Coraline Reviews

Laika es un estudio particular cuando se trata de las historias que animan. No suele seguir los patrones establecidos a nivel narrativo y temático familiar clásico de Disney. Eso hace que saquen películas medio atípicas, enfocándose en los mensajes por encima del entretenimiento del cual tampoco dejan a un lado. Este enfoque junto su uso del Stop Motion –que a estas alturas de la vida quedó abandonado por su laborioso esfuerzo en producirsele satisfactoriamente- es la razón del poco éxito en taquilla que posee. Una lástima tomando en cuenta su creatividad y ansias de ambición.

Esto es notorio con su título de mayor reconocimiento “Coraline y La Puerta Secreta”. La premisa es sobre una niña aventurera llamada Coraline quien se muda a una serie de departamentos llamada “El Palacio Rosa” viviendo aburrida hasta que es transportada a una realidad paralela con muñecos vivientes siendo versiones idealizadas y coloridas de los auténticos huéspedes de El Palacio. Es una idea interesante que ejecuta de manera satisfactoria hasta cierto punto. El escenario es usado como una metáfora acerca de la vida real frente la fantasía. Me explico, los vecinos y padres de Coraline son gente que superficialmente se les catalogaría de estrafalarios y excéntricos, algo que daría ocurrencias interesantes o peculiares por los comportamientos que supuestamente tendrían. Por desgracia son poco excitantes y mundanos por la monotonía del área donde habitan. Esto se nota más con el nombre del edificio, El Palacio Rosa, que con sus paisajes boscosos, diseño arquitectónico extraño y longitud del patio, se esperaría que hayan cosas increíbles en él.

Comparándose con el “Otro Palacio” las versiones alternas son más atractivas, los otros padres son joviales y cariñosos, la comida es de alta gama, los colores son cálidos, hay entretenimiento ofrecido por los otros vecinos, hay regalos, juguetes y la presencia de la versión alterna de los amigos que Coraline dejó atrás. Con tal descripción ¿Quién no querría largarse allá? No obstante, conforme avanza la historia, Coraline se percata sobre lo sospechoso y oscuro de El Otro Palacio. Es a partir de este punto que se da cuenta de lo falso que en verdad puede ser esa fantasía. Posteriormente, en especial en el final, el personaje aprende a querer a los habitantes de El Palacio tras su experiencia con el horror de los otros.

Con lo anterior dicho es tácito apuntar que se quiere remarcar que las apariencias y lo que consideramos idóneo no existe, debiendo aprender a vivir parados en la tierra, igual que Coraline. Ella despreciaba a su familia, los consideraba aburridos, desinteresados y cuadrados pese a su empleo, le desagradaban sus vecinos, extrañaba su vida antes de la mudanza. Suficiente para preferir abandonar todo para largarse a un mundo de felicidad perpetua y perfección, algo que sólo podemos vivir en nuestras fantasías idealizadas, cosa que ella nota que el Otro Mundo es, una mera fantasía, algo irreal por lo que no valía la pena sacrificar a sus seres queridos. El mensaje dado por el personaje es anti-escapista por las implicaciones de El Otro Palacio, de maduración por aceptar los cambios y vivir con ello y de convivencia al aprender a aceptar a los demás como son.

La narrativa por su parte es amena. La evolución es bien hecha y sus giros tienen coherencia a lo largo del metraje. Cosas como que “todo fue un plan por parte de la otra madre para atrapar niños” es bien anticipado tan sólo en los créditos iniciales, que sumado al extraño comportamiento del muñeco de Coraline que desaparece y reaparece de la nada o lo de los ojos de botón… ya desde el vamos algo extraño se venía planteando.

Parte de lo que ayudó que la evolución fuese notoria es su apartado visual. Conforme avanzan los hechos, el escenario va deteriorándose, perdiendo su magia conforme Coraline descubre de éste y el estado emocional de ella va empeorando haciéndose cada vez más agresiva, descuidada con su entorno y obsesionada con el Otro Mundo. Es cuando el uso del Stop Motion cobra fuerza, al ser un tipo de animación que es más apegado a la realidad que otros, es fácil de utilizar para dar impacto a las escenas, no es lo mismo ver un dibujo de una araña esquelética a un muñeco de esa misma araña moviéndose por ahí, el segundo ejemplo es más relacionable con nuestro entorno, como los mecatronicos o marionetas. Pese a lo laborioso del Stop Motion, el frame rate es alto, los escenarios son imaginativos y de cuento de los hermanos Grimm, con colores sombríos en escenas de tensión.

