Editorial: Why I don't like Coraline (2009)

Everyone has a movie or two that they so desperately want to love, maybe the movie has a lot of good qualities about it, maybe it has a plot or character type that you really like, maybe it is based on one of your all-time favourite source materials, or maybe it's all three, but for one reason or another, you just don't like it, maybe the good things don't outweigh the bad, or maybe it is just different enough from a book you love so much that you can't help but notice every single detail they changed.

This is going to be a different kind of review.

Coraline was a book originally published in 2002, I didn't read it as a kid, I was like, four years old when it was released, I first read it when I was in middle school. At that time the movie was already out, and I did see that before reading the book. After some time though, the book became one of my favourites, in fact, it is in my top three, along side S.E. Hinton's The Outsiders and L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Both of which also had movies made from them. I really enjoyed the book for its themes, amazingly detailed settings, and for Coraline herself, who is a great protagonist and one of my examples of a strong female character.

Which is the main reason I don't like Coraline, the movie tossed most of her wit and cleverness to the cutting room floor. What made Coraline a strong character was that, even though she was afraid, she kept herself calm and at the end used her wit to defeat the Other Mother's disembodied hand. What she did was, she took an old cloth, placed it over the open well, placed her dolls and some plastic tea cups around, filling the cups with water as a weight, and placed the key in the center, pretending to have a tea party with her dolls. When the hand made a grab for the key, it's weight sent it, the key and the cloth plummeting down the well, which Coraline sealed back up.

I guess in the end, smashing the hand would have made it more clear that the hand was done, but the well was stated to be so deep you could see stars in the sky in the middle of the day, and even then the boards covering the well were at least sturdy enough to carry the weight of a child so, they are probably not easy to move. I get that most of this in inferring, but at the same time, it is pretty much a given that the hand is gone, as is the key. However, my main point is, smashing it with a large rock only served to ruin what was a clever plan from a clever main character.

Speaking of clever. You know how Coraline found out about the snow-globe in the book? She realized that the Other Mother could not create, only distort. Yeah, the snow-globes on the mantle were not in the book, it was only one Snow-Globe. It was inconspicuous enough to be unnoticed by Coraline in the first place, I don't get why they needed it to be a collection her actual mother and father already had, and making it so that it she noticed her parents in it rather than figure it out, again serves to make her less clever.

There are some small changes I don't get, like, why did they make the door a crawl-space door. If it was meant to be so, I think Neil Gaiman would have written it in. Keep in mind, it was speculated in the book to have originally lead to the other flat of the house, but at the same time, it doesn't really effect anything major.

I also don't get why they changed the stone to a piece of candy. Stones with a natural hole in them, or Hag Stones as they're called, have some significance in magic, as they were used to ward off curses and nightmares, see other worlds and even reveal the true appearance of something. Is this another Philosopher's Stone thing where they thought people wouldn't understand it and changed it to something that has no significance to anything other than making it more marketable?
Unlike Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, this makes even less sense as even though I did not understand the connection, I could still grasp the idea of a stone with a natural hole in the center being used to reveal things.

I must also ask why they felt the need to destroy the "Hag Candy" in the film. I guess it makes things more suspenseful, but at the same time, the stone could not really help her in finding her parents anyway, since she was being watched by the Other Mother. Even if they wanted to go down the route of having her destroy the stone, wouldn't crushing it in her fist be more haunting than tossing it into a fire?

But my most hated change in the film is the addition of Wyborn. He is not only an irritating character, he is also an unnecessary one. Everything he did in the film was either a change from the book or an addition to the book (I.e. the doll he gives Coraline). For an example, he didn't release Coraline from her punishment in the book. It was the Other Mother, who got her from behind the mirror when she felt that Coraline learned her lesson. This made her more human in the book, which can make her more unnerving, especially since this is when we learn Coraline isn't the first child to stumble through the door.

