Coraline (film)
| Coraline | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster |
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| Directed by | Henry Selick |
| Produced by | Claire Jennings |
| Written by | Henry Selick (Screenplay) Neil Gaiman (Novel) |
| Starring | Dakota Fanning Teri Hatcher Jennifer Saunders Dawn French Ian McShane |
| Music by | Bruno Coulais |
| Cinematography | Pete Kozachik |
| Editing by | Christopher Murrie |
| Studio | Focus Features Laika Entertainment Pandemonium |
| Distributed by | United States: Focus Features Universal Pictures Non-United States: United International Pictures Universal Pictures International |
| Release date(s) | United States: February 6, 2009 |
| Running time | 100 minutes[1] |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $60 million[2] |
| Gross revenue | $120,154,106[3] |
Coraline is a 2009 Oscar-nominated American stop-motion 3-D fantasy/horror film based on Neil Gaiman's 2002 novel of the same name. It was produced by Laika and distributed by Focus Features. Written and directed by Henry Selick, it was released widely in US theaters on February 6, 2009, after a world premiere at the Portland International Film Festival.
The film made $16.85 million during opening weekend, ranking third at the box office.[4] As of September 2009, the film has grossed over $120 million worldwide.
Contents |
Plot
Coraline Jones moves from Pontiac, Michigan with her mother and father to the Pink Palace Apartments in Oregon, an old house subdivided into three residences. The other two apartments are inhabited by retired actresses Misses Spink and Forcible, and the eccentric Russian acrobat Mr. Bobinsky. With her parents frantically working on a gardening catalog in order to make ends meet, and paying little attention to her, Coraline begins to feel neglected. While exploring the grounds, she meets Wybie Lovat, the talkative grandson of the landlady. Back in the house, Coraline finds an oddly small door that has been wallpapered over. She gets her mother to unlock it, only to find a brick wall behind it.
That night, Coraline is awakened by the sound of a mouse and follows it to the small door. She discovers that the brick wall has disappeared, replaced by a long corridor to another door. At the other end, Coraline finds herself in the "Other World," which is inhabited by her "Other Mother" and "Other Father", doppelgängers of her parents, except for having black buttons in place of eyes. In sharp contrast to her real parents, the Others are attentive to Coraline. She decides to stay the night in the Other World, but when she awakes the next morning, she finds herself back in her bed in the real world.
Coraline continues to go to the Other World at night, and is entertained by Other versions of her neighbors, including an Other Wybie, who has been rendered mute by the Other Mother. During one visit, Coraline encounters the black cat from her own world. Having the ability to talk in the Other World, it warns Coraline of the dangers of the place, but Coraline pays him no mind.
That evening, the Other Mother invites Coraline to stay in the Other World forever. Coraline is eager to accept until she is told she must have buttons sewn on her eyes. She refuses and tries to return home. This angers the Other Mother, who thrusts Coraline through a mirror into a small room. There, she encounters the ghosts of children who had lost their eyes and souls to the Other Mother. The Other Wybie helps Coraline escape home (for which the Other Mother eliminates him), but Coraline finds her parents have disappeared. Coraline tries to tell Wybie about the Other Mother and Other World, but he dismisses her as crazy and leaves. Armed with a seeing stone provided by Spink and Forcible, Coraline sets out to free the ghosts and rescue her parents.
On the advice of the cat, Coraline challenges the Other Mother to a game. If she can find her parents and the eyes of the ghost children, everyone goes free; if she loses, she will stay in the Other World forever. With the help of her seeing stone, the black cat, and the Other Father, Coraline outwits the inhabitants who guard the eyes of the children. Forewarned that the Other Mother will never let her leave regardless of the game’s outcome, Coraline tricks her foe into opening the door to the real world while she grabs a snow globe within which her parents are imprisoned. Coraline eludes the Other Mother and barely escapes, closing the door to the Other World on the Other Mother's now-mechanical hand and severing it. Coraline locks the door in the real world and finds her parents safe and sound, with no memory of the experience.
