Coraline (Selick, 2009)
Having read Neil Gaiman’s novel just before seeing the film, my primary complaint against the latter is that it wasn’t quite dark enough. The book struck me as exceptionally creepy for a children’s story—what with the singing rats and all. The film, perhaps toned down a bit for the kids in the audience, looked stunning, but didn’t seem to capture the creepiness of the book as well as I’d hoped it would. In dealing with adaptations, I try not to compare the content too much, but I do think it’s fair to compare them in terms of effect. Though the film version of Coraline didn’t leave me with the same effect as the book, this is the only flaw I really found with it, and it’s a fairly minor one. The story is relatively simple, and the stop-motion animation brings it to life marvelously. All in all, I enjoyed the film, but it didn’t quite absorb me as much as I had anticipated. I’ll have to give it a second viewing, as I was clearly distracted by my 3D glasses throughout the first screening.
Rating: 3.5/5
I, too, read the book ages before I saw the film. So far back, in fact, that I had forgotten about the button eyes & sowen-shut mouth. I find those elements to be the most terrifying, especially in a "kid's film."
ReplyDeleteElizabeth? Haven't heard from you in ages! What have you been up to?
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