Coraline (film)

Coraline is a 2009 American stop-motion animated dark fantasy horror film directed and written for the screen by Henry Selick based on the 2002 novella of the same name by Neil Gaiman.[4] Produced by Laika as its first feature film, Coraline stars the voices of Dakota Fanning, Teri Hatcher, Jennifer Saunders, Dawn French, Keith David, John Hodgman, Robert Bailey Jr., and Ian McShane. The film depicts an adventurous girl named Coraline finding an idealized parallel world behind a secret door in her new home, unaware that the alternative world contains a dark and sinister secret.

Coraline
Theatrical release poster
Directed byHenry Selick
Produced by
Written byHenry Selick
Based onCoraline
by Neil Gaiman
Starring
Music byBruno Coulais
CinematographyPete Kozachik
Edited by
Production
company
Distributed byFocus Features
Release date
  • February 5, 2009 (2009-02-05) (premiered)[1]
  • February 6, 2009 (2009-02-06) (United States)
Running time
100 minutes[2]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$60 million[3]
Box office$124.6 million[3]

The film was released in United States theaters on February 6, 2009 by Focus Features after a world premiere at the Portland International Film Festival,[5] and received critical acclaim. The film made $16.85 million during opening weekend, ranking third at the box office,[6] and by the end of its run had grossed over $124 million worldwide, making it the third highest-grossing stop-motion film of all time after Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit and Chicken Run. Coraline won Annie Awards for Best Music in an Animated Feature Production, Best Character Design in an Animated Feature Production and Best Production Design in an Animated Feature Production, and received nominations for an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature and a Golden Globe Award for Best Animated Feature Film.

Plot

Eleven-year-old Coraline Jones and her parents, Mel and Charlie, move into an old mansion that has been divided up and is now known as the Pink Palace Apartments. As her parents struggle to complete their gardening catalog, Coraline is often left alone. While using a dowsing rod she plucked from a bush in the garden, attempting to find a well nearby, she meets the landlady's grandson, Wyborne "Wybie" Lovat, and the feral Black Cat who follows him around. During their conversation, Coraline is unimpressed with Wybie, and he informs her that her dowsing rod is poison oak, which gives her a rash on her palm. Later, she meets her new neighbors: Mr. Bobinsky, who is supposedly training a circus of mice, and retired burlesque actresses Misses Spink and Forcible. Wybie gives Coraline a button-eyed rag doll he discovered in the trunk of his grandmother's car that eerily resembles her. Later, while she's exploring the house, the doll lures Coraline to a small door in the living room that is bricked up and can only be unlocked by a button-shaped key.

That night, a mouse guides Coraline through the door, a portal to a seemingly more colorful and cheerful version of her real home. Coraline meets her Other Mother and Other Father, button-eyed doppelgängers of her parents that appear more attentive and caring. After dinner, the Other Mother puts mud on her rash; she goes to sleep and awakens in the real world the next morning, finding her palm has healed. Wybie then tells her about his grandmother's twin sister who disappeared in the house as a child. Undeterred, Coraline visits the Other World the following night, entertained by the Other Bobinsky, who conducts a mouse circus for her and the Other Wybie, who has been rendered mute by the Other Mother to please Coraline. Coraline also encounters the Black Cat from the real world, who is able to speak in the Other World and likes to play "games" with the Other Mother, who hates cats. Each time she visits the Other World, Coraline goes to sleep there, and wakes up in the real world, increasingly displeased she didn't wake up in the Other World, and thinking her experiences of the previous night have all been a dream.

Coraline discovers her mother has locked the small door in the living room and hidden the key, saying she found rodent dung near the door, and to make Coraline feel safer. While her parents are out of the house, Coraline finds the key and unlocks the door, going to the Other World in the daytime for the first time. Once there, she finds the Other Mother is not present, but finds a note inviting her downstairs to the Other Spink and Forcible's vaudeville/cabaret show. Coraline attends, along with Other Wybie.

