MonkeyFunk
Kids and grown-ups love me so
[[Image:Coraline.jpg|right|''Coraline'']]
'''''Coraline''''' is a 2009 [[stop-motion]] feature film directed by [[Henry Selick]] for [[Laika]]. It was based on the novel by [[Neil Gaiman]].
==Plot==
Coraline has just moved house, and is an unhappy girl. Her parents are too busy to spend time with her, her new house is boring, her new neighbours are off in their own little worlds (and insist on calling her "Caroline") and so far the only kid she's met seems to be some kind of stalker.
But then she makes two bizarre discoveries: one is a doll that looks like herself, the other is a tiny doorway in her house that leads to a fantastic new world. It is inhabited by versions of her family and neighbours: all of them have buttons for eyes, like the doll; and all of them are ready to tend to her every beck and call.
But is the new world as perfect as it seems?
==Characters==
: '''Coraline Jones''' ([[Dakota Fanning]]) is a spunky but somewhat self-centred eleven-year-old girl who is bored, lonely and impatient with her new surroundings. She is tired of not being taken seriously by adults, and gets annoyed when people call her "Caroline".
: '''Mel Jones''' ([[Teri Hatcher]]), Coraline's mother, is so busy working on a garden catalogue that she doesn't even have time to cook - that job falls to the questionable skills of her husband. The '''other mother''' (also identified as '''the beldam'''), on the other hand, is a boundlessly enthusiastic woman capable of cooking vast, sumptuous banquets.
: '''Charlie Jones''' ([[John Hodgman]]), Coraline's father, is a writer with little time to spend with his daughter; he refers to his wife as "the boss". The '''other father''' is a brilliant piano-player (or is the piano playing him?) and singer, who cultivates a beautiful garden for Coraline.
: '''Wybourne Lovat''' ([[Robert Bailey, Jr.]]) - or '''Wybie''', although Coraline refers to him as Why-were-you-born? - is the somewhat nerdish grandson of Coraline's landlady; he is into gadgets, owning a skull mask with a comple system of lenses and a motorised bicycle. He was not in the original novel.[http://nycmoviegguru.com/henryselick.html] Coraline sees him as a "jerk wad" and a stalker; the '''other Wybie''' is preferable, as he can't talk!
: '''Mr. Sergei Alexander Bobinsky''' ([[Ian McShane]]), one of Coraline's new neighbours, is a paunchy, disheveled and quite possibly drunken Russian acrobat who claims to be training mice for a circus show; in the book his name is Mr. Bobo. He wears a "hero of Chernobyl" medal and has blue skin. The '''other Bobinsky''' is a snappily-dressed circus star who puts his leaping mice through a meticulous performance.
: '''Miss Spink''' and '''Miss Forcible''' ([[Jennifer Saunders]] and [[Dawn French]]) are a pair of retired, overweight actresses who live near Coraline's new house. They share a fondness for antique toffee, Scottie dogs (they even stuff their dead ones) and the occult. The '''other Spink''' and '''other Forcible''' put on an elaborate stage show for Coraline, during which they become young, slim acrobats by unzipping their old bodies and stepping out.
: The '''cat''' ([[Keith David]]) is a feral black cat who appears in both worlds. In the real world he follows Wybie around (Wybie claims that he is feral); in the other world he can talk and alerts Coraline to the dangers she faces.
: '''Mrs. Lovat''' ([[Carolyn Crawford]]), Wybie's grandmother, is the owner of Coraline's new home. As a child she lived there herself, and it was where her twin sister went missing.
==Notable staff==
{| width="100%"
|-valign="top"
| '''Director'''<br>[[Henry Selick]]
'''Producers'''<br>[[Claire Jennings]]<br>[[Bill Mechanic]]
'''Writer'''<br>[[Henry Selick]]
'''Screenplay'''<br>[[Jonathan Aibel]]<br>[[Glenn Berger]]
|'''Lead animators'''<br>[[Travis Knight]]<br>[[Trey Thomas]]<br>[[Eric Leighton]]<br>[[Phil Dale]]
'''Art directors'''<br>[[Bo Henry]]<br>[[Tom Proost]]<br>[[Phil Brotherton]]
|'''Storyboard supervisor'''<br>[[Chris Butler]]
'''Special effects supervisor'''<br>[[Brian Van't Hul]]<br>
'''Music'''<br>[[Bruno Coulais]]<br>[[They Might Be Giants]]
'''Director of photography'''<br>[[Pete Kozachik]]<br>
|'''Editing'''<br>[[Christopher Murrie]]<br>[[Ronald Sanders]]
'''Head of layout'''<br>[[Yong Duk Jhun]]<br>
|}
==Production history==
The film's crew reached 450 people at the peak of production, including thirty-five animators[http://www.portlandmonthlymag.com/issues/current-issue/articles/0209-knights/?print=1] and more than 250 technicians and designers [http://wweek.com/editorial/3513/12165/]. The crew members' tasks could get extremely intricate - Althea Crome's contribution to the film was knitting the characters' clothes, reportedly using needles as thin as human hairs[http://www.portlandmonthlymag.com/issues/current-issue/articles/0209-knights/?print=1].
