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.

[montoya.livejournal.com]

How do they do 3D on DVD, anyway? I'm assuming it's not the red/blue thing, but it's not clear what else would work.

[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.

[james-nicoll.livejournal.com]

It's blurry and hurty. You do get goggles but I didn't look through them so I can't say how they worked.

[viktor-haag.livejournal.com]

I didn't find Wybie's miraculous appearance as objectionable as is typically shown in American films with female protagonists. But, nevertheless, I found the stitching of him into the film awkward and frankly, it really put the entire story off-kilter. I found the film boring and over-long, and lacking the sense of wonder (such as it was) that existed in Gaiman's original (of which I wasn't nearly as enamoured as some of my friends who recommended it to me).

[viktor-haag.livejournal.com]

in American films with female protagonists

I should probably clarify this with "films intended for younger audiences". One of the reasons I quite like Miyazaki is that, although Studio Ghibli also has its foibles, the "young female protagonist must be rescued by boy in the end" is not necessarily one of them.

[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]

It *is* red/blue 3D, which is *not* the 3D that was available in the theaters. In theaters it was a new form of 3D that relied on special projectors not available at home.

[elegantelbow.livejournal.com]

*nod*

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

[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.

[montoya.livejournal.com]

Right, theaters do the polarized thing, which you obviously can't do with a regular TV. When I saw a commercial for Coraline, though, I thought the glasses they showed had uncoloured "lenses", which is what made me wonder.

[elegantelbow.livejournal.com]

I think the commercial was full of lies. It looks like some time in the unknown future we might get the polarized 3D at home:

http://www.cinemablend.com/dvdnews/Henry-Selick-Sheds-Light-On-Coraline-DVD-Details-16201.html

[martinl-00.livejournal.com]

Right - the new theater 3D uses circular polarization at 120 fps. Not really possible from a TV right now.

[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.

[nihilistic-kid.livejournal.com]

My review explains why Wybie was psychologically necessary.

[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.

[argonel.livejournal.com]

Could they be using LCD shutter glasses so they show left and right on alternate frames? I know that has been the most common way to do 3D displays for computer games.

[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.

[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.

[tavella.livejournal.com]

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.

Bleah. Fortunately, I'm not as fond of Gaiman as many other people are, so I don't care except as generalized irritation of Hollywood portraying girls as only useful as objects for boys to save.

[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.

[filkerdave.livejournal.com]

I can tell you really liked it!

[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.

[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.

[daveon.livejournal.com]

No, it's polarised plastic lenses, which is pretty common.

It worked ok for me, but the colour tones were all off.

[le-trombone.livejournal.com]

Mmm, it's a mutual save, as pointed out by others. If you go by the "keeping score" method of plot criticism, Coraline saves herself far more often.

Having said that, Wybie doesn't really need to make an appearance at all in that scene. Yeah, he's useful to have for narrative purposes, but how much narration is needed then? I suspect that the filmmakers wanted a character to be convinced about the reality of the Other side, and since it wasn't going to be Coraline's parents, Wybie got the nod.

Someone should have pointed out that it wasn't necessary, though.

caveat: I haven't read the book yet

[glamazonwarrior.livejournal.com]

Shakesville had an interesting discussion on the script shift.

One of the observations which I thought was particularly intriguing was that in the book Coraline sets a trap for the Other Mother via subverting feminine tropes. The tea party wasn't something that she would normally do... but it was the type of thing the Other Mother wanted her to do.

Re: caveat: I haven't read the book yet

[glamazonwarrior.livejournal.com]

And that the script shift went from victory through cleverness, to victory through brute force.

Re: caveat: I haven't read the book yet

[thomasyan.livejournal.com]

Ooh, thank you for that. I'm going to link to it; would you like me to credit you as providing the link?

Re: caveat: I haven't read the book yet

[glamazonwarrior.livejournal.com]

Sure; I'm glad you found it helpful.