It will always remain a mystery as to what took so long for just a good old computer animation version of a Dr. Seuss story. “The Grinch” and “The Cat in the Hat” had their entertainment value, but the confines of the real world simply don’t reflect the towering imagination of one Mr. Theodor Geisel. “Horton Hears a Who!” conveys that spirit of wacky yet message-driven entertainment. Read the rest of this entry »
There really is something a bit fantastic about Wes Anderson’s stop-motion animation debut “Fantastic Mr. Fox.” The quirky spirit of the Roald Dahl book could only be captured by a filmmaker with a deep and unforgiving wit. Anderson’s dry and subtle sense of humor might not translate into big dollars (at least by comparison to giants such as DreamWorks and Pixar), but his affinity for diverse and amusing characters fits the world of animation better than anyone might expect. Read the rest of this entry »
I don’t have anything against talking animals. I love Disney movies like the rest of them. I’ll take talking toys, bugs, bears, penguins, fish, you name it — but an elite force of special unit guinea pigs in a live action setting is not something that screams fun for the whole family. No doubt that kids will get a kick out of mindless physical humor with chase scenes, explosions and high-tech gadgetry, but considering 2009 was full of terrific animated movies from “Coraline” to “Up” to “Cloudy with a Chance Meatballs,” “G-Force” is a complete waste by comparison. Read the rest of this entry »
“Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs” is about the closest any major CGI animation studio has come to a classic cartoon done in a modern style. It would appear that somewhere between “Looney Tunes” and Pixar’s “Up” that animation has lost a bit of its rule-bending nature. Phil Lord and Chris Miller, co-executive producers of CBS comedy “How I Met Your Mother” and the short-lived cult favorite “Clone High” have restored that sense of abstract physical humor in Judi and Ron Barrett’s book while infusing it with a modern sense of humor. Read the rest of this entry »
After tackling rats with chef skills and voiceless robots on journeys of self-discovery, leave it to Pixar to make the star of its latest film an elderly man and continue to defy Hollywood’s long-held belief that animated films have to zero in on children and concepts that can be marketed into hats and toys and backpacks. Heck, in “Up” even animals talking are explained rather than simply taken for granted. But what sets it apart from other Pixar gems is that it’s the animation studio’s most inclusive for-the-whole family adventure to date. Read the rest of this entry »
It seems like Pixar is the only company producing outside-the-box animated adventures these days, but don’t discredit “Coraline,” Laika Entertainment’s second stop-motion feature after Tim Burton’s “The Corpse Bride.” Based on the Neil Gaiman book, “Coraline” is one of the more creative stories and executions of family entertainment to have come out in awhile and almost unquestionably one of the best stop-motion films ever made.
Although “Coraline” is certainly not for kids under 7 years old who are easily susceptible to nightmares, that doesn’t change the quality of craftsmanship. Director Henry Selick, easily one of the best stop-motion directors next to Nick Park of the “Wallace & Gromit” series and maybe the more creative and daring between the two, brings a creepy surrealism and an abstract design to a story that begs for it.
“Coraline” is about a girl of the same name who moves into a new house with her apathetic parents that don’t seem interested in her needs at all. She finds a small door in her new house that leads to an alternate reality with seemingly perfect parents — only they have button eyes. But things aren’t as rosy as they seem and Coraline soon finds herself in trouble.
Immediately, “Coraline” charms you with the creative imagining of its world. I’m unfamiliar with the book, but I believe it’s without pictures, making Selick and his creative team’s vision a true accomplishment. Not unlike Selick’s work in “The Nightmare before Christmas,” the figures have abstract shapes and exaggerated bodies whether it’s Coraline’s dad’s slightly long neck or the neighbor Mr. Bobinsky’s tiny appendages but ball-shaped midsection. Even the slight tilt in Coraline’s head adds something to her character that peaks your curiosity in a way that a more traditional CGI animation might not necessarily do.
The beauty of the story is that Coraline learns a very fine lesson in reality versus idealism, that reality can be deceiving in both good and bad ways and that our parents, even if they’re not always the nicest and best and giving us what we like, are the best thing we’ve got as a child. It’s a perfect fit for stop-motion — the subtle (and not so subtle) distortions between reality and alternate but ultimately fictitious reality — and Selick really uses that to his and ultimately our advantage.