The entire film was animated in the 140,000-square-foot Hillsboro warehouse that Laika uses as a studio,[http://www.portlandmonthlymag.com/issues/current-issue/articles/0209-knights/?print=1] which is divided into around fifty units[http://photos.latimes.com/backlot/gallery/coraline/2008/9/15/Coraline_facility] that, in turn, housed nearly 150 sets.[http://www.portlandmonthlymag.com/issues/current-issue/articles/0209-knights/?print=1] The film's lead sculptor, [[Robb Kramer]], overlooked the designs of such sets as a forty-two-foot orchard, three 19th-century mansions and a replica of Ashland (right down to miniature banners announcing the Shakespeare Festival).[http://wweek.com/editorial/3513/12165/] The film made use of 2D printing systems from Objet Geometries.[http://www.objet.com/News_Events/News/News_2008/Objet_Geometries_3D_Printers_Play_Starring_Role_/]
A number of the film's animators were from [[Walt Disney Animation Studios|Disney]] or [[DreamWorks Animation|DreamWorks]], or from abroad.[http://www.portlandmonthlymag.com/issues/current-issue/articles/0209-knights/?print=1] When production ended they moved on to stop-motion productions at other studios, such as ''[[Fantastic Mr. Fox]]'' and ''[[Frankenweenie]]''. "A lot of the animators were British," said sculptor Robb Kramer. "Their visa ran out, they left, and that?s that. Hopefully, we?ll get everybody back."[http://wweek.com/editorial/3513/12165/]
The band They Might Be Giants was hired to record the film's soundtrack, but as a result of creative differences only one song by thr group made it into the final cut;[http://theplaylist.blogspot.com/2009/01/they-might-be-gaints-cut-out-of.html] it was sung by the Other Father, with band member John Linnell serving as the character's singing voice.[http://www.shocktillyoudrop.com/news/topnews.php?id=7712] The rest of the score was composed by Bruno Coulais, with nonsense-language vocals by the Children's Choir of Nice.[http://www.moviemusicuk.us/coralinecd.htm]
==Release==
The film was distributed by [[Focus Features]], and its first teaser trailer premiered at the 2007 San Diego Comic-Con.[http://efilmcritic.com/review.php?movie=17039&reviewer=402]
''Coraline'' was released on standard-def DVD (both single-disc and two-disc collector's edition) and Blu-ray in the USA on July 21 2009. All editions contained both the 2D and 3D versions of the film, along with four pairs of 3D glasses.[https://www.toonzone.net/news/articles/29941/coraline-coming-to-dvd-and-blu-ray-on-july-21-2009] This was not the case in certain countries - the British single-disc edition (released on October 12 2009) was 2D-only[http://www.femalefirst.co.uk/shopping/store/1-573406-B002DUCIDC-Coraline_2D_Version_Only_DVD_2009.html], although the 2-disc edition and Blu-ray contained the 3D version.[http://www.femalefirst.co.uk/shopping/store/1-573406-B001M5U98U-Coraline_2_Disc_Limited_Edition_Includes_the_2D_and_3D_Version_and_4_Pairs_of_3D_Glasses_DVD_2009.html][http://www.femalefirst.co.uk/shopping/store/1-573406-B002DUCIPU-Coraline_Includes_the_2D_and_3D_Version_and_4_Pairs_of_3D_Glasses_Bluray_2009.html]
==Reception==
''Coraline'' was well-received by critics, earning an 89% "fresh" score at Rotten Tomatoes[http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/coraline/] and 80 out of 100 at Metacritic[http://www.metacritic.com/film/titles/coraline/]. Carrie Rickey of the ''Philadelphia Inquirer'' called the film "[t]he ''Wizard of Oz'' of stop-motion... Is it premature to assign it classic status?" [http://www.philly.com/inquirer/columnists/carrie_rickey/20090206_The_dream_parents__A_scary_notion_indeed.html]; A.O. Scott of the ''New York Times'' said that the film "has a slower pace and a more contemplative tone than the novel. It is certainly exciting, but rather than race through ever noisier set pieces toward a hectic climax in the manner of so much animation aimed at kids, 'Coraline' lingers in an atmosphere that is creepy, wonderfully strange and full of feeling."[http://movies.nytimes.com/2009/02/06/movies/06cora.html]
David Edelstein of ''New York Magazine'', meanwhile, observed that "[t]he film adaptation of a book can be nearly perfect on its own terms and yet subtly off, as in Henry Selick?s exquisite, entrancing, very occasionally enervating movie of Neil Gaiman?s ''Coraline''... I could have done with a touch less entrancement and a touch more ? story."[http://nymag.com/movies/reviews/53785/] Chris Tookey of the ''Daily Mail'' described the film as "a latter-day Alice In Wonderland without having Lewis Carroll's playfulness or wit. It lacks narrative drive, psychological depth and, most of all, warmth. This is a 'family' movie that offers an extremely dark view of human nature without providing much to relieve it."[http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1178478/Coraline-Pushing-wrong-buttons.html]
