I recently watched "Coraline" (again) on Blu-ray.  For some reason, I really 
enjoy this movie.  I wouldn't exactly refer to it as a children's film.  In 
fact, it's exactly the type of film that is almost certain to breed 
nightmares in young children.  But hey, maybe kids need to be scared now and 
then too.  ;-)  I read a review somewhere that described it as "delightfully 
creepy", and I would have to say that it fits better than any simple 
description.

It's visually stunning.  Because it's stop-motion, rather than CG, the 
camera picks up lots of tiny details that would otherwise simply not exist. 
In Blu-ray (and in theatres) this is perhaps more pronounced and might be 
lost without high definition.  The Blu-ray transfer looks so good I want to 
cry...  Perhaps it's due to the nature of stop-motion vs motion-film.  It's 
normal to see a lot of grain in most motion pictures, but it's largely 
absent here, similar to a CG movie.

The story really seems to pull the viewer in, as well.  It's one of only a 
handful of films that can make me feel like I've truly left reality.  I 
think part of the reason is that while it does have a simple musical score, 
the music does not pervade every scene.  There are places where the silence 
builds the suspense.  I don't see this feature in very many films, but more 
producers/directors seem to be catching on.  Music has it's place, but I 
think it's often over used in film.

Overall, I'm not sure if it's the story, or the art, or the plot.  I think 
it's mostly a combination of all of those.  One of my other favorite films, 
"Amelie", was often visually striking as well, with many scenes saturated 
with color.  I don't think I would have enjoyed either one nearly as much if 
they had not been so visual.

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Jeremy "UncleHoot" Praay wrote:
> I recently watched "Coraline" (again) on Blu-ray.  For some reason, I really 
> enjoy this movie.

I liked it a lot, too. The whole idea is great, in a Twilight Zone sort 
of way. That part with the two old ladies singing and dancing in the 
theater was just too much! It was at that point I realized that the 
movie might not be entirely suitable for children ;)

And that musical score played by the alter-dad... I wonder if it was a 
They Might Be Giant's song? It sounded a lot like them.

Fantastic movie, all-around. Rather psychedelic at times.

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And lo On Tue, 09 Mar 2010 20:56:29 -0000, Jeremy "UncleHoot" Praay  
<jer### [at] questsoftwarecmo> did spake thusly:

> I recently watched "Coraline" (again)

Don't you mean Caroline :-P

> on Blu-ray.  For some reason, I really enjoy this movie.
<snip>

That's because it's a really good movie. Good voice acting, and they got  
the facial expressions just right.

Perhaps it's me though, but in parts the animation seemed a little jerky.  
I'd say it was the 24fps judder; but my TV is supposed to support that  
natively and I've not noticed it on any other film.

-- 
Phil Cook

--
I once tried to be apathetic, but I just couldn't be bothered
http://flipc.blogspot.com

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"stbenge" <UN### [at] hotmailcom> wrote in message news:4b970bcd@news.povray.org...
> Jeremy "UncleHoot" Praay wrote:
>> I recently watched "Coraline" (again) on Blu-ray.  For some reason, I 
>> really enjoy this movie.
>
> I liked it a lot, too. The whole idea is great, in a Twilight Zone sort of 
> way. That part with the two old ladies singing and dancing in the theater 
> was just too much! It was at that point I realized that the movie might 
> not be entirely suitable for children ;)

Oddly enough, I was actually glad that someone was bold enough to put 
something like that into a "kids" film.  My daughter (11 yrs) got quite 
embarrassed, which was probably worth the price of admission for me. 
Perhaps I'm a little sadistic.

I say "kids" (in quotes), because I don't think it's for everyone.  I 
imagine that some parents were probably shocked and generally pissed-off 
after taking their kids to see that movie.  I tend to be quite liberal in 
that regard, so for me it was a breath of fresh air.  Having taken my 
daughter to a lot of kids/family films over the years, this was the first 
one that really inspired me.  I would agree that it's perhaps the equivalent 
of "Children's Horror", if there is such a genre.

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"Jeremy \"UncleHoot\" Praay" <jer### [at] questsoftwarecmo> wrote:
> [..]  Because it's stop-motion, rather than CG [...]

