Coraline: a Grade A film in 3-D

When Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas first came out in 1993 I was a big fan. When it was reissued in a 3-D version a couple of years ago my admiration was cemented. Last week I went to see Coraline, the latest stop-motion effort from the same director, Henry Selick, and now I’m even more smitten by the process. First of all, the latest in 3-D techniques seems to have made a huge leap towards perfection. Oh sure, there are some parts of it that panders to some apparent need to poke us in the eye with something, but mostly the depth of vision becomes a natural part of the theatrical storytelling and you soon forget about it, which I think has to be (or should be) the goal of the process.

And theatrical is the word for Caroline. What a brilliant movie. The artistry is top notch, amazingly creative, and the screenplay is true to the book on which it is based while still adhering to the macabre and sometimes scarily dangerous mood that has added appeal for adults or, at least, this one. Stop-motion film making is so painstaking that it must be filled with just that…pain. But it paid off because Coraline is a jewel of a movie and I will see it again soon. It will also join my small collection of DVDs once it hits Amazon.

About half-way through the coming attractions a billboard flashed on the screen instructing us to put on our 3-D glasses. Then previews of four or five films were shown so I presume this technique is finally well on its way to joining the mainstream. My response to this is that if 3-D is the future, the production of more comfortable (and maybe adjustable) eyewear will need to follow suit. One of my long-established criteria for knowing when a movie is too long has always been a sore butt. But now I think irritated ears and/or temples and/or nose will do the job nicely. Oh, yeah, can’t leave this out: I was really annoyed about having to lay out an extra $3 for the glasses…there went the senior discount!