La primera mitad era bastante buena, con ciertos detalles que son perdonables hasta que llega la confrontación. Aquí se manifiesta un elemento que me fastidia y se repite mucho en la película. Como les dije, Laika es un estudio que se centra mucho en transmitir mensajes con valores positivos para los jóvenes plasmándolos en sus obras. El problema es que muchas veces en el proceso se les olvida desarrollar muchas cosas que terminan existiendo sólo para avanzar la trama y guiarla por donde los escritores querían para transmitir alguna lección a los pequeños de la audiencia. A qué me refiero se preguntarán, piensen en los secundarios, no está mal que una obra se centre casi de lleno en un único personaje, pero al menos hay que evitar que las acciones de esos secundarios sirvan en momentos específicos.

Personajes como el chico stalker Wybie y su otra versión, el gato o los niños funcionan para hacer que la trama exista en primer lugar. Con Wybie es introducida la muñeca, elemento que empieza el conflicto principal, además de revelar información vez tras vez acerca de los origenes del edificio o salvar a Coraline en momentos puntuales. El gato sirve para salvar a Coraline también, cuando ella había perdido una de las almas de los niños, el gato de la nada se la devuelve o la ayuda para safarse de La Otra Madre. Los niños explican el transfondo del asunto, cierran la puerta encarcelando a la otra madre o dicen que no ha sido derrotada esa arpía. Los mismos miembros de El Palacio, si bien en menor medida, sueltan información para guiar a Coraline en su travesía o dan objetos para ello. Esto sería resuelto si cumpliesen un rol más proactivo en la película, compartiendo el mismo objetivo que ella en lugar de quedándose como simple apoyo de Coraline cuando lo necesite. También es medio extraño como todo en el otro mundo es una maquinación de la otra madre pero algunos de los otros posean cierta independencia cuyo propósito es el mismo de ayudar a Coraline.

Entiendo que esto sirve para que la historia no se vuelva tan depresiva. Quiero decir, sin el otro Wybie, Coraline se hubiese quedado atrapada en el otro mundo donde le coserían los botones en los ojos, algo muy macabro y perturbador para una película infantil cuyo mensaje no era uno tan brutal. En el proceso, sin embargo, hicieron que hayan un montón de salvadas de último momento que matan la tensión. Un final trágico sería más natural y menos conveniente. Como ejemplo tenemos a Quieres Ser John Malkovich, al igual que Coraline, también tiene un tono fantástico de cuento de hadas, un mensaje anti-escapista, un escenario monótono y deprimente para hacer un punto y a diferencia de Coraline, al estar guiada para un público adulto no se contiene en dar una resolución cruda y devastadora. Coraline es algo ligera para lo que quería ser.
A pesar de acobardarse en el último momento y tener un final repleto de conveniencias, la paso como buena y no apenas decente por su mensaje, la evolución inicial hasta la segunda tercera parte y por la conclusión en el arco de Coraline. Por otra parte, es bonito ver una película atente a poseer ambiciones en lugar de seguir la formula del éxito con tal de promover buenos valores y no contradecirlos en el proceso (Twelve Forever ya te vi)

 

 

Luego de rever ciertos títulos y considerando otros elementos a juzgar mi opinión sobre la película ha cambiado. El primer motivo es una película llamada Mirror Mask (también de Neil Gaiman) que en trama y personajes es lo mismo: un mundo doppelganger que arrastra a los personajes y que los reemplaza con imitaciones falsas. No se siente tan innovador como podía ser en un inicio y si bien no ser innovador no es algo intrínsecamente malo, que tu autor tenga otros trabajos similares, por no decir idénticos, saca de la experiencia.

Algunos dirán que no hay problema tomando en cuenta que podemos ver a Mirror Mask como un proto Coraline en vez de una copia. Sería un buen contra-argumento de no ser que ambos trabajos comparten los mismos errores.

