you know, use your own judgment.

The Verdict: A

Coraline is a terrific adaptation of a terrific book. If you like the book, this is worth a watch, and vice versa. The sets are very well made, and the look/feel of the movie is kooky and whimsical while still being suspenseful and creepy. It's not perfect, you know, there's some suggestive humor in it. But if you like this kind of movie, I would totally recommend Coraline.
Age Appropriateness: Preteens and up, but it varies from person to person. I know some adults who would be uncomfortable with Coraline.

Corpse Bride [2005]

With this hand, I will lift your sorrows. Your cup will never be empty, for I will be your wine. With this candle, I will light your way into darkness. With this ring, I ask you to be mine.
-The Wedding Vows
Where do I start... Well, Corpse Bride is the story of young Victor van Dort, a shy man in an arranged marriage with a woman named Victoria Everglot. However, at his wedding rehearsal, he gets nervous and messes up his vows. Humiliated, he runs away into the forest and practices the vows by himself. He places the wedding ring on the 'finger' of a dry bush, which actually does turn out to be a finger. Out of the ground rises the corpse of a dead bride who declares they are now married. It's based on a Jewish Folk Tale, and is much better than my shaky synopsis makes it sound.

First off, the film is gorgeous. The scenery may be drab and grey, but it's such a marvel to look at. I love the look and feel of stop-motion, and if you asked me why, I'd probably pop this movie into the player. And the music is terrific. There's a jazzy, danse-macabre sound associated with the land of the dead, which makes copious use of 'bony' sounding xylophone and saxaphone. That's all well and good, and really fun to listen to. For me though, the really gorgeous tracks are the ones that repeat the main theme heard in the opening credits. It's light, twinkly, and really brings out the more touching side of the plot. Danny Elfman makes very good use of celesta in those tracks.

Victor and Victoria off to a good start.

There are some problems though, most notably with the opening song 'According to Plan'. According to Plan is a fun song to listen to, and it does a good job of setting up the story. The problem is that it is sung by Victor and Victoria's parents who are not nice people. Victor's parents just care about climbing the social ladder, and Victoria's parents are snobs who are marrying off their daughter because they are going bankrupt. In musicals (Corpse Bride only has four musical numbers, but it still counts) you usually introduce your hero- as well as set up the plot- in the opening song. You know, instead of the parents tromping around Hurumphing, the song could have been about what Victor and Victoria felt about the marriage.

Victor trying to boost Emily's mood after he said something
tactless. Again.

Another issue is well, the land of the dead. What is it exactly? It's neither Heaven or Hell, but some kind of limbo? It's just like being alive except that you're decomposing. The end of the movie implies some kind of eternal rest, but what exactly is the land of the dead for? It's not like in Odd Thomas where ghosts stay here because they have unfinished business (Though it does seem like once you let go of this world, you ascend to a higher plane of existance or something). They just kinda dance around and run a cabaret.

And there's a stereotypical jerk priest. It doesn't bug me too much, since the dead people at the end seem to respect churches and such, but still. [eyeroll] On the bright side, Christopher Lee voices the vile vicar, and you can't go wrong with Christopher Lee. :)

Now that I've gone on about what I didn't like, I can feel free to gush about all that was right with this movie.

Despite his unfortunate tendency to say the wrong thing at the worst possible time, I really liked Victor. He truly wanted to do the right thing in the difficult situation he found himself in, and he had a sense of responsibility towards both the women he found himself engaged to. While the film satirizes the unromantic, practical view of marriage, it also shows that there is a certain responsibility that comes with marriage, and that it isn't something to be taken lightly.

Victoria was a pretty good character. Like Cosette, she gets a lot of flak for being the one who got chosen in the end, but I liked her. She's shy and quiet, but she does have a will of her own, and takes things into her own hands at various points in the plot.

Emily- the titular 'Corpse Bride' had a good character arc, and her plight was really heart-wrenching. She did the right thing in the end despite it not being what she really wanted, and I really loved the development and conflict in her character.