The next night, Coraline is visited by the ghost children one last time. They tell her she is still in danger while she has the door key. To keep the Other Mother from ever kidnapping another child, Coraline decides to drop the key down a well located on the property. The Other Mother's severed hand, which has made its way into the real world, stalks and attacks Coraline. But Wybie, having discovered the truth in Coraline's story, intervenes and risks his life to help her and smash the hand. The pieces are dropped down the well with the key.
With their catalog complete, Coraline's parents are finally able to spend time with her. They hold a garden party for her and the neighbors, including Wybie’s elderly grandmother -- whose long-ago lost sister was one of the ghost children -- to whom Coraline has much to tell.
Cast
- Dakota Fanning as Coraline Jones, the brave, clever, curious protagonist and a self-proclaimed 11-year-old explorer. She is aggravated by crazy adults (as they all seem to be), not being taken seriously for her young age and outgoing demeanor, and people constantly mistaking her name for Caroline. Neil Gaiman describes her as "full of 'vim' and 'spunk' and all those wonderful old-fashioned words." She and Wybie have showed signs of having a slight "love-hate relationship." In the film, she has blue hair (in comparison to the novel in which her hair is brown).
- Teri Hatcher as Mel Jones, Coraline's busy mother, and the more attentive Other Mother. Her real mother is a writer working on a gardening catalog. Her husband, Charlie, calls her "the boss," as she is the one who keeps her family in line. She loves her daughter, but is very busy and doesn't always give her the attention that Coraline thinks she needs. The Other Mother is the main antagonist and creator of the other world and its inhabitants. Teri Hatcher describes Other Mother as the seemingly "perfect mom, because she's a perfect cook and has the perfect answer to every question, and later on she becomes quite monstrous." Her true form is a spider-like witch, with a bony face and hands fashioned from sewing needles. The three ghost children refer to her as "the beldam," an archaic word meaning "hag" or "witch."
- John Hodgman as Charlie Jones, Coraline's father, and the Other Father. John Hodgman described him as "the kind of guy who walks around a banana peel and falls into a manhole." Author Neil Gaiman describes him as a man who "does that thing that parents do when they embarrass their kids and somehow think they're being cool." The other father is a singer-pianist, as well as a gardener. He acts like the other mother's slave, showing a scared and traumatized attitude, and is later transformed into a melancholic, pathetic pumpkin-like creature forced to be Coraline's first obstacle, presumably for giving Coraline too much information.
- Keith David as The Cat, a nameless black cat from Coraline's world who appears and disappears at will (much like the Cheshire Cat) and has the ability to speak in the Other World. He forms a bond with Coraline and acts as her guide and mentor throughout her journey, both in the real world and the other world. He hates rats and is often tended by Wybie, although Wybie claims he is a feral cat.
- Robert Bailey, Jr. as Wyborne "Wybie" Lovat, the strange, nervous 11-year-old grandson of Coraline's landlady. Wybie is a character introduced for the film adaptation so that the viewer "wouldn't have a girl walking around, occasionally talking to herself." He wears a metallic skull mask with a three-piece turret lens as well as a handmade motorized bicycle used to patrol the woods. He is known to be somewhat nervous but with a good heart. Coraline calls him a "psycho nerd," a "jerk wad," and "Why-Were-You-Born." His other world counterpart, the Other Wybie is very sweet and has been rendered incapable of speech by the other mother as she thought Coraline would prefer him that way. He later turns out to be one of the most helpful people Coraline finds in the other world but is punished and eventually destroyed by the other mother for his disobedience. It is implied that Wybie and Coraline appear to have a love/hate relationship, which seems to be hinted throughout the film whether Coraline is in the real world or other world.
- Jennifer Saunders and Dawn French as Miss April Spink and Miss Miriam Forcible respectively, a pair of retired, burlesque actresses. They own several Scottish Terriers (including the stuffed remains of their dead ones) and talk in theater jargon, often referencing their time as actresses. The Other Spink and Forcible are young, beautiful, Shakespeare-quoting acrobats (briefly wearing costumes resembling their real world counterparts) and their dogs behave like humans. They are later transformed into a two-headed beast made of stale taffy (a reference to the stale candy they serve Coraline in the real world), and their dogs into light-sensitive bats.
