Coraline

[james_davis_nicoll]

Huh. I see that in the book

SPOILERS



Coraline saves herself with cunning and pluck. In the movie, she gets saved by the boy next door, a character I do not think exists in the book.

The 3D option gave me stabbing pains in my right eye within about five minutes so we watched the 2D version.

Comments

[elegantelbow.livejournal.com]

It's true, Wybie doesn't exist in the book. The makes of the movie wanted a way for Coraline to express her thoughts without talking to herself through the whole movie -- and Gaiman approved.

Although Wybie's sacrifice of himself is key to Coraline's success in the movie, I wouldn't say that he saves her. She still has a lot on her own plate.

[james-nicoll.livejournal.com]

That's the Other Wybie.

At the end of the story, Coraline is trying to get rid of the key. In the book and the movie, she is chased by the villain's hand. In the book, she apparently tricks it into jumping into the nigh-bottomless well when she tosses the key into the well. In the movie, the hand catches up with her at the well but Wybie intervenes. There's a big fight and Wybie is the one who smashes the hand with a rock, saving Coraline.

[andrewducker]

She's also saved by the cat, the Other Father, and I think by someone else as well. I didn't see the addition of Wybie to the list as being a massive change, although I believe some people did.

[elegantelbow.livejournal.com]

*nod*

I figured it was an ensemble effort to save Coraline. Still, it is different from the book.

[raycun.livejournal.com]

Same here.

As others have said, Wybie is in the movie as someone to talk to. He's also, for most of the movie, someone who is not as smart, brave, or competent as Coraline. The fact that he helps out at the end means they can be friends on a more equal footing afterwards, which is a happier ending.

[rosefox]

He's also, for most of the movie, someone who is not as smart, brave, or competent as Coraline.

Which meant, for me, that most of the movie involved him being a completely uninteresting character, and her being obnoxious to him, which made her a much less interesting character.

[rosefox]

I see a big difference between the "parent sacrifices self for child" storyline and the "when girl is in trouble, boy appears completely out of nowhere and for no discernible reason to save her" storyline.

[andrewducker]

Interesting. I didn't see either the Other Father as a parent figure at all.

[rosefox]

My sense of it was that by sacrificing himself, he paradoxically proved his genuine suitability for parenting and longing to be a real father, as opposed to the Other Mother, who was purely psychopathic in her desire to obtain children.

[tavella.livejournal.com]

This nicely sums up why I mostly liked the ending of Veronica Mars season 1, and hated hated hated the ending of season 2.

[daev.livejournal.com]

Boys were not the only thing to appear completely out of nowhere at the end of season 2. The writers must have been wearing easy-access underwear considering how many plot elements they pulled out of their asses in the last episode.

[elegantelbow.livejournal.com]

That's the Other Wybie.

Right. I actually really liked Other Wybie much better than Wybie. I was very sad for him when he was destroyed.

There's a big fight and Wybie is the one who smashes the hand with a rock, saving Coraline.

Obviously, my memory is going. I think that ending scene has slipped my mind.

[aries-jordan.livejournal.com]

Coraline also saves Wybie in that scene when he's hanging in the well, by tackling the hand with nothing but a blanket. It was a mutual effort.