Coraline Review

Coraline, an animated children's movie based on a book written by Neil Gaiman, was directed by screenwriter, HenrySelick. The main character, Coraline, who is played by Dakota Fanning, was a 13 year old only child who felt neglected by her parents, played by Teri Hatcher and John Hodgman, after moving into their new home in The Pink Palace. The Pink Palace sounded grand but was not very colorful or fun at all. At least not until Coraline passed through the door to another dimension.

 

After moving into her new home, Coraline explores the house and comes accross a door sealed behind the wall paper. She has her mother find the key and finds out that it has been bricked up, or so she thinks. That night, she gets led back to the door and now finds it to be a magic portal to another world; one that looked almost identical to her hown except brighter and better. She meets her "other" parents who are exciting and loving at first, but later on seem a little off. It became apparent that the "other mother" was running the show and had control over everyone in this mysterious world. She was able to control them by sewing buttons on their eyes. Everyone had button eyes, except Coraline, but the "other mother" was determined to change that. After traveling back and forth between the two worlds a few times, she becomes confused and doesn’t know which world is better. The "other mother" traps Coraline's real parents in order to lure Coraline back over. Anticipating a tough fight, Coraline puts her game face on and enters into the other dimension for what she hopes to be her last visit.

 

Coraline was made in stop-animation, taking over 18 months to complete. Each set, character, item of clothing, and facial expression was handmade on a miniature scale and captured frame by frame. It took about 24 frames to make just one second of film. That means 24 little changes to the picture, done by hand. The character dolls were made out of a mechanical skeleton and covered in modeling silicon, both making the characters easy to move. Hundreds of faces were made for each character to snap onto their skeleton heads. Clothing and hair had to be made with wire in order to move them in every frame. This movie was certainly made by dedicated artists who probably had no lives for a year and a half.

 

On top of the handmade models and sets, there were more special effects that had to be added. Things like rolling fog and growing plants had to be done partially on the computer as well. The fog was actually dry ice being poured over the set and captured on film so that later, the "fog crew" could piece the fog together on the computer to make it move around the characters. The growing, vibrant flowers were also a challenge. They used fiber optics and paper flowers to put together a shot in the garden scene of the growing flowers popping out of the ground. In conclusion, more than just modeling artists were needed; light and computer nerds were needed too.

 

Overall, this movie was definitely one to watch and appreciate after seeing the finished project. Between the imagination of the writers and the talent of the filmmakers, Coraline was interesting and awe inspiring. I may not recommend it for young kids, but it will be one to watch later on.

 

Everybody's New Favorite

X Factor made its’ return to the United States on Fox with a huge two night season premier. After a few major changes to the judging panel and no host to open the show, producer, Simon Cowell, and director, Brian Friedman, managed to pull off two nights of entertainment. The previous host, Steve Jones was fired along with judges, Paula Abdual and Nicole Scherzinger. The host has yet to be replaced, but the new judges, singer and Disney Channel star, Demi Lovato, and infamous pop star, Britney Spears, now sit alongside returning judges, music producer, L.A. Reid, and producer Simon Cowell. Cowell brought this singing competition over from the United Kingdom where it started. It had a great first season here in the U.S., critiqued on almost every review and entertainment network, such as E! News, USA Today, and even YouTube. Many people enjoy this show; it may have even become my own favorite over American Idol.

The first show started out with a big focus on welcoming the new judges, especially Britney Spears. The first city was Austin, Texas where they found working mom, Paige Thomas and her 3 year old daughter. Paige showed good promise but won the judges over with her look and her adorable daughter. Being the first of the day to get four yes’s, she set the bar high for the rest of the contestants. The next city, San Francisco, California, started out with the boys of Emblem3 who wanted to make sure everyone knew they were not a boy band! They blew the judges (and me) away with their original song, “Sunset Blvd,” and maturity on stage. Who knew a few skater kids from Hunington Beach could pack so much talent? However, my favorite audition may have been at the end of the show in Providence, Rohde Island. Jillian Jensen, a 19 year old (the same age as Demi Lovato) who had been bullied in school (also similar to Demi), broke everyone’s heart when she sang on the X Factor stage, shoving her talent in all of her bullies’ faces; she also won everyone’s vote.

The second night of the premier took place in San Francisco with a 16 year old rapper/singer, Johnny Maxwell, who impressed the judges with his original song, “All These People.” Simon pointed out that he was a much better rapper than singer, but agreed with L.A. Reid that the song was already a hit. The show was filled with drama including crazy Britney fans like one who brought her flowers. However, the show ended with one of the best performances so far. 13 year old, Carly Rose Sonenclar stole the show with her amazing voice, old soul, and stage presence that was beyond her age. She brought tears to my eyes by the end of the performance and was one that everyone will remember. A great way to close the show, and season premier.

This season promises to be full of good talent, which makes the judges’ job very hard. It’s amazing that the X Factor can still find so many good singers in a country with as many talent competitions as we have. Great entertainment means a lot of viewers; viewers like me who traded their previous favorite show for this show: X Factor.