Michael Karounos, writing for Christian Spotlight on Entertainment, was extremely critical of both the film and the Neil Gaiman novel on which it was based, accusing the film of being sexist ("In every relationship in the movie, the female character abuses the male"; "[Selick] portrays a naked Miss Forcible as a strip dancer wearing a sequined thong and stripper's pasties on impossibly huge breasts... It is a deeply misogynistic image") and claiming that the story takes place in "a moral universe in which the family or community are subservient to the demands of a tyrannical individual". "Coraline comes across as a spoiled child to a Christian audience", he argues. "It is an atheistic view of family in which moral authority begins with the child, flows through the mother, and ends at the father: a conscious inversion of a Christian family model."[http://christiananswers.net/spotlight/movies/2009/coraline2009.html] Gaiman, commenting on Karounos's review, called it 'the kind of review that makes you suspect the reviewer is reviewing the inside of his own head".[http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2009/03/pen-and-such-miscellanea.html] An article by Fritz Spencer of Magic City Morning Star compared ''Coraline'' negatively to a Brothers Grimm story, calling the film "a children's movie which Christians should have boycotted... [t]he images are disturbing enough to do permanent damage to a young soul". He concludes that "Those who made 'Coraline' are also likely to endorse the evils of abortion and homosexual marriage, and given a chance, could easily change America into a Soviet-style hell on earth."
[http://www.magic-city-news.com/Old_Embers/Two_Stories_for_Children12574.shtml] Gaiman has described Spencer's article as "wonderfully slimy".[http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2009/11/revealed-rulers-of-darkness-of-this.html]
Commercially, the film had been identified as a risk: "Laika is banking on the box-office success of an eccentric, expensive movie in a perilous market", commented journalist Aaron Mesh.[http://wweek.com/editorial/3513/12165/] Film business analyst Paul Dergarabedian argued that ''Coraline'' didn't need to be as big a box office hit as ''[[WALL-E]]'' to be considered a success; instead, it merely needed to reach the level of ''[[Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit]]'', which grossed $16 million in its opening weekend and went on to pull in more than $192 million worldwide. "This is a very difficult film to track, because it?s not your typical family film," said Dergarabedian. "If they open at close to $10 million, I think they should be really pleased with that result."[http://wweek.com/editorial/3513/12165/]
''Coraline'' in fact overachieved, grossing $16.3 million in its opening weeken, when it came in at #3.[http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3ib2336cb7507211a2e4389b8078d6194b] It went on to gross $15 million in its second weekend, with its US total reaching $35.6 million.[http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKN0142109420090215] ''Coraline'' earned a total domestic gross of $75,286,229 and a worldwide gross of $121,916,524[http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?page=main&id=coraline.htm].
The DVD was welcomed with first week sales of 1,036,845 units and a revenue of of over $19 million. In total, it has sold over 2,400,00 units and pulled in a revnue of over $43,000,000.[http://www.the-numbers.com/movies/2009/CORLN-DVD.php]
====Awards====
At the time of writing the film is in the running for the Online Film Critics Society award for Best Animated Feature[http://www.filmmisery.com/?p=2276].
The film was nominated in the category for Best Animated Feature (or equivalent) at the [[Academy Award for Best Animated Feature|Oscars]],[http://www.oregonlive.com/business/index.ssf/2010/02/coralines_oscar_nomination_is.html][http://www.upi.com/Entertainment_News/Movies/2010/03/07/Waltz-Up-win-early-Oscars/UPI-28231268013968/], the [[BAFTA Award for Best Animated Film|BAFTA Awards]],[http://www.awn.com/news/acting/mr-fox-coraline-land-bafta-nods]Golden Globes,[http://www.goldenglobes.org/nominations/] the Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards,[http://www.bfca.org/ccawards/2009.php] the Chicago Film Critics Awards,[http://www.chicagofilmcritics.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=62&Itemid=60] the St. Louis Film Critics Awards,[http://www.altfg.com/blog/awards/st-louis-film-critics-awards-2009-948/] the Washington, D.C. Area Film Critics Association Awards[http://www.dcfilmcritics.com/awards/] and the Producers Guild of America Producer of the Year Award in Animated Theatrical Motion Pictures[http://www.filmschoolrejects.com/news/producers-guild-chooses-hurt-locker-up-colea.php] but lost to [[Pixar]]'s ''[[Up]]'' in each case.