Afterward, the Other Mother invites Coraline to stay in the Other World forever, on the condition she have buttons sewn over her eyes. Horrified, Coraline goes to sleep, but when she wakes up, she's still in the Other World. She then demands to return home. The Other Mother transforms into a menacing version of herself and imprisons Coraline in the hallway mirror. There, Coraline meets the ghosts of the Other Mother's previous child victims, including Wybie's grandmother's sister. The spirits reveal that the Other Mother, whom they call the "Beldam," used the same doll Coraline had (each time disguised as the child in question,) to spy on them, taking advantage of their unhappiness and luring them into the Other World. After they agreed to let her sew buttons on their eyes, the Beldam "ate up" their lives, trapping their souls. Coraline promises to free them by finding their eyes. The Other Wybie frees her from the mirror and helps her escape back to the real world.

Coraline cannot find her parents, eventually realizing they have been kidnapped by the Beldam. Miss Spink and Miss Forcible give Coraline an adder stone, meant for bad/lost things. Wybie attempts to get the doll back from Coraline, and when she tries to tell him about the Other World, he runs away, thinking she's gone insane. That night, Coraline is woken by the Black Cat, who shows her that her parents are trapped in the hallway mirror. She returns to the Other World, finding it is now dark and nightmarish, to rescue her parents, but the Beldam locks the door and swallows the key. Following the Cat's advice, Coraline proposes a game: if she can find the ghosts' eyes and her parents, they will all go free; if not, she will remain in the Other World and let the Beldam sew buttons over her eyes.

Using the stone (which can see through illusions) to find the children's eyes, Coraline ventures out into the now-hostile Other World; with each eye she collects, part of the Other World disintegrates until only the living room is left. Coraline sees the Beldam in her true form, a metallic skeletal-arachnid creature with needle-like hands. The ghost of Wybie's grandmother's sister warns her that even if she wins, the Beldam will never let her go. Thinking quickly, Coraline tricks the Beldam into unlocking the portal. While the Beldam is distracted, the Cat finds her parents trapped in a snow globe on the mantle. Coraline throws the Cat at the Beldam's face and grabs the snow globe; the Cat scratches her button eyes out and escapes. Blinded, the Beldam attempts to trap Coraline, converting the living room into a metallic web, but Coraline climbs to the now-open door, and with help of the ghosts, she manages to close and lock it, severing the Beldam's right hand in the process.

Coraline's parents reappear in the real world with no memory of what happened to them. That night, the ghost children appear in Coraline's dream to thank her for freeing them, but warn her that the Beldam will never stop looking for the key. Coraline decides to drop it down the old well, but before she does, the Beldam's severed hand attacks her. Wybie, who has realized Coraline was telling the truth, arrives and, after a struggle, smashes the hand with a stone. Coraline ties the smashed hand and the key to the stone with a blanket, and together they throw everything into the well and seal it shut.

Soon after, Coraline and her parents, who have finally finished their catalog, host a garden party for their neighbors. Wybie brings his grandmother, Mrs. Lovat, and Coraline prepares to tell her about her sister's fate.

Voice cast
  • Dakota Fanning as Coraline Jones, a curious 11-year-old[7][8] girl with blue hair
  • Teri Hatcher as Mel Jones, Coraline's mother, and the Beldam/Other Mother, an evil witch that rules the Other World
  • Jennifer Saunders and Dawn French as April Spink and Miriam Forcible, respectively, a pair of retired burlesque actresses
  • Keith David as The Cat, a sarcastic, mysterious, nameless black cat from Coraline's world who appears and disappears at will and has the ability to speak in the Other World
  • John Hodgman as Charlie Jones, Coraline's father, and as the Other Father.
  • Robert Bailey Jr. as Wyborne "Wybie" Lovat, the geeky, nervous 11-year-old grandson of Coraline's landlady Mrs. Lovat. Wybie, who doesn't appear in the novel; his character was created for the film adaptation so that the viewer "wouldn't have a girl walking around, occasionally talking to herself".[9]
  • Ian McShane as Sergei Alexander Bobinsky, nicknamed "Mr. B," a former Chernobyl liquidator and one of Coraline's neighbors, who owns a jumping mice circus.
  • Carolyn Crawford as Mrs. Lovat, Wybie's grandmother and the owner of the Pink Palace Apartments
  • Aankha Neal as Sweet Ghost Girl, Mrs. Lovat's missing twin sister, Wybie's great-aunt and the most recent victim of Beldam.
  • George Selick as Ghost Boy, the second and only male victim of Beldam.
  • Hannah Kaiser as Tall Ghost Girl, the first victim of Beldam interpreted by her Midwestern clothing.
  • Marina Budovsky as Photo Friend #1, a friend of Coraline's back home in Michigan.
  • Harry Selick as Photo Friend #2, a friend of Coraline's back home in Michigan.