- Ian McShane as Mr. Bobinsky (his full name is Sergi Aleksandr Bobinsky, and friends call him Mr. B), one of Coraline's neighbors. He is a blue-skinned Russian giant who once trained as a gymnast and lives on a steady diet of beets. While not explained in the film, his blue skin is due to his time as a Liquidator, for which he wears a Hero of Chernobyl medal on his "wife beater"[5]. Coraline's mother believes him to be a drunk. The Other Bobinsky is the ringmaster of a circus of rats disguised as jumping mice, and is later transformed into a plethora of rats.
- Carolyn Crawford as Mrs. Lovat, Wybie's grandmother and the owner of the Pink Palace Apartments. She originally grew up in the old Victorian mansion with her twin sister who mysteriously vanished because of the Other Mother. It is hinted that she met the Other Mother as well. Believing that someone 'stole' her sister, Mrs. Lovat moved out of her childhood home and divided it into three apartments, which she rents. Afraid of the beldam claiming another child, she did not allow any tenants with 'kids' to rent the apartments (although for some reason she rents to Coraline and her parents), nor does she allow Wybie to enter it.
Production
| “ | Coraline [was] a huge risk. But these days in animation, the safest bet is to take a risk. | ” |
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—Henry Selick, [6] |
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At its peak, the film involved the efforts of 450 people,[6] including from 30[7] to 35[6] animators and digital designers in the Digital Design Group (DDG) directed by Dan Casey and more than 250 technicians and designers.[7] 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.[6]
Coraline was staged in a 140,000-square-foot (13,000 m2) warehouse in Hillsboro, Oregon.[6][7] The stage was divided into 50 lots,[8] which played host to nearly 150 sets.[6] Among the sets were three miniature Victorian mansions, a 42-foot (12.8 m) apple orchard, and a model of Ashland, Oregon including tiny details such as banners for the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.[7]
The film's creators used three 3D printing systems from Objet in the development and production of the film. Thousands of high-quality 3D models, ranging from facial expressions to doorknobs were printed in 3D using the Polyjet matrix systems, which enable the fast transformation of CAD (computer-aided design) drawings into high-quality 3D models. The characters of Coraline could potentially exhibit over 208,000 facial expressions.[9]
The soundtrack for Coraline features songs performed by French composer Bruno Coulais with one, "Other Father Song," by They Might Be Giants. The Other Father's singing voice is provided by John Linnell, one of the singers from the band. They wrote ten songs for the film; when a melancholy tone was decided, all but one were cut. Coulais's score was performed by the Hungarian Symphony Orchestra and features choral pieces sung by the Children's Choir of Nice in a nonsense language.[10] Coraline won Coulais the 2009 Annie Award for best score for an animated feature.
Release
Focus Features distributed the film. Coraline appeared at Comic-Con 2007. A trailer was shown with the films Beowulf, U2 3D, Twilight, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Inkheart, Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa, My Bloody Valentine 3D, and The Tale of Despereaux.
Home media
The film was released in the US on DVD and Blu-ray on July 21, 2009. A 3-D version comes with four sets of 3-D glasses—specifically the green-magenta anaglyph image.
Coraline was released in the United Kingdom on DVD and Blu-ray on October 12, 2009. A 3-D version of the film was also released on a 2-Disc Collector's Edition.
The DVD opened to first week sales of 1,036,845 and over $19 million in revenue. Total sales stand at 2,132,928 and almost $39 million in revenue.[11]
Other media
The website for Coraline involves an interactive exploration game where the player can scroll through Coraline's world. It won the 2009 Webby Award for "Best Use of Animation or Motion Graphics," both by the people and the Webby organization. It was also nominated for the Webby "Movie and Film" category.[12]
On June 16, 2008, D3 Publisher announced the release of a video game based on the film. It was developed by Papaya Studio for the Wii and PlayStation 2 and by Art Co. for Nintendo DS. It was released on January 27, 2009, close to the film's theatrical release.[13]
The soundtrack was released digitally February 3 2009 by E1 Music, and in stores on February 24, 2009.