''Coraline'' was nominated in four categories at the Visual Effects Society Awards: Outstanding Animation in an Animated Feature Motion Picture, Outstanding Animated Character in an Animated Feature Motion Picture, Outstanding Effects Animation in an Animated Feature Motion Picture and Outstanding Models and Miniatures in a Feature Motion Picture. It did not win any of these awards.[http://www.visualeffectssociety.com/group/ves-member/ves-announces-nominees-8th-annual-ves-awards]
[[Martin Meunier]] and [[Brian McLean]] were given a special achievement award by the [[Annie Awards]] for their Rapid Prototyping (RP) advances. ''Coraline'' also received Annies for Best Music in a Feature Production ([[Bruno Coulais]]), Best Character Design in a Feature Production ([[Shane Prigmore]]; [[Shannon Tindle]]) and Best Production Design in a Feature Production ([[Christopher Appelhans]]; [[Tadahiro Uesugi]]).[http://www.cartoonbrew.com/37th-annual-annie-award-recipients]. In addition, it was nominated for Best Animated Feature, Best Directing in a Feature Production (Henry Selick), Best Voice Acting in a Feature Production (Dawn French), Best Character Animation in a Feature Production ([[Travis Knight]]) and Best Storyboarding in a Feature Production ([[Chris Butler]]).[http://www.filminfocus.com/article/focus_features_awards_and_nomination]
It received an AFI Award for being named one of the ten best films of the year by the American Film Institute.
[http://www.filminfocus.com/article/focus_features_awards_and_nomination], was named Best Animated Feature by the San Francisco Film Critics Circle,[http://sffcc.org/2009awards.html] won the Children's BAFTA Award for Best Feature Film[http://www.bafta.org/awards/childrens/awards-2009,879,BA.html] and was one of two films to win the 2009 Annecy Cristal Award for Best Feature (the other being ''[[Mary and Max]]'').[http://www.variety.com/index.asp?layout=awardcentral&jump=news&articleid=VR1118004935&cs=1] It also won the People's Choice Award for Favourite Animate 3D Movie of 2009[http://www.peopleschoice.com/pca/influence/Animated3D/], and was nominated the Motion Picture Sound Editors award for Best Sound Editing: Sound Effects, Foley, Music, Dialogue and ADR Animation in a Feature Film, losing to ''Up''.[http://www.mpse.org/goldenreels/2010awards/2010featurenominees.html]
The Cinema Audio Society presented Lifetime Achievement Awards to Henry Selick and sound designer/re-recording mixer [[Randy Thom]].[http://www.filminfocus.com/article/focus_features_awards_and_nomination]
The Alliance of Woman Film Journalists nominated the feature for Best Animated Film[http://awfj.org/eda-awards/2009-eda-awards-nominees/] (it lost to ''Up'') and named the film's title character as Best Animated Female.[http://awfj.org/eda-awards/2009-eda-award-winners/]
==Tie-ins==
A soundtrack album was released by KOCH Records on January 24 2009 with a digital release following on February 3. It contained tracks by Bruno Coulais, along with "Other Father Song", the one remaining They Might Be Giants piece to make it into the film (see '''production history''', above).
[http://soundtrackgeek.com/2009/01/27/coraline-soundtrack-by-bruno-coulais-revealed/]
The film's release was promoted with a website[http://www.coraline.com] that featured contained interactive features.[http://www.sarahdope.com/wordpress/2008/12/18/the-full-site-for-coraline-is-up-now/] It won two Webby Awards for Best Use of Animation or Motion Graphics one from the Webby organisation and the other a People's Voice pick.[http://www.webbyawards.com/webbys/current.php?season=13]
A video game version of the film was released on PlayStation2, Wii and Nintendo DS.[http://www.focusfeatures.com/focusfeatures/film/coraline/games] The PlayStation 2 and Wii versions were developed by Papaya Studios; the DS edition by ART Co. All three were published by D3 Publisher and released on January 27 2009.[http://uk.wii.gamespy.com/wii/coraline/][http://uk.ps2.gamespy.com/playstation-2/coraline/][http://uk.ds.gamespy.com/nintendo-ds/coraline/]
[[Category:2000s animated features]]
'''''Coraline''''' is a 2009 [[stop-motion]] feature film directed by [[Henry Selick]] for [[Laika]]. It was based on the novel by [[Neil Gaiman]].