Production
"Coraline [was] a huge risk. But these days in animation, the safest bet is to take a risk."

–Henry Selick[10]

Director Henry Selick met author Neil Gaiman just as Gaiman was finishing the novel Coraline, and given that Gaiman was a fan of Selick's The Nightmare Before Christmas, he invited him to make a possible film adaptation. As Selick thought a direct adaptation would lead to "maybe a 47-minute movie", his screenplay had some expansions, such as the creation of Wybie. When looking for a design away from that of most animation, Selick discovered the work of Japanese illustrator Tadahiro Uesugi and invited him to become the concept artist. One of Uesugi's biggest influences was on the color palette, which was muted in reality and more colorful in the Other World, similar to the film The Wizard of Oz.[9] Uesugi declared that "at the beginning, it was supposed to be a small project over a few weeks to simply create characters; however, I ended up working on the project for over a year, eventually designing sets and backgrounds, on top of drawing the basic images for the story to be built upon."[11]

Coraline was staged in a 140,000-square-foot (13,000 m2) warehouse in Hillsboro, Oregon.[10][12] The stage was divided into 50 lots,[13] which played host to nearly 150 sets.[10] Among the sets were three miniature Victorian mansions, a 42-foot (12.8 m) apple orchard, and a model of Ashland, Oregon, including tiny details such as banners for the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.[12] More than 28 animators worked at a time on rehearsing or shooting scenes, producing 90–100 seconds of finished animation each week.[14] To add the stereoscopy for the 3D release, the animators shot each frame from two slightly apart camera positions.[9]

Every object on screen was made for the film.[9] The crew used three 3D printing systems from Objet in the development and production of the film. Thousands of high-quality 3D models, ranging from facial expressions to doorknobs, were printed in 3D using the Polyjet matrix systems, which enable the fast transformation of CAD (computer-aided design) drawings into high-quality 3D models.[15] The puppets had separate parts for the upper and lower parts of the head that could be exchanged for different facial expressions,[9] and the characters of Coraline could potentially exhibit over 208,000 facial expressions.[15] Computer artists composited separately-shot elements together, or added elements of their own, which had to look handcrafted instead of computer-generated – for instance, the flames were done with traditional animation and painted digitally, and the fog was dry ice.[9]

At its peak, the film involved the efforts of 450 people,[10] including from 30[12] to 35[10] animators and digital designers in the Digital Design Group (DDG), directed by Dan Casey, and more than 250 technicians and designers.[12] One crew member, Althea Crome, was hired specifically to knit miniature sweaters and other clothing for the puppet characters, sometimes using knitting needles as thin as human hair.[10] The clothes also simulated wear using paint and a file.[9] Several students from The Art Institute of Portland were also involved in making the film.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack for Coraline features songs by French composer Bruno Coulais, with one, "Other Father Song", by They Might Be Giants. The Other Father's singing voice is provided by John Linnell, one of the singers from the band. They had initially written 10 songs for the film; when a melancholy tone was decided, all but one were cut. Coulais' score was performed by the Hungarian Symphony Orchestra and features choral pieces sung by the Children's Choir of Nice in a nonsense language.[16] Selick mentions that the main soloist, "a young girl you hear singing in several parts of the film," is coincidentally named Coraline.[16] Coraline won Coulais the 2009 Annie Award for best score for an animated feature.

Soundtrack list
  • "Sirens of the Sea" – Performed by Michele Mariana
  • "Other Father Song" – Written and performed by John Linnell
  • "Nellie Jean" – Performed by Kent Melton
  • "Dreaming" – Performed by Bruno Coulais, The Children's Choir of Nice, and Teri Hatcher

Release

Coraline was theatrically released on February 6, 2009.

The trailer for the movie was released on November 24, 2008 and was shown before films such as Bolt, Twist City, The Tale of Despereaux & Hotel for Dogs.

Home media

The film was released on DVD and Blu-ray in the United States on July 21, 2009, by Universal Studios Home Entertainment. A 3-D version comes with four sets of 3-D glasses—specifically the green-magenta anaglyph image. Coraline was released on DVD and Blu-ray in the United Kingdom on October 12, 2009. A 3-D version of the film was also released on a 2-Disc Collector's Edition. The DVD opened to first week sales of 1,036,845 and over $19 million in revenue. Total sales stand at over 2.6 million units and over $45 million in revenue.[17] A two-disc Blu-ray 3D set, which includes a stereoscopic 3D on the first disc and an anaglyph 3D image, was released in 2011.