To be absolutely fair to this movie, to be fair, it is a good quality movie, it has wonderful animation and settings, has a pretty good version of Coraline (if not as good as the book), does stand out on it's own, and was the introduction film for Laika Studios, which would eventually give us Kubo and the Two Strings, one of my personal favourites. By all means, this is a good movie, and worth checking out, but I can't get over some of the changes from the book to the screen, maybe if they made it so Coraline was still the intelligent character of the book, but personally, I did not care for this movie. I am going to side with the book for a long time to come.

However, as a film I do have to give it praise, so in the spirit of fairness, and the fact that it is a quality product, I do have to give it a recommendation rating. I can't go higher because of my feelings, but I will grant it a good rating.

Vampire Hunter D (1985) - A very... okay, but heavily flawed movie.

As it is October, the month of spooks and scares, I figured it would be a good opportunity to take a look at a movie that has been in my collection for a good year at this point, but never got around to watching. The 1980s Anime action/horror, Vampire Hunter D.

When a young girl gets bitten by a vampire, she hires a wandering hunter known as "D" for help. D must destroy the vampire that bit her to cure her of her infection, however, the vampire, Count Magnus Lee wishes to wed the young woman to... I am not making this up, alleviate boredom. While the plot is fairly solid it does take a while to get going. The Count sends others to kill D a couple times, and D goes to the castle once and gets caught by snake women. I guess these scenes mostly exist to show the audience what D is capable of, or maybe they were part of the original book. Yeah, this is another adaptation, and again, I haven't read the book. Then again, I would not know how easy it would be to get a hold of these books. Overall, the plot is solid, but the progression kind of meanders a bit, and sadly, that isn't the only thing that keeps me from enjoying this movie.

The movie also had some weird pacing issues. I mean, I guess I don't need to see the heroes escape the crumbling castle, but the previous scene they were still standing inside, and then the camera cuts to another scene and they're right there. At least, establish that they turned around to leave, but maybe it just bothered me. still, that is only one example, and it bothered me for most of the movie.

Now, I am terrible at identifying character, but I felt like most of these characters were bland. D is the strong and silent protagonist, but he has some moments that keep him from being a total bore. The Count is an interesting villain, but only in how we can identify with his motivation. Other than that, he isn't really that interesting to watch. The only other characters that I could find character to, were the Mayor's son and the Count's Daughter Lamika. The Mayor's son is an asshole womanizer, he is kind of like Gaston, only less likable. I really hate characters that I am supposed to hate that have nothing enjoyable about them. I want characters I love to hate, and not hate to love. As for Lamika, she is prideful, though she has moments where I found myself respecting her. As a whole, the characters are not great, but at least most of them have their moments where they aren't terribly bland.

Now, this is where I mention that I watched the dub of this movie as that is the copy that I have. So, this will be the first time I mention the dubbing quality. Now, growing up in the 2000s, I was in the middle of a huge anime boom. The nineties and 2000s was the time that anime became more popular in the west, with shows like DragonBall Z, Naruto, Bleach, One Piece and of course Pokemon. So, I have to wonder, was dubbing prior to the nineties usually of a mediocre quality? The dubbing in this movie is fine, but some of the lines were read completely bland, some dialogue was spoken too fast and overall it was mediocre, I mean, my standard is that is has to be of better quality than a TeamFourStar production, but this was more on the level of Friendship is Witchcraft.

Now we get to the animation. Now, what you have to keep in mind is that, 1980s anime and modern anime look completely different. Not to say that something needs to look like a modern anime to look good, but don't go into a movie or series from this era expecting it to look like FullMetal Alchemist or Attack on Titan, and especially not something super stylized like Kill la Kill. That being said, while this movie does look good, it is anime good, meaning that it is more artstyle than actual animation. I have this feeling for a lot of anime, where I just feel like a lot of it is stylized to hide the fact that little is happening. That being said, I did notice some reused animation, and there is a good amount of bright flashing lights in this movie, so be warned.

On the topic of content warning, this movie contains some pretty brutal deaths. I feel like a lot of the style went into these violent and gruesome deaths. Monsters get cut in half and you see their insides, and creatures get their heads blown off, and so on. There is also some nudity in this movie, so be warned this is not a movie for younger audiences.