==Plot==
Coraline has just moved house, and is an unhappy girl. Her parents are too busy to spend time with her, her new house is boring, her new neighbours are off in their own little worlds (and insist on calling her "Caroline") and so far the only kid she's met seems to be some kind of stalker.
But then she makes two bizarre discoveries: one is a doll that looks like herself, the other is a tiny doorway in her house that leads to a fantastic new world. It is inhabited by versions of her family and neighbours: all of them have buttons for eyes, like the doll; and all of them are ready to tend to her every beck and call.
But is the new world as perfect as it seems?
==Characters==
: '''Coraline Jones''' ([[Dakota Fanning]]) is a spunky but somewhat self-centred eleven-year-old girl who is bored, lonely and impatient with her new surroundings. She is tired of not being taken seriously by adults, and gets annoyed when people call her "Caroline".
: '''Mel Jones''' ([[Teri Hatcher]]), Coraline's mother, is so busy working on a garden catalogue that she doesn't even have time to cook - that job falls to the questionable skills of her husband. The '''other mother''' (also identified as '''the beldam'''), on the other hand, is a boundlessly enthusiastic woman capable of cooking vast, sumptuous banquets.
: '''Charlie Jones''' ([[John Hodgman]]), Coraline's father, is a writer with little time to spend with his daughter; he refers to his wife as "the boss". The '''other father''' is a brilliant piano-player (or is the piano playing him?) and singer, who cultivates a beautiful garden for Coraline.
: '''Wybourne Lovat''' ([[Robert Bailey, Jr.]]) - or '''Wybie''', although Coraline refers to him as Why-were-you-born? - is the somewhat nerdish grandson of Coraline's landlady; he is into gadgets, owning a skull mask with a comple system of lenses and a motorised bicycle. He was not in the original novel.[http://nycmoviegguru.com/henryselick.html] Coraline sees him as a "jerk wad" and a stalker; the '''other Wybie''' is preferable, as he can't talk!
: '''Mr. Sergei Alexander Bobinsky''' ([[Ian McShane]]), one of Coraline's new neighbours, is a paunchy, disheveled and quite possibly drunken Russian acrobat who claims to be training mice for a circus show; in the book his name is Mr. Bobo. He wears a "hero of Chernobyl" medal and has blue skin. The '''other Bobinsky''' is a snappily-dressed circus star who puts his leaping mice through a meticulous performance.
: '''Miss Spink''' and '''Miss Forcible''' ([[Jennifer Saunders]] and [[Dawn French]]) are a pair of retired, overweight actresses who live near Coraline's new house. They share a fondness for antique toffee, Scottie dogs (they even stuff their dead ones) and the occult. The '''other Spink''' and '''other Forcible''' put on an elaborate stage show for Coraline, during which they become young, slim acrobats by unzipping their old bodies and stepping out.
: The '''cat''' ([[Keith David]]) is a feral black cat who appears in both worlds. In the real world he follows Wybie around (Wybie claims that he is feral); in the other world he can talk and alerts Coraline to the dangers she faces.
: '''Mrs. Lovat''' ([[Carolyn Crawford]]), Wybie's grandmother, is the owner of Coraline's new home. As a child she lived there herself, and it was where her twin sister went missing.
==Notable staff==
{| width="100%"
|-valign="top"
| '''Director'''<br>[[Henry Selick]]
'''Producers'''<br>[[Claire Jennings]]<br>[[Bill Mechanic]]
'''Writer'''<br>[[Henry Selick]]
'''Screenplay'''<br>[[Jonathan Aibel]]<br>[[Glenn Berger]]
|'''Lead animators'''<br>[[Travis Knight]]<br>[[Trey Thomas]]<br>[[Eric Leighton]]<br>[[Phil Dale]]
'''Art directors'''<br>[[Bo Henry]]<br>[[Tom Proost]]<br>[[Phil Brotherton]]
|'''Storyboard supervisor'''<br>[[Chris Butler]]
'''Special effects supervisor'''<br>[[Brian Van't Hul]]<br>
'''Music'''<br>[[Bruno Coulais]]<br>[[They Might Be Giants]]
'''Director of photography'''<br>[[Pete Kozachik]]<br>
|'''Editing'''<br>[[Christopher Murrie]]<br>[[Ronald Sanders]]
'''Head of layout'''<br>[[Yong Duk Jhun]]<br>
|}
==Production history==
The film's crew reached 450 people at the peak of production, including thirty-five animators[http://www.portlandmonthlymag.com/issues/current-issue/articles/0209-knights/?print=1] and more than 250 technicians and designers [http://wweek.com/editorial/3513/12165/]. The crew members' tasks could get extremely intricate - Althea Crome's contribution to the film was knitting the characters' clothes, reportedly using needles as thin as human hairs[http://www.portlandmonthlymag.com/issues/current-issue/articles/0209-knights/?print=1].
