#10: Coraline
WARNING: MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS
Don’t like? Watch the movie first.
Coraline the book and Coraline the movie are not the same thing. Well, not exactly. They have the same core story. That is, the main plot follows like this.
While bored in her home one rainy day, Coraline discovers a locked and bricked up door in the living room of her new flat. But at night, the door opens and the bricks disappear to lead her to a world just like hers, but better. Very soon this world becomes dark and dangerous and Coraline must use her wits and bravery to escape back to the world she knows.
But there are some big differences between the book and the movie.
One is the appearance of Wyborn (Wybie.) In the book, Coraline doesn’t have friends, except for her eccentric neighbors, but she doesn’t appear to want or need any. Nor is there any mysterious back story to the other world. The book doesn’t really need it. Gaiman fleshes out Coraline very well, and the other world is done nicely, but it doesn’t need more than that. The movie introduces some new characters to help flesh out what the book doesn’t need to. Then again, the movie has to fill some time that the book doesn’t. You do need to get what you paid for in a movie, while as a book that’s all a matter of opinion (In my opinion, a great book even if it is short.)
The dream sequence is done differently in the book too and is probably the only thing I wish they had kept the same between the two. In the movie it’s very simple. The ghosts come to Coraline while she sleeps and they say they’re free but she’s still in danger. In the book she has an entire picnic with them and gets to know them before they leave her with the same warning.
The way they end the movie (besides the obvious happy ending wrap-up) is also different. In my opinion the book was a bit more inventive. The book has Coraline setting up a tea party over the well where she convinces the hand of the other mother to jump into the middle of to get the key where it all goes tumbling down the well. The movie made it more “thrilling” and included Wybie, which is probably why they changed it. Both ending arrive to the same conclusion, I was just more amused by Gaiman’s version.
That isn’t to say that the movie isn’t quite enjoyable. It was great watching Gaiman’s other world come to life in such a fantastic way. And while the book is darker, the movie does a good job of being equally as creepy. While the book will leave you with kind of a creeped out feeling, the movie leaves you feeling satisfied and happy.
Final Thoughts: Highly well animated and a good translation of the book. Five out of five stars, and I’ll probably watch it a few times given that my sister now owns the DVD.
Don’t like? Watch the movie first.
Coraline the book and Coraline the movie are not the same thing. Well, not exactly. They have the same core story. That is, the main plot follows like this.
While bored in her home one rainy day, Coraline discovers a locked and bricked up door in the living room of her new flat. But at night, the door opens and the bricks disappear to lead her to a world just like hers, but better. Very soon this world becomes dark and dangerous and Coraline must use her wits and bravery to escape back to the world she knows.
But there are some big differences between the book and the movie.
One is the appearance of Wyborn (Wybie.) In the book, Coraline doesn’t have friends, except for her eccentric neighbors, but she doesn’t appear to want or need any. Nor is there any mysterious back story to the other world. The book doesn’t really need it. Gaiman fleshes out Coraline very well, and the other world is done nicely, but it doesn’t need more than that. The movie introduces some new characters to help flesh out what the book doesn’t need to. Then again, the movie has to fill some time that the book doesn’t. You do need to get what you paid for in a movie, while as a book that’s all a matter of opinion (In my opinion, a great book even if it is short.)
The dream sequence is done differently in the book too and is probably the only thing I wish they had kept the same between the two. In the movie it’s very simple. The ghosts come to Coraline while she sleeps and they say they’re free but she’s still in danger. In the book she has an entire picnic with them and gets to know them before they leave her with the same warning.
The way they end the movie (besides the obvious happy ending wrap-up) is also different. In my opinion the book was a bit more inventive. The book has Coraline setting up a tea party over the well where she convinces the hand of the other mother to jump into the middle of to get the key where it all goes tumbling down the well. The movie made it more “thrilling” and included Wybie, which is probably why they changed it. Both ending arrive to the same conclusion, I was just more amused by Gaiman’s version.
That isn’t to say that the movie isn’t quite enjoyable. It was great watching Gaiman’s other world come to life in such a fantastic way. And while the book is darker, the movie does a good job of being equally as creepy. While the book will leave you with kind of a creeped out feeling, the movie leaves you feeling satisfied and happy.
Final Thoughts: Highly well animated and a good translation of the book. Five out of five stars, and I’ll probably watch it a few times given that my sister now owns the DVD.