Other media

The website for Coraline involves an interactive exploration game where the player can scroll through Coraline's world. It won the 2009 Webby Award for "Best Use of Animation or Motion Graphics", both by the people and the Webby organization. It was also nominated for the Webby "Movie and Film" category.[18] On June 16, 2008, D3 Publisher announced the release of a video game based on the film. It was developed by Papaya Studio for the Wii and PlayStation 2 and by Art Co. for Nintendo DS. It was released on January 27, 2009, close to the film's theatrical release.[19] The soundtrack was released digitally February 3, 2009, by E1 Music, and in stores on February 24, 2009.

Reception

Box office

According to Paul Dergarabedian, a film business analyst with Media by Numbers, for the film to succeed it needed a box office comparable to Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, which had grossed $16 million its opening weekend and ended up making more than $192 million worldwide; prior to the film's release, Dergarabedian thought Laika Studios "should be really pleased" were Coraline to make $10 million in its opening weekend.[12] In its US opening weekend, the film grossed $16.85 million, ranking third at the box office.[6] It made $15 million during its second weekend, bringing its U.S. total up to $35.6 million, $25.5 million of which came from 3D presentations.[20] As of November 2009, the film has grossed $75,286,229 in the United States and Canada and $49,310,169 in other territories, for a total of $124,596,398 worldwide.[3]

Critical response

On review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 90% based on 267 reviews, with an average rating of 7.8/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "With its vivid stop-motion animation combined with Neil Gaiman's imaginative story, Coraline is a film that's both visually stunning and wondrously entertaining."[21] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 80 out of 100, based on 38 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[22]

David Edelstein said the film is "a bona fide fairy tale" that needed a "touch less entrancement and a touch more ... story."[23] A. O. Scott of The New York Times called the film "exquisitely realized," with a "slower pace and a more contemplative tone than the novel. It is certainly exciting, but rather than race through ever noisier set pieces toward a hectic climax in the manner of so much animation aimed at kids, Coraline lingers in an atmosphere that is creepy, wonderfully strange and full of feeling."[24]

Accolades
Awards and nominations
Award Category Recipient(s) Result
Academy Awards Best Animated Feature Henry Selick Nominated
American Film Institute Awards Best 10 Movies Won
Annie Awards
Best Animated Feature Nominated
Best Directing in an Animated Feature Production Henry Selick Nominated
Best Voice Acting in an Animated Feature Production Dawn French Nominated
Best Music in an Animated Feature Production Bruno Coulais Won
Best Character Animation in an Animated Feature Production Travis Knight Nominated
Best Character Design in an Animated Feature Production Shane Prigmore; Shannon Tindle Won
Best Production Design in an Animated Feature Production Christopher Appelhans; Tadahiro Uesugi Won
Best Storyboarding in an Animated Feature Production Chris Butler Nominated
Annecy International Animated Film Festival Best Feature – Tied Won
Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards Best Animated Feature Nominated
BAFTA Awards Best Animated Film Nominated
BAFTA Children's Award Best Feature Film Won
Chicago Film Critics Association Awards Best Animated Feature Nominated
Cinema Audio Society Awards
Lifetime Achievement Henry Selick Won
Career Achievement (sound designer/re-recording mixer) Randy Thom Won
EDA [Alliance of Women Film Journalists] Award
Best Animated Female ([the character of] Coraline) Won
Best Animated Film Nominated
Golden Globe Awards Best Animated Feature Film Nominated
Motion Picture Sound Editors Golden Reel Awards Best Sound Editing: Sound Effects, Foley, Music, Dialogue and ADR Animation in a Feature Film Nominated
Online Film Critics Society Awards Best Animated Film Nominated
People's Choice Awards Best Animated 3D Movie of 2009 Nominated
Producers Guild of America Awards Producer of the Year in Animated Motion Picture Nominated
San Francisco Film Critics Circle Awards Best Animated Feature Won
St. Louis Film Critics Awards Best Animated Film Nominated
Visual Effects Society Awards
Outstanding Animation in an Animated Feature Motion Picture Claire Jennings, Henry Selick Nominated
Outstanding Animated Character in an Animated Feature Motion Picture Coraline – Lead Animators Travis Knight and Trey Thomas Nominated
Outstanding Effects Animation in an Animated Feature Motion Picture John Allan Armstrong, Richard Kent Burton, Craig Dowsett Nominated
Outstanding Models and Miniatures in a Feature Motion Picture Deborah Cook, Matthew DeLeu, Paul Mack, Martin Meunier Nominated
Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Best Animated Film Nominated
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See also

