Coraline 3D
March 30th 2009 11:18
Henry Selick's and Neil Gaiman's lovechild, Coraline is the best film I saw in 3D. Notice the emphasis. It was not especially the 3D that struck me, but the content. Why is it such a big deal? Because it flashes like a light of a beacon: "Hello! 3D isn't just gimmick!". You can entertain with quality story and movie magic, while you're doing it in stereo.
The stop-motion brilliance and careful movement of a single camera to capture it in stereo 3D brings a surreal world to life. If you liked The Nightmare Before Christmas, or Corpse Bride, and you're fond of the story of Alice in Wonderland, then don't miss this one!
Coraline Jones and her neglecting parent-wanna-bes, who happen to be writing about gardening, and hating the mere soil in parallel, just moved to their new rural home. Aside from spooky neighbours, a spooky forest and throughout spookyness, there's something very weird about their home, namely a small hidden door in the wall that leads to a strange mirror world, that's uncomfortably appealing to the bored Coraline. Her alter-parents are the opposites of the real ones: lively, creative and what's more important, they pay attention to our young heroine. Things however soon become less than ideal, as the wole world turns out to be an elaborate trap.
The story is quite grim, or more approprietly, quite Grimm-ish, which is good for fairy tale loving adults, but can scare some small children. So be sure to pay attention to the more sensitive ones. Personaly I enjoyed every spooky moment with a joyful glee.
As I've mentioned, the overall satisfaction of finally seeing a really worthy feature material was overwhealming, but the stereo itself was clever too. Very professionally used, beautiful, engaging and subtle, but never too subtle. The play-space was felt throughout the movie. Play-space is the area where the action takes place. So the result was that the immersion in the story was supported by 3D, and every now and there were a few coming-at-you scenes for added fun.
Maybe one's too forgiving with these gimmicky moves when the basic material is shallow or nothing special, like in My Bloody Valentine, but here they felt integral part of the somewhat psychedelic experience. Whatever the case is, entertainment is what the goal was and entertainment is what they delivered!
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