The entire film was animated in the 140,000-square-foot Hillsboro warehouse that Laika uses as a studio,[http://www.portlandmonthlymag.com/issues/current-issue/articles/0209-knights/?print=1] which is divided into around fifty units[http://photos.latimes.com/backlot/gallery/coraline/2008/9/15/Coraline_facility] that, in turn, housed nearly 150 sets.[http://www.portlandmonthlymag.com/issues/current-issue/articles/0209-knights/?print=1] The film's lead sculptor, [[Robb Kramer]], overlooked the designs of such sets as a forty-two-foot orchard, three 19th-century mansions and a replica of Ashland (right down to miniature banners announcing the Shakespeare Festival).[http://wweek.com/editorial/3513/12165/] The film made use of 2D printing systems from Objet Geometries.[http://www.objet.com/News_Events/News/News_2008/Objet_Geometries_3D_Printers_Play_Starring_Role_/]
A number of the film's animators were from [[Walt Disney Animation Studios|Disney]] or [[DreamWorks Animation|DreamWorks]], or from abroad.[http://www.portlandmonthlymag.com/issues/current-issue/articles/0209-knights/?print=1] When production ended they moved on to stop-motion productions at other studios, such as ''[[Fantastic Mr. Fox]]'' and ''[[Frankenweenie]]''. "A lot of the animators were British," said sculptor Robb Kramer. "Their visa ran out, they left, and that?s that. Hopefully, we?ll get everybody back."[http://wweek.com/editorial/3513/12165/]
The band They Might Be Giants was hired to record the film's soundtrack, but as a result of creative differences only one song by thr group made it into the final cut;[http://theplaylist.blogspot.com/2009/01/they-might-be-gaints-cut-out-of.html] it was sung by the Other Father, with band member John Linnell serving as the character's singing voice.[http://www.shocktillyoudrop.com/news/topnews.php?id=7712] The rest of the score was composed by Bruno Coulais, with nonsense-language vocals by the Children's Choir of Nice.[http://www.moviemusicuk.us/coralinecd.htm]
==Release==
The film was distributed by [[Focus Features]], and its first teaser trailer premiered at the 2007 San Diego Comic-Con.[http://efilmcritic.com/review.php?movie=17039&reviewer=402]
''Coraline'' was released on standard-def DVD (both single-disc and two-disc collector's edition) and Blu-ray in the USA on July 21 2009. All editions contained both the 2D and 3D versions of the film, along with four pairs of 3D glasses.[https://www.toonzone.net/news/articles/29941/coraline-coming-to-dvd-and-blu-ray-on-july-21-2009] This was not the case in certain countries - the British single-disc edition (released on October 12 2009) was 2D-only[http://www.femalefirst.co.uk/shopping/store/1-573406-B002DUCIDC-Coraline_2D_Version_Only_DVD_2009.html], although the 2-disc edition and Blu-ray contained the 3D version.[http://www.femalefirst.co.uk/shopping/store/1-573406-B001M5U98U-Coraline_2_Disc_Limited_Edition_Includes_the_2D_and_3D_Version_and_4_Pairs_of_3D_Glasses_DVD_2009.html][http://www.femalefirst.co.uk/shopping/store/1-573406-B002DUCIPU-Coraline_Includes_the_2D_and_3D_Version_and_4_Pairs_of_3D_Glasses_Bluray_2009.html]
==Reception==
''Coraline'' was well-received by critics, earning an 89% "fresh" score at Rotten Tomatoes[http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/coraline/] and 80 out of 100 at Metacritic[http://www.metacritic.com/film/titles/coraline/]. Carrie Rickey of the ''Philadelphia Inquirer'' called the film "[t]he ''Wizard of Oz'' of stop-motion... Is it premature to assign it classic status?" [http://www.philly.com/inquirer/columnists/carrie_rickey/20090206_The_dream_parents__A_scary_notion_indeed.html]; A.O. Scott of the ''New York Times'' said that the film "has a slower pace and a more contemplative tone than the novel. It is certainly exciting, but rather than race through ever noisier set pieces toward a hectic climax in the manner of so much animation aimed at kids, 'Coraline' lingers in an atmosphere that is creepy, wonderfully strange and full of feeling."[http://movies.nytimes.com/2009/02/06/movies/06cora.html]
David Edelstein of ''New York Magazine'', meanwhile, observed that "[t]he film adaptation of a book can be nearly perfect on its own terms and yet subtly off, as in Henry Selick?s exquisite, entrancing, very occasionally enervating movie of Neil Gaiman?s ''Coraline''... I could have done with a touch less entrancement and a touch more ? story."[http://nymag.com/movies/reviews/53785/] Chris Tookey of the ''Daily Mail'' described the film as "a latter-day Alice In Wonderland without having Lewis Carroll's playfulness or wit. It lacks narrative drive, psychological depth and, most of all, warmth. This is a 'family' movie that offers an extremely dark view of human nature without providing much to relieve it."[http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1178478/Coraline-Pushing-wrong-buttons.html]