Are you sure about that? I'm pretty sure it is CG but made to look like stop
motion for artistic reasons.

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Roman Reiner wrote:
> "Jeremy \"UncleHoot\" Praay" <jer### [at] questsoftwarecmo> wrote:
>> [..]  Because it's stop-motion, rather than CG [...]
> 
> Are you sure about that? I'm pretty sure it is CG but made to look like stop
> motion for artistic reasons.

Nope, it was good ol' stop motion:

http://www.larissameek.com/2009/02/07/the-making-of-coraline/


With this and The Fantastic Mr. Fox it was a really good year for 
stop-motion movies.

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Kevin Wampler <wam### [at] uwashingtonedu> wrote:
> Roman Reiner wrote:
> > "Jeremy \"UncleHoot\" Praay" <jer### [at] questsoftwarecmo> wrote:
> >> [..]  Because it's stop-motion, rather than CG [...]
> > 
> > Are you sure about that? I'm pretty sure it is CG but made to look like stop
> > motion for artistic reasons.

> Nope, it was good ol' stop motion:

  One sad thing about computer graphics is that people are dismissing other
great forms of art as "just CGI".

  CGI is great when well done, and absolutely stunning things can be
achieved with it (for example, I don't think the LotR trilogy would have
been physically possible in its current form without CGI).

  However, it's sad when other great pieces of work are deemed as "just CGI"
when in fact they aren't, so people will miss all the work which went into
making them by other means.

  An interesting question is, however: If a stop-motion movie is mistaken
for a CGI movie, is it an insult or a compliment?

  (Similarly one could ask if an animatronic puppet being confused for CGI
is an insult or a compliment...)

-- 
                                                          - Warp

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Kevin Wampler escreveu:
> Roman Reiner wrote:
>> "Jeremy \"UncleHoot\" Praay" <jer### [at] questsoftwarecmo> wrote:
>>> [..]  Because it's stop-motion, rather than CG [...]
>>
>> Are you sure about that? I'm pretty sure it is CG but made to look 
>> like stop
>> motion for artistic reasons.
> 
> Nope, it was good ol' stop motion:
> 
> http://www.larissameek.com/2009/02/07/the-making-of-coraline/

BTW, the wikipedia entry says 3D models and facial expressions were 
printed with a 3D printer and used in Coraline.  So, aside from 
rendering, there's CG in there. ;)

-- 
a game sig: http://tinyurl.com/d3rxz9

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nemesis <nam### [at] gmailcom> wrote:
> BTW, the wikipedia entry says 3D models and facial expressions were 
> printed with a 3D printer and used in Coraline.  So, aside from 
> rendering, there's CG in there. ;)

  I wouldn't say CG per se. Maybe CAD?

-- 
                                                          - Warp

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"Jeremy \"UncleHoot\" Praay" <jer### [at] questsoftwarecmo> wrote:
> I recently watched "Coraline" (again) on Blu-ray.  For some reason, I really 
> enjoy this movie.  I wouldn't exactly refer to it as a children's film.  In 
> fact, it's exactly the type of film that is almost certain to breed 
> nightmares in young children.

  "Stop motion puppets, fairy tale, protagonist is an 11yo girl... Bah, a
children's movie.... What do you mean? It's not for kids?"

  The producers really took a huge risk with this movie. It has everything
that people are prejudiced against: It's basically a fairy tale (kids stuff),
animated (kids stuff) and stop motion at that (even more kids stuff).
And producing a high-quality full length stop motion movie is quite
expensive.

  But the film is quite good, actually. I had been eyeing this movie on the
rental for quite some time, as I had heard good things about it, but never
got around to actually renting it. However, this thread finally gave me the
push I needed. I don't regret it.

  It's actually refreshing to see a movie made differently than the usual
CGI movies. I can appreciate the huge amount of work that had to be put
into this. Some of my favorite trivia:

"For the character of Coraline, there were 28 different puppets of varying
sizes; the main Coraline puppet stands 9.5 inches high."

"To construct 1 puppet of Coraline, 10 individuals had to work 3-4 months."

"There were at total of 207,336 possible face combinations for the character."

"One crew member was hired specifically to knit miniature sweaters and
other clothing for the puppet characters, using knitting needles as thin as
human hair."

-- 
                                                          - Warp

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