As a whole, I did not really enjoy this movie. It was slow, had some weird pacing problems, and wasn't very engaging. It is a shame because I feel like this could have been a great movie, but we got some bleh characters, with mediocre dubbing and okay for the time animation. I guess it is not too bad, but I would have personally rather watched Netflix's Castlevania series instead. So... that's always an alternative. I can't really recommend this one, if you're into classic anime, you might enjoy it, but you've probably already seen it, with the original recording no doubt. Even if you haven't, I don't really speak highly of this one. Maybe Ghost in the Shell is better.

First Impressions: Invader ZIM: Enter the Florpus (2019)

Yeah, it is about time I get to this one. I've put this blog off for a bit because I haven't actually watched Invader Zim before. After I got some confirmation that I did not need to binge the whole series to watch the movie, I figured it was time to go ahead. So, as a new comer, what were my thoughts?

Of the three TV Movie specials of cartoons that I have seen, the hierarchy goes, Steven Universe: The Movie at the bottom, than Rocko's Modern Life: Static Cling, and then at the top is Enter the Florpus. So, while I have yet to watch Rainbow Roundup or the other Equestria Girls thing (not that I am really holding my breath for Equestria Girls), I think this has been the best of the TV Movie special thing... Man, 2019 was an interesting year for animation.

Not being a fan of Invader Zim, my expectations were shaky, however, literally from the first scene, I was laughing. Reference, gross-out, screw the audience, subverted expectations whatever the joke, it was usually funny. Seriously, there were times I laughed so loud I had to restrain myself to listen to the audio, I haven't laughed like that since I started watching The Amazing World of Gumball. I think with the Rocko special, a lot of the humour was more satirical, which is fine, but I felt some of it was either too obvious or too subtle to be funny. Like the Joke with Heffer's grandpa being a ghost, yeah, with some thought it is funny, but it is too subtle to be funny at first, at least, that is my opinion. With Invader Zim on the other hand, so much of the humour is from the subversion of expectations, and it is extremely funny.

I guess in some ways, the Rocko movie was like that lousy Homestar Runner sketch from Robot Chicken, whereas the Invader Zim movie, by comparison, is more like a Robot Chicken sketch where they actually know what the joke is. Of course, the Rocko movie is better than Robot Chicken's Homestar Runner sketch but... I think you get the idea.

The movie isn't just a bunch of humour, I surprisingly found myself enjoying a lot of the characters too, and not just Gaz and GIR, though Gaz was definitely my favourite. I liked Dib, and found him relatable in someways. I also liked Professor Membrane, and that Kamehameha he did in the final climax. There was a moment between Dib and his father that I did enjoy, and I won't spoil it.

The other thing I really enjoyed was the animation. I've seen clips of the show and knew that it was a darker show than Nickelodeon was known for. However, the style and lighting of the movie looked incredible, and the alternate artstyles when they went through the florpus hole, not only were they impressive, but I also found myself laughing at how ridiculous they could be. Really, this might be one of the best looking animated movies of the year, which really goes to show how good movies can be outside of the cinema.

Overall, I really enjoyed Enter the Florpus. I found it to be funny, engaging, charming and a visual delight. I don't know if this would rank high on my favourites list of the year, but I know it will rank at least in the top ten, which means this movie gets put in the recommended rank. If you have seen Invader Zim before, you'll probably enjoy it a lot more than me, but if you're new to the series, it is still worth checking out. I actually might start watching the show after this. I have high hopes.

First Impressions: The Addams Family (2019)

Animated Antic said that this was the biggest disappointment of the year for him.

Anim8Ball titled his review of the movie "Me-Di-O-Cre *snap* *snap*"

Now, I'm sure they both have valid arguments and criticisms towards the movie, but going in, with reasonable expectations and a lack of experience with the Addams Family, I can personally say that I disagree with them.

I thought the movie was pretty good, not great, but pretty good.