Empezando con la forma en que se configura el mundo de ambos títulos, se tratan de mundos espejo, es decir, clonaciones de nuestro mundo pero que no mantienen una relación directa con nuestro mundo. Son en esencia un isekai con el bonus de idealizar la vida mundana para que el huésped del mundo alterno se quede. A un nivel temático sirven en las dos obras con sus mensajes anti escapistas mas no a un nivel argumental. Como todo isekai no existe una influencia entre ambos mundos haciendo que la suspensión de la realidad no aguante ¿Cómo es posible que sólo Coraline en todas esas décadas se halla percatado de esa anomalía? Una explicación sería que la otra madre no cometería la estupidez de llamar la atención, lo que no cuadra cuando se roba a los padres de Coraline, ella es un parasito que necesita otros para vivir y parece que no son sólo niños.  

La lógica en el mundo espejo no tiene una coherencia auténtica, las cosas pasan porque sí sin una influencia o algo por el estilo. Es por eso que el final es tan insípido, Coraline sobrevive al evento, pero no se muestra en su realidad un cambio, sólo que las personas están felices. Ya que estamos, los padres de Coraline no recuerdan lo ocurrido por amnesia. Entiendo que estaban encerrados en esa esfera y que los efectos pudieron ser cualquiera, sin embargo, ese es el problema ¿Para qué metes amnesia? La catarsis de la protagonista no se siente tan grande cuando sus acciones no cambiaron realmente lo que los demás hacen.

Niegas repercusiones a la larga ya que la trama sigue siendo infantil, para niños y no puede darse la libertad de dar un final adecuado con lo que presenta. Es parecido al caso de Kubo donde el prota es escudado por los secundarios ya que no es capaz de nada y termina con una nota feliz pese a lo improbable del resultado. Y es por eso que John Malkovich sigue siendo una mejor película por largo camino.

No es una mala película, pero no puedo seguir tomándome en serio a Laika cuando pretende dar dramas con elementos de terror y ocultismo echándose para atrás en cada final y tornando a sus personajes en herramientas argumentales por amnesia o por ayudar a los principales cuando se ven acorralados.  

An Excellent Horror And suspense a beautiful animation and story
great characters but with no much use in this movie

the scenes are great with a unique use

and the ending is like you want to know what happened

this is one of the best animated movies ever and I recommended for almost everyone except child's

I'm not sure quite what it was about Henry Selick's Coraline, but it feels like an indie animated short film. Perhaps it's the animation, or maybe the off-kilter story, but Coraline has a very home-spun, gutsy feel to it, that very much reminds me of an art-house animated short film. It possesses many of the same qualities, and (like similar short films) does things that "normal" animated films would never even consider attempting. So as a massive fan of animated short films, I found Coraline to be 100 minutes of sheer joy and wonder.

Coraline is adapted from Neil Gaiman's book of the same name. Coraline Jones is a neglected child (her parents are often much too busy with work), so now that they've moved to a new home, away from all of her friends, Coraline is truly lonely. What's more, she hates life, and she hates her situation. But when she discovers a door to an alternate world- a better world- Coraline is happy again. She has different parents and friends there (though they all have buttons sewn onto their faces in place of eyes, though everyone's so nice, Coraline hardly cares). Alas, the fantastical and dreamy world that Coraline has discovered isn't all it seems. And indeed, this place of beauty and amazement slowly transforms into a twisted place of horror and fright.

I guess I should quickly point out that I do not recommend this movie for younger children. Even though teens on up should find a lot to love here, this film is way too intense, disturbing and potentially traumatizing for young viewers. Coraline really pushes the PG rating, but in my opinion, it's all the better for it.

One of director Henry Selick's previous films was The Nightmare Before Christmas. Most people often mistake that film as a directorial effort by Tim Burton (due to the trademark Burton visuals). And while Coraline is indeed a dark fantasy stop-motion film with creepy visuals, it has its own unique visual style that's completely different from Burton's. I don't think too many people should mistake this for a Tim Burton movie, as Selick's directing makes Coraline feel like a completely different kind of beast, while retaining many of the things that make Burton's work so enjoyable.

And while I'm talking about them, I guess I should add that the visuals are gorgeous. In fact, they're downright stunning most of the time. The stop-motion animation is beautiful, and it gets better and better as the film continues. At times, the animation is so smooth and detailed, one could be forgiven for mistaking this for a CGI film. Coraline is one of the most visually astounding films I've had the pleasure of viewing.

Thankfully, there is more to Coraline than just visuals. The story is one of remarkable depth. While the idea of children transporting to an alternate dimension is not an uncommon one (this has been explored in countless books, novels and films, both recent and old), it's the world itself that sets it apart (and in many respects- above) other similar stories. This alternate reality isn't so different from Coraline's own that it has a Alice In Wonderland type contrast from the real-world to that of fantasy. It has a distinctly dream-like quality that causes it to seem ridiculous and outlandish, and yet, sometimes oddly believable. Other films have attempted this kind of surreal quality, but few have accomplished it. Count Coraline among the few successes.

