No Sir, I didn't like it.I went into this movie wanting to enjoy it. I like dark, gothicky stuff, so the look of it appealed to me. At first. But after ten minutes I was trying to convince myself to like it. And by 25 minutes I was dozing off. Then by about 2/3 through I said to myself, 'you know, this might be one of those rare movies I actually hate'. Like this one.
So what didn't I like? Pretty much everything. What is it, a kids movie or an adults movie? It is so nightmarish that it would completely disturb kids, and yet the protagonist is a young girl, so adult appeal would be so limited.
Okay, the design is pretty nice, and it's all done in the highest quality of stop-motion. And it's the first stop-motion 3-D movie. But so what? The plot was terrible and rambling, the script was hard to follow, and the characters had no history or appeal at all. Terrible, self-absorbed direction.
I was wondering afterwards why I didn't like this movie, when I loved something like Spirited Away, which worked on an essentially similar premise: Unhappy girl goes into magical fantasy world, has strange adventures and trials and comes back to real world happier and wiser.
I realised it was because I actually cared about the little girl in Spirited Away. You got to know her character, and you liked her, so then when she faced struggles you worried for her, and when she triumphed you cheered for her. From the outset, Coraline seemed an annoying character, so I never grew to care what happened to her.
So much time and money spent, and yet they muck up the most key, essential basics.
Bad movie. 2/5. And that's being generous.
7 comments:
I didn't know you hated "As It Is in Heaven". I saw it after everyone did the whole "you must see it, it's the best movie ever" thing, and I didn't like it. Same with August Rush (have you seen it?)
I was looking forward to seeing Coraline though. Have you read the book? Shame it's not that great, as I liked Spirited Away too.
I think we may have very similar taste in movies.
Yeah, I reviewed August Rush a couple of months back. It may have been my most hated movie ever!
Soph, it sounds like you have good taste, but take what I say with a grain of salt- I tend to either love or hate things, no inbetween.
I'm sure lots of people will love it, and maybe if you've read it you may appreciate it more. For me, going in cold, not having read it, I just found the whole thing directionless, and too dark for the context of a kids movie.
I'd compare it a bit to a Tim Burton movie- good to look at for ten minutes, then frustratingly meandering and pointless for the rest of the time.
I haven't seen either AIIIH or C but I'm wondering (after reading your review of AIIIH) what you thought of "The Joy Luck Club" (if you've seen it).
I'd heard lots of good things about it so I picked up the DVD when I saw it for about $12 at Big W. Now I've seen it and will keep it but I'm glad I didn't see it at the movies - I wouldn't have taken enough tissues!
I know what you mean by real life horror vs fiction horror - don't see "Sophie Scholl - The Last Days" unless you want to be weirded and down for a week.
Hi Laetitia- I do know of the Joy Luck Club, but I can't recall whether I've seen it or not...
Yeah, I am all for fiction horror. I love scary movies, very very much. I like being scared. But I need a scary movie to have a 'light' element to contrast or fight against the 'dark'.
In Coraline, both the real life and fantasy life are dark, so if that is depressing for me, I can't imagine what a kid would think of it.
three of my boys saw the preview for coraline at the movies, and absolutely freaked out! The ten yr old had nightmares for a week. I don't think we'll even watch it on dvd when it comes out!!
My point exactly, Ruth!
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