{"id":3208,"date":"2011-01-25T19:15:33","date_gmt":"2011-01-25T19:15:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/\/?p=3208"},"modified":"2011-01-25T19:15:33","modified_gmt":"2011-01-25T19:15:33","slug":"coraline","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/coraline\/","title":{"rendered":"Coraline"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"coraline\"<\/a>Coraline is a creepy delight to behold. \u00a0The visual world of the stop-motion animated story is rich with texture, fine detail and has a wonderful handcrafted quality. \u00a0The direction builds an increasingly sinister but whimsical tone. \u00a0A compelling emotional journey is what is sorely lacking here.<\/p>\n

Coraline (voiced by Dakota Fanning) is a lonely, neglected middle-school aged girl. \u00a0Her family has just moved to a new home far away from Coraline’s two best friends. \u00a0Her parents (voiced by Terri Hatcher and John Hodgman) are busy writers who work for a garden catalog company but don’t garden themselves. \u00a0They don’t like dirt. \u00a0They are also parents. \u00a0But they don’t seem to like family life. \u00a0Nor do they enjoy their daughter’s company.<\/p>\n

I didn’t get a sense that these busy writers are pressed for time on a particularly onerous short-term deadline but really wish they could be with their daughter to help her adjust to her new home. \u00a0I never got the feeling Coraline was being to asked to pitch in during a difficult rough patch (or that she selfishly refused to help or understand her parents’ dilemma).<\/p>\n

The lack of interest from or intimate contact with her parents seems to be the status quo. \u00a0When Coraline speaks, her parents often don’t look at her. \u00a0When they address her they rarely make eye-contact. \u00a0She seems to be an irritating obstacle in their self-absorbed way. \u00a0Mealtime is quick and unsatisfying. \u00a0The family refrigerator is nearly empty and contains only random odds and ends which Coraline’s father cooks into a gelatinous mess.<\/p>\n

\"539w\"<\/a>Miraculously, an alternative reality appears. \u00a0Coraline discovers a small secret door and follows a group of mice to an identical house. \u00a0She is greeted warmly by her “other” parents. \u00a0In this parallel home, her “other” mother cooks Coraline’s favorite foods. \u00a0Her “other” father plays with her and the family has planted a garden with her face depicted in flowers. \u00a0Her “other” parents dote on her. \u00a0There is only one problem. \u00a0Her “other” mother wants to replace Coraline’s eyes with buttons and she wants Coraline to stay forever in the alternative universe. \u00a0Her warmth turns into obsessive possessiveness.<\/p>\n

Coraline can escape by finding three magic balls hidden with her “other” neighbors (voiced by Ian McShane, Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders). \u00a0Here is where the problems start. \u00a0Gathering the balls is an episodic exercise that is made easy with a magic “viewing stone” that quickly and effortlessly identifies each ball. \u00a0The search doesn’t require Coraline to discover anything new about herself, meet a personal challenge or learn any kind of life lesson.<\/p>\n

When Coraline finally escapes from the alternative universe she finds her real parents are trapped inside a snow globe. \u00a0When they are freed they have no recollection of the experience. \u00a0They have not changed in any way nor have they taken any lesson from the experience. \u00a0Even worse, at the film’s climax it is Coraline’s friend Wybie (voiced by Robert Bailey Jr.), a lonely neighbor boy, who comes to the rescue and saves her. \u00a0This deprives Coraline of final control over her destiny. \u00a0What journey there is for her is co-opted by another character.<\/p>\n

\"coraline02-1\"<\/a>This is a splendid looking film without an emotional journey for its plucky heroine. \u00a0The dilemmas posed and the obstacle to overcome aren’t personal. \u00a0They are merely physical obstructions adding up to nothing much. \u00a0The film’s message seems to be that no matter how neglectful or self-absorbed busy working parents are, they are better than a poke with a needle and buttons for eyes. \u00a0 There seems to be no middle ground between the obsessive “devouring” mother and the cold distant professional mom. \u00a0Perhaps this is supposed to be a comforting message for parents who have no time for their children and use presents to substitute for attention. \u00a0(Coraline’s mother buys her a pair of gloves as a rare token of affection but continues to be rather disengaged, impatient and abrupt right to end of the film.) \u00a0The most important journey in any film is the emotional journey. \u00a0The biggest obstacle to overcome should be yourself!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Coraline is a creepy delight to behold. The visual world of the stop-motion animated story is rich with texture, fine detail and has a wonderful handcrafted quality. The direction builds an increasingly sinister but whimsical tone. A compelling emotional journey is what is sorely lacking here.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":11959,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"nf_dc_page":"","_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[372,373,25,26,375,873,27,28,377,30,31,324,378,32,33,1005,34,35,36,37,38,39,40,41,42],"class_list":["post-3208","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movies-character-development-screenwriting-screenplay-script-blog","tag-animation","tag-cartoon","tag-character","tag-characters","tag-children","tag-coraline","tag-emotional-toolbox","tag-etb","tag-family","tag-film","tag-films","tag-horror","tag-kids","tag-laurie-hutzler","tag-movies","tag-neil-gaiman","tag-nine-character-types","tag-screenplay","tag-screenplays","tag-screenwriting","tag-script","tag-scripts","tag-scriptwriting","tag-tv","tag-writing"],"acf":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/30710870_10211699141895539_4496568718662303744_n.jpg",960,720,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/30710870_10211699141895539_4496568718662303744_n-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/30710870_10211699141895539_4496568718662303744_n-300x225.jpg",300,225,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/30710870_10211699141895539_4496568718662303744_n-768x576.jpg",768,576,true],"large":["https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/30710870_10211699141895539_4496568718662303744_n.jpg",960,720,false],"ttshowcase_normal":["https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/30710870_10211699141895539_4496568718662303744_n.jpg",125,94,false],"ttshowcase_small":["https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/30710870_10211699141895539_4496568718662303744_n.jpg",75,56,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/30710870_10211699141895539_4496568718662303744_n.jpg",960,720,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/30710870_10211699141895539_4496568718662303744_n.jpg",960,720,false],"Image Size 500x500":["https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/30710870_10211699141895539_4496568718662303744_n.jpg",500,375,false],"woocommerce_thumbnail":["https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/30710870_10211699141895539_4496568718662303744_n-300x400.jpg",300,400,true],"woocommerce_single":["https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/30710870_10211699141895539_4496568718662303744_n-600x450.jpg",600,450,true],"woocommerce_gallery_thumbnail":["https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/30710870_10211699141895539_4496568718662303744_n-100x100.jpg",100,100,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Laurie Hutzler","author_link":"https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/author\/admin\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Coraline is a creepy delight to behold. The visual world of the stop-motion animated story is rich with texture, fine detail and has a wonderful handcrafted quality. The direction builds an increasingly sinister but whimsical tone. A compelling emotional journey is what is sorely lacking here.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3208","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3208"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3208\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11959"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3208"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3208"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3208"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}