Every bizarre and creepy thing that happens in this film simply delighted me. So rare it is to find an animated film that truly dispenses with the idea that animation is a medium for children. After all, animation is just that: an art medium; not a genre designed to baby-sit toddlers and pre-teens. It is truly a treasure to find an animated film that understands that this art medium is just as much for adults as it is for children. Not only that, but Coraline also seems to understand that at times, it can be an even more effective style of story-telling for adults than live-action. Indeed, such eye-popping visuals and clever character designs simply could not be utilized in live-action to the same effect.

The voice cast is solid. Dakota Fanning as Coraline Jones provides a believable voice for the title character. Robert Bailey Jr. as the geeky Wybie (a character created specifically for the film) is also perfect in the role. Jennifer Saunders and Dawn French are riotous in their roles as Coraline's elderly neighbors Miss Spink and Miss Forcible. Teri Hatcher and John Hodgman portray Coraline's parents (in both the real world, and the alternate one), and their performances are especially noteworthy for getting the tendencies of any parent correct, and Hatcher's chilling performance for Coraline's "other" mother.

The score, composed by Bruno Coulais is excellent. It's strange and inspired (like the film), and fits the picture like a glove. There's a great harp theme, and memorable uses of choir. The instrumentation is odd, and the score does feel very experimental, but I think it really suits the nature of the film.

Stop-motion films simply don't garner the attention of CGI animated films for some reason. While every once in a while, a Nightmare Before Christmas comes along and garners a lot of acclaim, mainstream audiences always seem to pass on these stop-motion endeavors. Frankly, I can't understand why. It's a terrible shame, of course, because stop-motion does so many things that CGI animated films dare not do. Perhaps that's why they're so often ignored by the mainstream. If this is so, then maybe it's better that they don't garner as much attention. After all, I'd rather have one stop-motion film every couple of years like Coraline, rather than getting the stop-motion equivalent of Madagascar every other month.

Since I’m a huge fan of ‘The Nightmare before Christmas’, I was quite eager to check this flick and I had some rather huge expectations before watching it. Eventually, even though I did like it, I was still a little bit disappointed by the whole thing. Of course, the stop motion animation really looked gorgeous once again (it didn’t see it in 3D though) but, even though the story was decent, it was never as fascinating as ‘The Nightmare before Christmas’ was. Seriously, at the end of the day, even thought it was fairly entertaining, I can’t say I really cared about the main character or what she was going through. In my opinion, it was like with ‘ParaNorman’, another supposedly dark animated feature, the makers really want us to believe that the whole thing is really edgy but I wasn’t really convinced, I’m afraid. I mean, with ‘The Nightmare before Christmas’, I was just mesmerized by this demented world and I loved every single one of those weird characters but I never had such a connection with this story. Still, to conclude, even though I think it is slightly overrated, it remains still a very well made animated feature and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Nice animation and awesome story line. I really enjoyed this movie

Coraline, not Caroline. this is my Favorite movies of all time, coraline is just yuur average miss understood girl. she moves to a new house new school new frenns, with all the change her life isnt goin so well, till she discovers the portal(small door) in which she meets the "other mother" a world created to draw in children, a world so perfect they wudd be willin to stay, costin them their lives. coraline, she is smarter then what the evil mother knows. and outwits her, in her own game, along side her is whybeee and her frenn the cat(:

Coraline tells an old story in a new, highly arresting visual style. Stop-motion animation has been around for a long time, but it has rarely been used to make a feature-length motion picture. And, even rarer, the visual stylization of this film is something that has never truly been seen before. The mechanical/skeletal hand intricately weaving a doll in the opening credits signifies that this movie is going to be the stuff of nightmares, and an eye-popping experience. It lived up to that opening credit sequence in my mind, in fact, it exceeded those expectations. As much as I adored Up, Coraline has stayed with me much more as a whole. Yes, I am hoping for an Oscar upset even though I know it will never happen.