Reception
Critical response
Coraline was acclaimed by critics. As of May 2009, the film has an 89% "Certified Fresh" rating at Rotten Tomatoes,[14] and a 80 out of 100 at Metacritic, indicating "generally favorable reviews."[15] David Edelstein said the film is "a bona fide fairy tale" that needed a "touch less entrancement and a touch more … story":[16]
A. O. Scott of The New York Times called the film "exquisitely realized" with a "slower pace and a more contemplative tone than the novel. It is certainly exciting, but rather than race through ever noisier set pieces toward a hectic climax in the manner of so much animation aimed at kids, Coraline lingers in an atmosphere that is creepy, wonderfully strange and full of feeling."[17]
Box office
According to Paul Dergarabedian, a movie business analyst with Media by Numbers, for the film to succeed it needed a box office comparable to Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, which grossed $16 million its opening weekend and ended up making more than $192 million worldwide; prior to the film's release, Dergarabedian thought Laika "should be really pleased" if it made close to $10 million on its opening weekend.[7]
In its US opening weekend, the film made $16.85 million, ranking third at the box office.[4] It made $15 million on its second weekend, bringing its U.S. total up to $35.6 million, $25.5 million of which coming from 3D presentations.[18] As of November 2009, the film has grossed $75,286,229 in the United States and Canada and $123,106,072 worldwide.[3]
Awards and nominations
- Honored with special achievement award (Martin Meunier, Brian McLean [for their Rapid Prototyping (RP) advances])
| Awards | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Award | Category | Recipient(s) | Outcome |
| Academy Awards | Best Animated Feature | Henry Selick | Nominated |
| American Film Institute Awards | Best 10 Movies | Won | |
| Annie Awards | |||
| Best Animated Feature | Nominated | ||
| Best Directing in a Feature Production | Henry Selick | Nominated | |
| Best Voice Acting in a Feature Production | Dawn French | Nominated | |
| Best Music in an Animated Feature Production | Bruno Coulais | Won | |
| Best Character Animation in a Feature Production | Travis Knight | Nominated | |
| Best Character Design in a Feature Production | Shane Prigmore; Shannon Tindle | Won | |
| Best Production Design in a Feature Production | Christopher Appelhans; Tadahiro Uesugi | Won | |
| Best Storyboarding in a Feature Production | Chris Butler | Nominated | |
| Annecy International Animated Film Festival Cristal Award | Best Feature - Tied | Won | |
| Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards | Best Animated Feature | Nominated | |
| BAFTA Awards | Best Animated Film | Nominated | |
| BAFTA Children’s Award | Best Feature Film | Won | |
| Chicago Film Critics Association Awards | Best Animated Feature | Nominated | |
| Cinema Audio Society Awards | |||
| Lifetime Achievement | Henry Selick | Won | |
| Career Achievement (sound designer/re-recording mixer) | Randy Thom | Won | |
| EDA [Alliance of Women Film Journalists] Award | |||
| Best Animated Female ([the character of] Coraline) | Won | ||
| Best Animated Film | Nominated | ||
| Golden Globe Awards | Best Animated Feature Film | Nominated | |
| Motion Picture Sound Editors Golden Reel Awards | Best Sound Editing: Sound Effects, Foley, Music, Dialogue and ADR Animation in a Feature Film | Nominated | |
| Online Film Critics Society Awards | Best Animated Film | Nominated | |
| People's Choice Awards | Best Animated 3D Movie of 2009 | Nominated | |
| Producers Guild of America Awards | Producer of the Year in Animated Motion Picture | Nominated | |
| San Francisco Film Critics Circle Awards | Best Animated Feature | Won | |
| St. Louis Film Critics Awards | Best Animated Film | Nominated | |
| Visual Effects Society Awards | |||
| Outstanding Animation in an Animated Feature Motion Picture | Claire Jennings, Henry Selick | Nominated | |
| Outstanding Animated Character in an Animated Feature Motion Picture | Coraline - Lead Animators Travis Knight and Trey Thomas | Nominated | |
| Outstanding Effects Animation in an Animated Feature Motion Picture | John Allan Armstrong, Richard Kent Burton, Craig Dowsett | Nominated | |
| Outstanding Models and Miniatures in a Feature Motion Picture | Deborah Cook, Matthew DeLeu, Paul Mack, Martin Meunier | Nominated | |
| Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association | Best Animated Film | Nominated | |
References
- ↑ "Coraline rated PG by the BBFC". BBFC. January 29, 2009. http://www.bbfc.co.uk/website/Classified.nsf/c2fb077ba3f9b33980256b4f002da32c/7af591781e6867a4802575460031e934?OpenDocument. Retrieved 2009-04-05. "Run Time 100m 19s"
- ↑ "CORALINE". http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=coraline.htm.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Coraline". Box Office Mojo. http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?page=main&id=coraline.htm. Retrieved 2009-08-11.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 "Moviegoers into Into You". The Hollywood Reporter. February 8, 2009. http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3ib2336cb7507211a2e4389b8078d6194b. Retrieved 2009-02-16.