I kind of enjoyed the main arcs for each character, and the themes of tradition and fitting in the plots have. Now, I am not saying they are really deep or nuanced, what I'm saying is I enjoyed them. I really liked the film showing that Wednesday and Parker weren't all that different, and that Morticia was just as restrictive and controlling as Parker's mother. Of course, the difference between the two is still obvious, one goes to an extreme of keeping her daughter from leaving the house, and realizes she's done wrong. The other goes to the extreme of trying to straight up murder the entire family, and thinks she is justified, like I said, there really is not a lot of nuance here, so I don't think this movie will win any awards for plot.

That being said, I can take a lousy plot if the characters and jokes are good, so how are the jokes? They're mixed. A lot of the jokes are not really funny, but the ones I did find funny, I really found funny. The science class scene for an example, while the Frankenstein reference is cute, albeit a little predictable, the following reference to Invasion of the Body Snatchers, I found hilarious, though I like reference humour. I think the humour as a whole was mixed, I found it funnier than some, but some of the jokes were pretty lame.

As for character, I think Wednesday was a really strong character, the way she works off of the others was always entertaining. I don't think there was a character I didn't enjoy in some way. On top of that, I really like the designs of them. The villain being this "standard" of beauty contrasts very well with Morticia Addams being very slender and monotone. Honestly, I quite enjoyed the characters in this movie, especially Wednesday, no wonder everyone likes her.

Maybe I'm more forgiving of this movie than others, I have not really indulged myself in The Addams Family outside of internet memes, so maybe there is something else I am missing. However, I did enjoy my time, and you know what, this movie was not The Secret Life of Pets 2, so, that is something. Does it have it's flaws, yes. However, I did enjoy my time, and I do think some others will too, so with that, I can safely give this movie a Slight Recommendation.

First Impressions: Abominable (2019)

A while ago, this was back in August if my Letterboxd is accurate, I watched a direct-to-video animated movie called "Legend of the Secret Pass". I thought that movie had a good premise, but was wasted on bland or annoying characters and sub-par animation, which did the scenes that tried to look beautiful zero favors. I mention this because, Abominable is kind of the opposite, it is a decent premise, but had wonderful characters with their own arcs and a beautiful art style and animation.

While there was some to enjoy in The Legend of the Secret Pass, I did not recommend it, but I do feel like this is kind of the movie it could have been with a better budget.

Each of the characters were interesting in their own way, and none of them ever got annoying. There is one character that is very childlike and energetic, but he never gets annoying. One character is super popular and "with it" and all of the stuff that personally makes me cringe, and he never gets annoying. I think each of the characters balance each other out, as well as the environments they go through.

While I do say that the animation is not the be all and end all of a movie, a movie like Abominable really does show why having good art and animation is, while not entirely important, is highly beneficial. Going back to the Legend of the Secret Pass movie, when it had a scene that should have looked beautiful, I could admire the ambition, but find myself thinking about what the scene would look like had a couple thousand more dollars been tossed its way. With Abominable, there is a particularly gorgeous scene that is also a deep emotional moment for the lead character. The beautiful colour, lighting, and camera movement all enhance the scene, where a movie that wouldn't have the budget or had people that did not understand the importance of these elements, would have the scene be hindered by them.

I think this movie really is a good example of what animation can do when your making a less cartoonish work. Animation is a lot more like cinema than a lot of people would think. It is not just the art of the drawings or modelings that make it beautiful, much like it is not the thousands of pictures taken for a live-action film is not what makes it engaging. In both mediums, it is the use of lighting, colour, performance, cinematography, choreography, music and writing that brings it to life.

I am unsure if this movie is going to rank as my favourite animated movie of the year, but I know it will rank high. Maybe not as high as Toy Story 4 or How to Train Your Dragon 3, but I definitely enjoyed it more than The Lego Movie 2. I also recommend this movie because I would love to see more from this studio, but I've heard this movie made back it's budget, so, I just hope it can make twice it's budget back.