Coraline: A review of the Neil Gaiman movie adaptation

The Coraline novel by Neil Gaiman is one of the most beloved books for younger readers of recent years, and thus when the news came down that a Coraline movie was in the works, it filled a few fans with dread over whether or not it would ruin the power of the book and cheapen Neil Gaiman’s work somewhat. The finished product, while not on a par with the book it is based on, it still an excellent piece of surreal entertainment.

Henry Selick’s direction does veer a little too close to his work on The Nightmare Before Christmas at times, but he does reign himself in and stick largely to the story.

It does lose some of the subtleties of the book, but as a film, the Coraline movie works well. Neil Gaiman’s lush prose hasn’t really translated all that well here, but the overall feel is of a film made with love for the source material and an eye on bringing the strange tale of Coraline Jones to a wider audience.

I would have liked to have seen more of Miss Spink and Miss Forcible, as they don’t seem to be in the movie anywhere near as much as they are in the book, or maybe that’s just my perception of it.

The animation is beautiful, and particular mention must go to Coraline’s facial expressions, which ooze with personality. her parents (both versions) are well realized, but it is the nightmarish vision of the Other Mother later on in the movie when it really starts to click. A beautiful mixture of animation techniques has made for a gorgeous visual experience even if the story seems to miss some of the beats of Neil Gaiman‘s original.

That said, this is the best film for kids I’ve seen in ages. It isn’t really suitable for children under 12 due to some rather surreal and unnerving fantasy elements, so keep that in mind when taking your family to see it.

The 3D aspect of the film is great fun too, but aside from maybe half a dozen instances it doesn’t really enhance the film all that much. Then again, there are some real moments of visual beauty in the film, such as the gorgeously realized garden in the other world and the mind-blowing climax. Overall a wonderful film to enjoy and revisit in the future. A flawed but beautiful treasure

This entry was posted on Sunday, May 10th, 2009 at 11:57 am and is filed under Movies, reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.