Michael Karounos, writing for Christian Spotlight on Entertainment, was extremely critical of both the film and the Neil Gaiman novel on which it was based, accusing the film of being sexist ("In every relationship in the movie, the female character abuses the male"; "[Selick] portrays a naked Miss Forcible as a strip dancer wearing a sequined thong and stripper's pasties on impossibly huge breasts... It is a deeply misogynistic image") and claiming that the story takes place in "a moral universe in which the family or community are subservient to the demands of a tyrannical individual". "Coraline comes across as a spoiled child to a Christian audience", he argues. "It is an atheistic view of family in which moral authority begins with the child, flows through the mother, and ends at the father: a conscious inversion of a Christian family model."[http://christiananswers.net/spotlight/movies/2009/coraline2009.html] Gaiman, commenting on Karounos's review, called it 'the kind of review that makes you suspect the reviewer is reviewing the inside of his own head".[http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2009/03/pen-and-such-miscellanea.html] An article by Fritz Spencer of Magic City Morning Star compared ''Coraline'' negatively to a Brothers Grimm story, calling the film "a children's movie which Christians should have boycotted... [t]he images are disturbing enough to do permanent damage to a young soul". He concludes that "Those who made 'Coraline' are also likely to endorse the evils of abortion and homosexual marriage, and given a chance, could easily change America into a Soviet-style hell on earth."
[http://www.magic-city-news.com/Old_Embers/Two_Stories_for_Children12574.shtml] Gaiman has described Spencer's article as "wonderfully slimy".[http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2009/11/revealed-rulers-of-darkness-of-this.html]
Commercially, the film had been identified as a risk: "Laika is banking on the box-office success of an eccentric, expensive movie in a perilous market", commented journalist Aaron Mesh.[http://wweek.com/editorial/3513/12165/] Film business analyst Paul Dergarabedian argued that ''Coraline'' didn't need to be as big a box office hit as ''[[WALL-E]]'' to be considered a success; instead, it merely needed to reach the level of ''[[Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit]]'', which grossed $16 million in its opening weekend and went on to pull in more than $192 million worldwide. "This is a very difficult film to track, because it?s not your typical family film," said Dergarabedian. "If they open at close to $10 million, I think they should be really pleased with that result."[http://wweek.com/editorial/3513/12165/]
''Coraline'' in fact overachieved, grossing $16.3 million in its opening weeken, when it came in at #3.[http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3ib2336cb7507211a2e4389b8078d6194b] It went on to gross $15 million in its second weekend, with its US total reaching $35.6 million.[http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKN0142109420090215] ''Coraline'' earned a total domestic gross of $75,286,229 and a worldwide gross of $121,916,524[http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?page=main&id=coraline.htm].
The DVD was welcomed with first week sales of 1,036,845 units and a revenue of of over $19 million. In total, it has sold over 2,400,00 units and pulled in a revnue of over $43,000,000.[http://www.the-numbers.com/movies/2009/CORLN-DVD.php]
====Awards====
At the time of writing the film is in the running for the Online Film Critics Society award for Best Animated Feature[http://www.filmmisery.com/?p=2276].
The film was nominated in the category for Best Animated Feature (or equivalent) at the [[Academy Award for Best Animated Feature|Oscars]],[http://www.oregonlive.com/business/index.ssf/2010/02/coralines_oscar_nomination_is.html][http://www.upi.com/Entertainment_News/Movies/2010/03/07/Waltz-Up-win-early-Oscars/UPI-28231268013968/], the [[BAFTA Award for Best Animated Film|BAFTA Awards]],[http://www.awn.com/news/acting/mr-fox-coraline-land-bafta-nods]Golden Globes,[http://www.goldenglobes.org/nominations/] the Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards,[http://www.bfca.org/ccawards/2009.php] the Chicago Film Critics Awards,[http://www.chicagofilmcritics.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=62&Itemid=60] the St. Louis Film Critics Awards,[http://www.altfg.com/blog/awards/st-louis-film-critics-awards-2009-948/] the Washington, D.C. Area Film Critics Association Awards[http://www.dcfilmcritics.com/awards/] and the Producers Guild of America Producer of the Year Award in Animated Theatrical Motion Pictures[http://www.filmschoolrejects.com/news/producers-guild-chooses-hurt-locker-up-colea.php] but lost to [[Pixar]]'s ''[[Up]]'' in each case.
