*Coraline button box Courtesy Andrew Huff of flickr.com under creative commons.
It is usually hard to find a children's movie that can appeal to an adult on the same level as the children in the audience. Usually we find films with either a target audience of children or multi-layered films such as Shrek that attempt to appeal to children while having a second layer for adults that most children cannot relate to. Luckily once every few years a film comes along that instead appeals to the human soul through shared experience. This year Coraline hit the big screen. It is a film in 3D based on the children's book. Frightening yet entertaining, lets take a look at the top 10 reasons to go see the film this weekend.
10.Neil Gaiman- He's an amazing writer with many works under his belt that every adventurer, urban or not, should read if they ever get the opportunity. These books include American Gods, Anansi Boys and Fragile things as well as Good Omens, a joint venture between him and Terry Pratchett. He took a personal interest in this film and made it the masterpiece that it is today.
9.Souvenirs- You get to keep the fancy 3D glasses that are provided to see the movie. They might cost a little extra but what is money compared to having a physical reminder of a great film. As an added bonus they can make the perfect costume prop for any Emo Halloween costume or outfit, score!
8.Going Out- To see the movie in its 3D glory you have to physically leave the house! It might seem like a given but going outside is a great benefit to any adventurer. Sure, you could stay home and rig up an elaborate pulley system to simulate a 3D movie experience, but why do that when the effort to provide the experience just for you has been put in by somebody else?
7.All Your Friends are Doing it! - Peer pressure can be a great thing in moderation, right? Go see the movie and then talk about it with all your friends and they will feel compelled to see it if they haven't already. With this simple technique you too can be the trendy jet setter you always pretend to be. As a substitute if you're late on the bandwagon you can go see it now, because everyone else in your circle of friends has seen it and you do not wish to be left out. How you handle the situation is really up to you.
6.Watchmen Isn't Out Yet.- We all know that the adventurer in all of us and the nerd in all of us are great friends and get along just splendidly. Because of this all you adventurer types have known for quite a while that Watchmen is on the horizon. Not only was it a piece of comic book gold, a classic really, it also was written by the master of masters Alan Moore. This man is one of the great inspirations of our time with Neil Gaiman following closely in his footsteps. Speaking of which the comic book series “Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader?” begins this month as a striking tribute to Alan Moore's series “Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?” Just a heads up.
5.Movies That Play Out Like Video Games- Watching this film really feels like an interactive experience. Not only do you get to experience the majority of what Coraline goes through in glorious 3D but in addition you get to go through her quest. Yes, there is a quest in the movie, no, I won't tell you what it is because it would spoil the surprise. Lets just say you're going to feel like you're in a good old fashioned plat-former. Kingdom Hearts anyone?
4.Faithful Adaptations- This movie quite faithfully adapted Neil Gaiman's original story. There were just enough changes between the original story within the book and the movie released in theaters to create a situation where, if you have in fact read the book you have not seen the story from the movie. Sure, it added a new character and changed the personalities of a few others. But, in the end this in one of few movies based on books where I can say that it really feels like it was filmed in the spirit of the book as opposed to the spirit of making cash monies.
3.Stop-Motion- This one gets me every time. At first I believed it would be a choppy movie and was hesitant to see it because the commercials on the tele looked very choppy. The characters appeared to be slow moving compared to the smoothness seen in other animated works such as The Nightmare Before Christmas. This is however all just a clever ploy to lure the viewer into a false sense of knowing something about the film before going into the theater. The film itself flows magnificently with many different textures seen on screen reacting to gravity and friction in realistic ways. Most importantly, all of these reactions happen in 3D!
2.Horror- Everything playing in theaters right now is either a romantic comedy or a horror story, and we have valentines day to blame for that. Still, as far as horror movies go Coraline is a smash in that it is scary enough to give the entire audience a few spooks while still being loving and playful at heart. A warning however as kids are prone to be afraid of the unknown, there is a chance that they could be very afraid of this film. However I know I was incredibly afraid of The Nightmare Before Christmas myself when I first saw it and now it is one of my favorite films. I say take your kids if you have any and hope they embrace the fear.
1.Coraline- The films main character. She makes the story come alive and is a great example of a modern day urban adventurer. She is young but lives every day as an adventure. While she has some help making sure that things stay interesting, thanks to outside forces that the majority of modern day adventurers will hopefully never have to face, but, what is life without adversity? She is charming, sweet and just a little bit of a bitch, a great mix if you ask me. Of course if she's not your thing you can always go to the film for Wybie, if you're into nerds with a fun hunchback stance and pet wild cats.
I hope this was a compelling list of reasons to see a great film.
*Poster Courtesy joanneteh_32 of flickr.com under creative commons.
Cheers.
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