- ↑ Henry Selick (Director). Coraline DVD Commentary. Event occurs at 00:25:00.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 McNichol, Tom (February 2009). "Hollywood Knights". Portland Monthly. http://www.portlandmonthlymag.com/issues/current-issue/articles/0209-knights/?print=1. Retrieved 2009-02-15.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 Mesh, Aaron (February 4, 2009). "Suspended Animation". Willamette Week. http://wweek.com/editorial/3513/12165/. Retrieved 2009-02-10.
- ↑ "Backstage view (19th of 21 backlot production photos)". David Strick's Hollywood Backlot. Los Angeles Times. August 7, 2008. http://photos.latimes.com/backlot/gallery/coraline/2008/9/15/Coraline_facility. Retrieved 2009-02-15. "Backstage view of the facility in which Coraline's stop-motion animation is filmed in Portland, Oregon. The Coraline stage is divided into approximately 50 units separated by black curtains. Each unit contains a different set that is in the process of being dressed, lit, rigged or shot."
- ↑ Object Technologies (2009-02-05). "Objet Geometries’ 3D Printers Play Starring Role in New Animated Film Coraline". Press release. http://www.objet.com/News_Events/News/News_2008/Objet_Geometries_3D_Printers_Play_Starring_Role_/. Retrieved 2009-07-23.
- ↑ "Capone Talks with CORALINE Director and Wizard Master Henry Selick!!!". 2009. http://www.aintitcool.com/node/39977. Retrieved 2010-02-09.
- ↑ [1]
- ↑ "Webby Awards". http://www.webbyawards.com/webbys/current.php?season=13. Retrieved 2009-06-13.
- ↑ Remo, Chris (June 16, 2008). "D3 Announces Coraline And Shaun The Sheep Adaptations". Gamasutra. http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=18932. Retrieved 2008-06-16.
- ↑ "Coraline Movie Reviews, Pictures". Rotten Tomatoes. February 5, 2009. http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/coraline/. Retrieved 2009-02-10.
- ↑ "Coraline (2009): Reviews". Metacritic. February 5, 2009. http://www.metacritic.com/film/titles/coraline/. Retrieved 2009-02-10.
- ↑ Edelstein, David (February 1, 2009). "What You See Is What You Get". New York Magazine. http://nymag.com/movies/reviews/53785/. Retrieved 2009-02-16.
- ↑ Scott, A.O. (February 6, 2009). "Cornered in a Parallel World". The New York Times. http://movies.nytimes.com/2009/02/06/movies/06cora.html?ref=movies. Retrieved 2009-02-16.
- ↑ "Holdovers Live Under Killer Friday Debut". Box Office Mojo. February 15, 2009. http://www.boxofficemojo.com/news/?id=2548. Retrieved 2009-02-16.
External links
- Official website
- Coraline at the Internet Movie Database
- Coraline at Allmovie
- Coraline at Box Office Mojo
- Coraline at Metacritic
- Coraline at Rotten Tomatoes
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