Coraline (2009)

Some might be tempted to call this film a modern Alice in Wonderland but to stop a description there would woefully mischaracterize this film as something of a knock-off. Truth be told, Coraline is a breath of fresh air amidst a sea of paint-by-numbers animated kids films. Not only is it more mature in its approach to children but it also features a mesmerizing combination of stop-motion animation and computer effects.

Coraline Jones does not like here living arrangements one bit. Her parents moved the family into an old house converted into apartments. While her parents work slavishly on completing a gardening catalog for a client, Coraline is left to entertain herself. The other residents of the apartment-house are old and very weird. The only young person around is the grandson of the landlady, who strikes Coraline as equally odd and a little annoying to boot. Feeling neglected and along, Coraline longs for an escape from her reality.

She gets just such an opening when she discovers a small door in the living room that opens up at night to a passageway to a much more desirable mirror world. In the Other World, Coraline’s Other Mother is affectionate and caring. Her Other Father is musically inclined and hard-working around the house. Coraline makes repeat visits to this Other World but is warned by a talking cat that all is not as it appears to be in this ideal getaway place. In time, Coraline learns the truth about the Other World, putting her in a dangerous conflict with her Other Mother.

There is a lot to like about Coraline, both the film and the character. Both are perfectly modern takes on familiar concepts. Coraline the girl is a believable creation. The creators clearly had a pulse on the tween attitude when committing this story to film. Kudos to Dakota Fanning for giving a voice to a charming yet witty young girl. Coraline has the right amount of sarcasm, venom and remorse in her voice and mannerisms to appease those film-goers who demand realism even in an animated film.

Accompanying the titular character is a well-rounded supporting cast. Even credit is again due to the animators and the voice actors (particularly to Terri Hatcher for being nothing short of creeptastic) for making the film flow with realism. This is not an old-school fairy tale where everything fits into certain generalizations or stereotypes. Lines are not so well-defined and intentions held back until just the right moments. Despite a few similarities to other child-fantasy-adventure tales, Coraline’s story is unique enough to avoid tipping its hand. This keeps the film fresh, entertaining and rewarding.

Like deep sea diving, Coraline gets darker the deeper you get into the tale. This is a great move because too few films are made for older children in mind. While it will probably be too scary for kids under eight years old, it’s perfect for everyone else. Tweens and teens will connect with the hip lead character while adults nod their head in agreement that Coraline is one sharp girl and the world presented is real enough (minus to gonzo neighbors at least). Parents may also see some of their own unintended failing in Coraline’s parents or at least see enough to vow not to be like that.

Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t going to be some John Hughes-ian tale that makes it seem like parents and children can find perfect common ground, living in harmony the rest of their days. It certainly won’t be a miracle film to bring families together but it will give them things to talk about. That’s at least a start, right? Then again, that’s a moot point because familial strengthening outside of the story isn’t one of the film’s goals to begin with.

As entertainment, it’s a hit. As art, it could very well be groundbreaking. The producers sank a lot of money into the technique behind Coraline’s seamless stop-motion animation, so you’re unlikely to see any indie directors springing for this kind of project. Still though, how many CGI films come out every year now? Even the good ones can get passed over because we’re becoming immune to the marvel of CGI. One could argue that, by using stop-motion animation, Coraline is taking the animation genre a step backward but consider this- as time-consuming as stop-motion is, Coraline was still less expensive than its CGI counterparts. I dare say that the choice to be different makes the film stand out all the more.

Everything about this film, foreground and background, is rich with detail you wouldn’t expect from a stop-motion animated film. A few digital effects thrown in help complete the illusion. There were times when I doubted Coraline was stop-motion. It just looks too good to be true. Thankfully, this is one case where it still is true.

Check this film out if you get the chance. It’s sassy, fun, scary and even has a good moral base to it. I may have to watch this one again. I fear I may have short-changed it on the rating.

RATING: 3.75 out of 5

Alice in Wonderland (1951)

This is a tough film to place. I have never studied, nor even read, Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland or Through the Looking Glass. I don’t know if that leaves me at a disadvantage when approaching this film from a critical perspective. Literary types go gaga over the source stories and artsy-fartsy types (not to mention recreational drug enthusiasts) adore the trippy animation employed by Disney’s team. Seeing as I don’t really fall into any of the above categories, it should come as little surprise that this film fails to get much of a reaction from me.

The young and lovely Alice grows tired of living within the strict rules of reality. Dreaming of a world unlike her own, she spies a White Rabbit hurrying along and talking to himself. Following the curious creature, Alice falls down his rabbit hole and into a world full of nonsense. Along her pursuit of the White Rabbit she meets various unique characters that have become timeless: the Mad Hatter, Tweedledee and Tweedledum, and the grinning Cheshire Cat, just to name a few.

Not many of the characters Alice meets along the way are helpful but her quest isn’t much to get excited about. Through most of the tale she is merely trying to catch up to the White Rabbit and find out where he is running to. She does a good job of staying on task, despite being bombarded by gibberish and nonsense at every turn. Once she gets to where the Rabbit is headed, her life is put in jeopardy by the headstrong Red Queen.

The story itself is interesting, despite going off on a tangent with the seemingly random vignette of ‘The Walrus and the Carpenter.’ Then again, there’s really not much to the story at all. Alice is trying to find the White Rabbit the whole time and eventually realizes what a mess a world of nonsense would be. I guess the point of the tale is for Alice to learn a simple lesson while encountering a world of bizarre people and creatures. In many ways, this is similar to a number of other children’s fantasy tales. Alice in Wonderland just happens to be wittier and smarter than most.

Disney keeps much of the manic wordplay that made Carroll’s stories popular with the literary crowd. It is fun to hear the double entendres and usage of dual-meaning words. It is also enjoyable to watch the weirdness play out. The Cheshire Cat is really the only animation marvel in the film though, as he fades in and out of existence with ease. Yes, there are plenty of creative settings but Alice features Disney’s plainest animation since Dumbo. That takes away from the visual impact that could have turned the film into a real mind-bender.

I understand why Disney played up the story for a family-friendly vibe but Alice in Wonderland misses the mark a hair for modern audiences. I don’t know how kids were back in the 50s but nowadays it’s mostly the under-10 crowd that goes to see Disney movies. Kids that young won’t get much of the wordplay and will be more likely to watch it on the surface as a goofy fantasy with funny characters. Parents may pop it in just to entertain the kids and not think much, but they’re apt to find their brains in overdrive processing the literary lunacy being cut loose.

The utter weirdness of Disney’s Alice in Wonderland has made it memorable for generations. I remember seeing it and reading the Diseny read-along-on-tape book when I was a kid. Do I remember it for being awesome and fun like Cinderella? Nope. I remember it for being weird and being creeped out by the Cheshire Cat. Elements of the story remain in our cultural consciousness and I believe that this animated version has kept it there for the past 60 years much in the same way that Disney’s Cinderella has for that tale. Do many parents read Carroll’s stories to the kids anymore?

Maybe I just don’t belong to the niche audience that Alice in Wonderland was made for. It is entertaining to watch, albeit frustrating at times, but the conclusion lacks profundity. Alice learns that a world of nonsense is not a place worth living in. Any adult could have told her that but, like any stubborn child, Alice has to learn it for herself. Unlike most other Disney films, there are no central themes or morals to the story. Perhaps, given the source material, none are needed, and I’m just used to children’s stories having a lesson behind the colorful, musical fun.

Perhaps I’ll change my tune once I read the works of Lewis Carroll. Until then, I’m not surprised that this film isn’t remembered as part of the upper echelon of Disney classics.

RATING: 3.5 out of 5