The film has a very touching and selfless ending that- for me- almost made up for that incredibly cheesy scene of the villain walking down the hallway laughing evilly. Almost. Oh yeah, I suppose I forgot to talk about the film's villain. Well, he had understandable motivation, and you're invested enough in the characters to want him to get what he deserves, but... Yeah. He walked down a hallway laughing evilly. He's a bad guy who puts the B in subtle.

The Verdict: B+
It was kind of hard to watch this movie without constantly comparing it to The Nightmare Before Christmas. Nightmare was a terrific, clever, fun ride, and I think it's a better movie. But Corpse Bride has very genuine heart and told a moving story with a beautiful ending.

Pan's Labyrinth [2006]

[NOTE: This movie has some strong violence and language and is definitely NOT for kids.]

In a time when most movies are reboots and remakes, an original movie is a rare find indeed. Pan's Labyrinth is a very unique film. It's about a young girl named Ofelia, who's living during the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War in the 1940's. She and her pregnant mother move to the country to be with her Step-Father who's an army captain. Almost right away, fantastical things start happening to Ofelia.

Now, the plot of this movie is just like a fairy tale, even if it is an extremely dark one. In the opening narration, we're told that the one day, the curious princess of the underworld escaped into the human world. However, the brightness of the sun blinded her and made her forget who she was, and eventually, she died. However, it was legend that the princess' spirit would someday return home. Now, it turns out that Ofelia is the lost princess, and has to complete three tasks to prove that she is worthy.

This movie features some very good acting performances, the most notable being the lead, Ofelia. She was absolutely terrific, and really made you feel for the character.

As a fantasy, there are tons of stunning visuals in this movie. There's some really good costumes and CGI, though perhaps the most engaging of all the various fantastical elements in the movie were two characters called The Faun and The Pale Man.

The Faun is the one who gives Ofelia her tasks, and, despite looking otherwise, is not evil. The costuming on him is so strange and cool to look at. You can't get the full extent of it from a picture, you also have to see how he moves, too.
He moves almost stiffly, kind of lofty but also sort of graceful in a way. If any of you have seen The Nightmare Before Christmas, think about how Sally walks around and you've sort of got the idea.

Now for the other creature, The Pale Man, who I feel sort of mirrors The Faun in a way (They were actually played by the same man- Doug Jones.). As you can see from the picture, The Pale Man is quite terrifying to look at, and even though he's just in one scene in the movie, he leaves such a big impression. I mean that is just pure, un-cut nightmare fuel. I'd question the practicality of having eyes on your hands, but we must remember that this guy is a monster. Monsters, by their nature, meant to scare the living daylights out of you. So when you think about it that way... XD

This movie is very dark and atmospheric, and beautifully executed. The scenery is gorgeous, and the cinematography was just... wow. There was heavy use of segue, and the scenes were lit so that you see just enough. It was dark, but not poorly lit. If that makes... any sense?

The music in this movie is probably one of my favorite things about it. The music is actually the reason we rented it and watched it! I all happened one day when I was browsing around YouTube, and found a song from it-

Isn't that one of the most beautiful pieces of music you've ever heard? The whole soundtrack is consistently good, and fits the movie perfectly. I'd actually like to devote a whole post to the soundtrack, kind of like what I did with the Spirited Away OST, so I'll be moving on for now.

The Verdict: A
Pan's Labyrinth is a visually stunning film with a moving story. It's executed beautifully, and the end product is a terrific work of art. Not to say that there aren't flaws, though. It should be noted that this movie contains some very bad language(most of it is spoken by nasty stepfather), and scenes of violence. Most of these are lit so you only see the outlines of what is happening, but it's still brutal. There's also some moral ambiguity concerning some characters. However, in the important aspects of morality, this movie gets it right.
This movie, while not for everyone, is a chilling dark fantasy, and a unique change from the usual fare.