Coraline (2009) dir. Henry Selick
Feature voice talents of: Dakota Fanning, Teri Hatcher, Jennifer Saunders, Dawn French

**

I’m not sure what I was expecting with “Coraline” but certainly everything I had read about Henry Selick’s latest stop motion venture, an adaptation of revered fantasy author Neil Gaiman’s book about a girl who discovers a doppelganger fantasy world in her new home, led me to believe this was one of the best stop motion animated films ever made. And so being underwhelmed by an emotionally vacant story led me to believe that I missed something crucial from the 3-D theatrical experience.

The set-up is simple, due to financial problems young Coraline (voice by Dakota Fanning) and her two parents have moved to a new home, in a desolate town in a wasteland of isolation. Living in a sparsely decorated house with no friends and a set of parents who take no notice of her concerns has thus retreated the girl into an inward depression. One day while exploring the nooks and crannies of the house she discovers a small door which leads to mysterious portal. Like any youngster, she crawls into the unknown to see where it will lead.

She emerges in a Wizard of Oz-like doppelganger world, a mirror of her house, inhabited by duplicates of her parents and other citizens of her town. It’s identical except everyone’s eyes are removed and replaced with buttons. The creepiness of these images is tempered with overly-gracious hospitality from her ‘other parents’. And so this other world acts like a joyful carefree version of her real world. Eventually Coraline discovers nefarious ulterior motives from her other parents, a trap to ensnare Coraline, steal her eyes and imprison her.

Before we discuss, I should get out of the way that the film meets all technical expectations of a filmmaking method which is notoriously labourious but wondrous in it’s visual possibilities. Henry Selick arguably is the pre-eminent feature stop motion animator in the world – the man responsible for “A Nightmare Before Christmas” and “James and the Giant Peach” and indeed the craftsmanship behind this film equals those two others.

The gothic imagery and sometimes truly frightening characters and situations Coraline encounters is a certainly a fresh departure from the usual Pixar-influenced fare we get from Hollywood studio animation. But Selick's film accompanies his uniquely dark adult-oriented tone with frustrating unsophisticatedness in story and character, which results in a palpable hollowness. The story borrows from the familiarness of classic fairytales – a troubled child develops her own fantasy world. For the first 45mins it's a conflict-free set-up of this alternate world. The shoe drops on an arbitrary piece of information we learn from the cat – thus, a discovery not earned by the character. Once Coraline learns the true nature of the other world, we expect a change of pace, an increase in stakes and heightening of action from Coraline. We don’t get it. Coraline continues to moves between the worlds at will – sure her parents are gone, why? And how, we’re never sure.

Perhaps because the boundaries of this new fantasy world are never quite clear, with new rules added as the film goes along. And so we never get the feeling that Coraline is trapped or will not get out of her predicament. And from a character perspective, does Coraline learn a lesson or enrich her appreciation of her own parents, or does her real parents learn something from Coraline’s journey or heroism? No. Her parents have forgotten everything that has happened. Maybe it was all just a dream?

I missed the theatrical 3-D experience, and perhaps that spectacle would have distracted me from these nickpicking story-points. The DVD contains both 2-D and 3-D versions of the film, but sadly the 3-D is more of a distraction. The red & blue tinted glasses means a constantly shifting colour palette – ie. In the opening scene the sky switches between yellow and white as my two eyes never could combine the two colours properly. And so, unless their eyes work better than mine (which is possible) I suspect most DVD viewers will eventually take off the glasses and settle on the 2-D version, and thus, an inferior version of the film.

"Coraline" is available on DVD and Blu-Ray from Alliance Films in Canada

The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) dir. Henry Selick
Voices by: Chris Sarandan, Paul Reubens, Catherine O’Hara

****

Watching the Blu-Ray edition of Tim Burton/Henry Selick’s groundbreaking classic, it’s hard to believe it’s been 15 years. It doesn’t look a day over 10, or 5, or even 1 year old. It’s a timeless film which captures the essence of both Christmas and Halloween. It’s also my favourite animated film of the past 20 years.

The story takes place in a city called “Halloweentown”, a funny little place inhabited by a group of people in charge of making Halloween scary. And Jack Skellington is the king of the scarers. He’s got the head of Beetlejuice, the grace and elegance of Fred Astaire, and the do-goodness of Jimmy Stewart. For Skellington, the monotony of scaring people for a living is starting to get boring though. During a stroll in the woods, he happens upon a door with a Christmas tree on it, which takes him to Christmastown, a place like Halloweentown, except where its citizens prepare for Christmas 364 days a year. 

Skellington is smitten with the joie de vivre of the yuletide spirit and decides to replicate it in Halloweentown. Unfortunately the townsfolk, nor Skellington, can grasp the concept, and so their Christmas tidings consist of reindeer made of skeletons and other frightening concoctions. Skellington’s solution is to kidnap Santa and take his place on Christmas night. But Skellington just can’t get the Halloween out of his system and it will take the real Santa to make things right, if it’s not too late.

Though director’s credit is listed as Henry Selick, the world and characters comes from the head of Tim Burton. You can see dollops of "Beetlejuice", "Edward Scissorhands" and his short film “Vincent” in the art direction and design. In fact, on the Blu-Ray edition a full version of "Vincent" is available, in addition to a high definition transfer of his last short film, "Frankenweenee". It’s a remarkable look back at the beginnings of the great filmmaker.

The art of stop-motion animation will never be replaced by computer animation. It’s been almost 15 years since “Toy Story” and it’s clear the two forms can live happily side by side – each give us a different cinematic experience which can't be replicated by the other. Look at the case of Aardman Studios, the British animators of “Wallace and Grommet", who recently vowed to go back to traditional claymation after the failure of their first and only CG film – “Flushed Away”. "Flushed Away" tried to recreate the claymation look with computer graphics, but it failed to replicate the magic of the organic process of the art.

The strength of "The Nightmare Before Christmas" is in its detail, which is crucial to the discipline of stop motion animation. Everything in the frame is designed and meticulously worked by hand. Even the slightest movement in the background requires as much attention as the action in the foreground. And so, it takes several viewings just to catch everything in the frame. Some of the most delightful characters don’t even speak, or contribute to the narrative story. My favourite is the 'Igor character' who permanently has an axe stuck in his head. He wanders through the town and participates in all the activities oblivious to his gaping head wound. For me this comic absurdity sums up all the weird and wonderful characters in the Tim Burton universe.

Stop motion is so completely different than traditional and computer animation because everything in the frame is a real tangible object. CG produces smooth elegant movement, but it’s the limitations and ‘flaws’ of stop-motion which give it it’s wonderful organic feel. That’s why the world of Halloweentown feels so real and lasting through these 15 years, and which is why I’ll always prefer a fake animated rubber suit puppet over a CG generated monster any day.

By the end of Tim Burton’s career, he will be remembered for lots of great films – “Beetlejuice”, “Batman”, “Ed Wood”, Edward Scissorhands” but perhaps it’s “The Nightmare Before Christmas” which will be his definitive film - a truly unique lasting vision, and a treasure of the man’s full creativity. Enjoy.

"The Nightmare Before Christmas" is available on Blu-Ray from Walt Disney Home Entertainment