Many remember Coraline as a traumatic movie from their childhood, although it has its scary elements Coraline was a massive step forward in the animation industry.
The hit 2009 stop-motion movie Coraline, directed by Henry Selik, made over 124 million dollars in revenue at the box office shortly after its release. The process of creating this film was a very difficult one, with over 500 animators on set over the course of 4 years. Even if many find this film disturbing, it is hard to look past the artistic beauty of it.
Coraline’s visuals are the first thing many people notice, the attention to detail is insane, with Coraline’s puppet alone having over 42 different wigs animators would switch out for each frame. The detail and dedication in the puppets are very noticeable throughout the whole film, with the puppets moving as if they were in a traditional hand-drawn animation.
A notable factor is the clothing on each puppet that complements them perfectly, with each garment being handmade to match every scenario they end up in.
A good example of this is Coraline’s gloves she gets as a present at the beginning of the movie from the other mother. 6 pairs of them were made with each glove taking about 6 weeks to complete. The needles used for all of the clothing were usually small in size but none compare to the needle used for these gloves. Everything about the puppets is handmade, with all of them being painted and sewn by hand.
A very visually stunning piece of the movie is the sets. The directors were able to take descriptions of the settings from the book and create a vast detailed background for the characters to move around and interact in. A good example is the iconic Other World tunnel. This set is filled to the brim with easter eggs and the way Coraline explores it awes the viewers.
Henry Selik wanted to make the tunnel pop out at viewers watching in the movie theaters, so he created more depth in the tunnel to have a 3D effect. The most complex set was the Fantastic Garden, with each flower being hand-made, they even put little lights into each flower to make them glow. The artist’s ability to make the backgrounds look alive is amazing, with each of the flowers framing the camera as they bloom to make a whimsical entrance for Coraline.
Stop motion is an insanely hard art form, but studio LAIKA pulled it off beautifully. Only about 90-100 seconds of animation were filmed every week due to the excruciating process. On set were 29 animators who worked on the film full-time for the full 4 years, they would work hours for a few seconds of footage. The detailed emotions on the characters’ faces and the way they move is very impressive. Each character had multiple face plates that animators would switch out to match everything the character was feeling at the moment. They even had different mouth sculpts for each character to use to match the dialogue.
The designs of the characters are quite different from the book. Director Henry Selik wanted lead character designer Tadahiro Uesugi to not think about the book when drawing the early design drafts. He wanted Uesugi to create designs that he thought would best fit the new feel of the film. Even though the original book did have occasional pictures and most of the characters’ features were described,
Selik wanted the movie to be more original than the source material. The aesthetics of the book and film are very different, with Coraline originally having brown hair, which was later changed to a bright blue bob to make her character pop. In the books, she was characterized as being intelligent and resourceful, while in the movies a more rambunctious and moody personality was given to her.
Many don’t realize that Coraline is based on a book of the same name written by Neil Gaiman. The movie switches things up, turning a dim children’s horror book, into an artistically beautiful movie.
Aria Anderson, an avid animation enthusiast, and lover of Coraline says, “Coraline has always been a comfort movie for me since I was little. I’m a huge fan of stop motion and the art is so pleasing to look at. I believe it definitely did the book justice, or even better than the books in my opinion. The animation and atmosphere of the backgrounds perfectly set the right vibe, and it’s just one of my favorite movies.”
Another avid animation and horror fan is Rei Cassidy she writes “Coraline is one of my favorite movies of all time. The artistic style of stop motion is something that isn’t usually seen in the film/animation industry & this movie does it exceptionally well. The plot of the movie is also very interesting, diving into a topic/theme that we don’t see a whole lot of in movies. It’s the perfect mix of horror & comedy, being an amazing claymation classic for all ages.”
It’s not surprising that fans think of the movie first when someone mentions Coraline, it has made a huge impact on how people view not just stop motion movies but children’s movies that dive into deeper themes.
Coraline will always be regarded as a cult classic for anyone of any age. The film was different for its time showing that even a kid’s movie can have darker elements to it. Even though many may not give this film a try due to being scared of it as a kid, everyone should at least see Coraline once. Even if horror isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, it is always nice to appreciate and explore different art forms represented in film.