References
  1. Hudetz, Mary (February 6, 2009). "Made in Oregon: animated 'Coraline'". KVAL. Archived from the original on March 6, 2012. Retrieved August 17, 2014.
  2. "Coraline rated PG by the BBFC". BBFC. January 29, 2009. Archived from the original on April 24, 2009. Retrieved April 5, 2009. Run Time 100m 19s
  3. "Coraline". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved August 11, 2009.
  4. Savage, Annaliza (November 14, 2008). "Gaiman Calls Coraline the Strangest Stop-Motion Film Ever". Wired.com. Condé Nast Digital. Retrieved August 18, 2011.
  5. Turnquist, Kristi (February 5, 2009). "'Coraline' premiere offers Portland some Hollywood glitter". OregonLive.com. Retrieved September 3, 2016.
  6. DiOrio, Carl (February 8, 2009). "Moviegoers into 'Into You'". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved August 17, 2014.
  7. Wojczuk, Montana (February 25, 2009). "Coraline Hits the Screen, Stage and Page". Paste Magazine. Retrieved December 7, 2014. ...Seeing a real 11-year old girl in peril,...
  8. Ulaby, Neda (February 5, 2009). "Henry Selick, Keeping Stop-Motion Moving Ahead". NPR. Retrieved December 7, 2014. The title character, aged 11,..
  9. "The Making of Coraline", Coraline DVD
  10. McNichol, Tom (February 2009). "Hollywood Knights". Portland Monthly. Retrieved February 15, 2009.
  11. Desowitz, Bill (January 23, 2009). "Tadahiro Uesugi Talks 'Coraline' Design". Animation World. Retrieved August 17, 2014.
  12. Mesh, Aaron (February 4, 2009). "Suspended Animation". Willamette Week. Archived from the original on February 8, 2009. Retrieved February 10, 2009.
  13. "Backstage view (19th of 21 backlot production photos)". David Strick's Hollywood Backlot. Los Angeles Times. August 7, 2008. Retrieved February 15, 2009. Backstage view of the facility in which Coraline's stop-motion animation is filmed in Portland, Oregon. The Coraline stage is divided into approximately 50 units separated by black curtains. Each unit contains a different set that is in the process of being dressed, lit, rigged or shot.
  14. J. McLean, Thomas (September 16, 2008). "On the Set with 'Coraline': Where the Motion Doesn't Stop". Animation World Network. Retrieved August 17, 2014.
  15. Objet Geometries (February 5, 2009). "Objet Geometries' 3-D Printers Play Starring Role in New Animated Film Coraline". PR Newswire UK. Retrieved August 17, 2014.
  16. Capone (February 2, 2009). "Capone Talks with Coraline Director and Wizard Master Henry Selick". Ain't It Cool News. Retrieved August 17, 2014.
  17. "Movie Coraline – DVD Sales". The Numbers. Nash Information Services. Retrieved August 18, 2011.
  18. "13th Annual Webby Awards Nominees & Winners". The Webby Awards. Archived from the original on March 7, 2013. Retrieved June 13, 2009.
  19. Remo, Chris (June 16, 2008). "D3 Announces Coraline And Shaun The Sheep Adaptations". Gamasutra. Retrieved June 16, 2008.
  20. "Holdovers Live Under Killer Friday Debut". Box Office Mojo. February 15, 2009. Retrieved February 16, 2009.
  21. "Coraline (2009)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved March 13, 2020.
  22. "Coraline Reviews". Metacritic. February 5, 2009. Retrieved February 10, 2009.
  23. Edelstein, David (February 1, 2009). "What You See Is What You Get". New York Magazine. Retrieved February 16, 2009.
  24. Scott, A.O. (February 6, 2009). "Cornered in a Parallel World". The New York Times. Retrieved February 16, 2009.
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