Coraline, voiced to bratty perfection by Dakota Fanning, is smart, bored and smart-alecky little girl. I loved the fact that we had a heroine in a fairy tale/fantasy story who didn’t need to be rescued by Prince Charming or be so saccharinely sweet and good-natured that you think she secretly deserves a few of the bad things that happen to her. But once you get a glimpse of her home life you’ll understand. Her parents, both writers trying desperately to finish up a gardening catalogue, continually hunch over their computers typing away for, what looks like, days on end. They’re not inconsiderate, just strapped for time and very busy. Coraline is about to blossom into her teenage years, and they probably believe that she can entertain herself. Which she does, but her parents are terribly distracted and always on-edge with her.

If you were relocated to a large apartment home and your parents were distracted constantly by work, wouldn’t you go exploring for anything odd or out of the ordinary in the house? I might have. I’m not quite sure I shared Coraline’s sense of adventure, or is that boredom? Anyway, she finds a door that has been covered up by wallpaper. And so begins the mystery, the fantasy and, oh yes, the horror. You see, Coraline takes its time in actually telling children (ha!) a story which features a recognizable personality type going against Freudian psychology. I scoff at this being a children’s film because children under the age of eight will have nightmares for days on end about buttons, rats, dog-bat hybrids, taffy people and all sorts of other incendiary things. Not too say that is a bad thing, but this is proof that not all animation is for all ages.

I can’t say how faithfully this adheres to Neil Gaiman’s original work, but I know that the Other Mother’s descent from normal looking woman to mechanical humanoid-spider has his demented stamp all over it. I also loved Teri Hatcher’s vocal work in the dual role. As Coraline’s regular mother she sounds like anyone’s mom: loving, tough and just a tiny bit annoyed with your attitude. As the Other Mother she must go through a complete transformation and do it all with her voice. To combine that with the several different puppets which comprised that character made it stick with me long after I saw it in theaters. I could close my eyes months after my first viewing and vividly remember the scene where Coraline and the Other Mother face off for the last time. That is the power of this film’s storytelling, visual invention and vocal cast. I have only spotlighted two of them, but across the board the work is first-rate. Normally Pixar produces by favorite animated work in a given year, but there are exceptions. Here is one. And in a year filled with strong animated features, I still rank this as the best one of 2009.

Wow! I was totally blown away by Coraline. It is a very beautiful film that is packed with creativity, magic and also tension. Coraline is a beautifully filmed masterpiece that truly is one-of-a-kind. It is very similar to Monster House, Nightmare Before Christmas and Corpse Bride in the way it was filmed but this is the best one of those four films. I loved this film from start to finish especially because I saw it in 3D at the cinema.


The film follows the story of a little girl called Coraline who moves into the Pink Palace Apartments with her loving but work-consuming parents. Inside the apartment, she finds a door that is filled with bricks but one night it opens up and out comes a new world which changes things around. The way the door opened and the way she went through it reminded me a lot of Alice In Wonderland. Coraline is like DJ in Monster House: brave, courageous, friendly and also very curious. In all of those four films I have mentioned that are similar have very similar personalities but are at different ages and different sexes. The voices provided are just simply amazing! Dakota Fanning has starred in a masterpiece as Coraline and is my favourite film with her in it at the moment. Teri Hatcher, Dawn French, Ian McShane, Jennifer Saunders, Keith David, Robert Bailey Jr. and John Hodgman were really good in the film too.


I think this was absolutely typical of Henry Selick to direct Coraline because it is a very dark story for children and was really odd. Selick's previous works James And The Giant Peach and The Nightmare Before Christmas were very oddly yet beautifully filmed in a live action and animated sort of way. They were both connected with Tim Burton but Coraline wasn't and that is a shame but then again it might not have been as good if it was a Tim Burton film. Selick has created a masterpiece that will hopefully be the Best Animated Picture 2009 winner. It is a film that is perfectly aimed at the right people. It is meant to show the adult humour and a dark story for both children and adults. It is meant to show the pure magic and the beauty inside of a young child's imagination even if it's scary or creepy. Some of the animation involved looked real.


Overall, Coraline is an absolutely unbelievable experience to watch! I still prefer Nightmare Before Christmas over this. This may be too old for children who are under 6 years old but I think it is one that I think everybody will love when they watch it. It is a masterpiece! I would recommend that you watch Coraline in 3D at the cinema otherwise you are missing out on a fantastic experience that will blow you away.

很有趣的一部動畫片，適合大人小孩一起看，強調著"家庭"重要性，雖然外面有很多美麗誘惑，但誰知道要付出多少代價呢？親人永遠是無法輕易被取代。