''Coraline'' was nominated in four categories at the Visual Effects Society Awards: Outstanding Animation in an Animated Feature Motion Picture, Outstanding Animated Character in an Animated Feature Motion Picture, Outstanding Effects Animation in an Animated Feature Motion Picture and Outstanding Models and Miniatures in a Feature Motion Picture. It did not win any of these awards.[http://www.visualeffectssociety.com/group/ves-member/ves-announces-nominees-8th-annual-ves-awards]
[[Martin Meunier]] and [[Brian McLean]] were given a special achievement award by the [[Annie Awards]] for their Rapid Prototyping (RP) advances. ''Coraline'' also received Annies for Best Music in a Feature Production ([[Bruno Coulais]]), Best Character Design in a Feature Production ([[Shane Prigmore]]; [[Shannon Tindle]]) and Best Production Design in a Feature Production ([[Christopher Appelhans]]; [[Tadahiro Uesugi]]).[http://www.cartoonbrew.com/37th-annual-annie-award-recipients]. In addition, it was nominated for Best Animated Feature, Best Directing in a Feature Production (Henry Selick), Best Voice Acting in a Feature Production (Dawn French), Best Character Animation in a Feature Production ([[Travis Knight]]) and Best Storyboarding in a Feature Production ([[Chris Butler]]).[http://www.filminfocus.com/article/focus_features_awards_and_nomination]
It received an AFI Award for being named one of the ten best films of the year by the American Film Institute.
[http://www.filminfocus.com/article/focus_features_awards_and_nomination], was named Best Animated Feature by the San Francisco Film Critics Circle,[http://sffcc.org/2009awards.html] won the Children's BAFTA Award for Best Feature Film[http://www.bafta.org/awards/childrens/awards-2009,879,BA.html] and was one of two films to win the 2009 Annecy Cristal Award for Best Feature (the other being ''[[Mary and Max]]'').[http://www.variety.com/index.asp?layout=awardcentral&jump=news&articleid=VR1118004935&cs=1] It also won the People's Choice Award for Favourite Animate 3D Movie of 2009[http://www.peopleschoice.com/pca/influence/Animated3D/], and was nominated the Motion Picture Sound Editors award for Best Sound Editing: Sound Effects, Foley, Music, Dialogue and ADR Animation in a Feature Film, losing to ''Up''.[http://www.mpse.org/goldenreels/2010awards/2010featurenominees.html]
The Cinema Audio Society presented Lifetime Achievement Awards to Henry Selick and sound designer/re-recording mixer [[Randy Thom]].[http://www.filminfocus.com/article/focus_features_awards_and_nomination]
The Alliance of Woman Film Journalists nominated the feature for Best Animated Film[http://awfj.org/eda-awards/2009-eda-awards-nominees/] (it lost to ''Up'') and named the film's title character as Best Animated Female.[http://awfj.org/eda-awards/2009-eda-award-winners/]
==Tie-ins==
A soundtrack album was released by KOCH Records on January 24 2009 with a digital release following on February 3. It contained tracks by Bruno Coulais, along with "Other Father Song", the one remaining They Might Be Giants piece to make it into the film (see '''production history''', above).
[http://soundtrackgeek.com/2009/01/27/coraline-soundtrack-by-bruno-coulais-revealed/]
The film's release was promoted with a website[http://www.coraline.com] that featured contained interactive features.[http://www.sarahdope.com/wordpress/2008/12/18/the-full-site-for-coraline-is-up-now/] It won two Webby Awards for Best Use of Animation or Motion Graphics one from the Webby organisation and the other a People's Voice pick.[http://www.webbyawards.com/webbys/current.php?season=13]
A video game version of the film was released on PlayStation2, Wii and Nintendo DS.[http://www.focusfeatures.com/focusfeatures/film/coraline/games] The PlayStation 2 and Wii versions were developed by Papaya Studios; the DS edition by ART Co. All three were published by D3 Publisher and released on January 27 2009.[http://uk.wii.gamespy.com/wii/coraline/][http://uk.ps2.gamespy.com/playstation-2/coraline/][http://uk.ds.gamespy.com/nintendo-ds/coraline/]
[[Category:2000s animated features]]
