Coraline [Gift Set] [2D/3D] [2 Discs] [Includes Digital Copy] [With 3D Glasses]

MOVIE DESCRIPTION:

A young girl walks through a secret door and discovers a parallel reality that is eerily similar to the life she already knows, yet deeply unsettling in a number of ways, in director Henry Selick's animated adaptation of Neil Gaiman's international best-seller. Eleven-year-old Coraline Jones (voice of Dakota Fanning) is fearlessly courageous, and perhaps far too adventurous for her own good. Coraline and her parents (Teri Hatcher and John Hodgman) have recently relocated to Oregon from Michigan. Bored in her new home since her parents are distracted by work and she has yet to make any new friends, Coraline passes the time by exploring her new neighborhood with an annoying local boy named Wybie Lovat (Robert Bailey Jr.). But after paying a visit to her eccentric neighbors Miss Spink (Jennifer Saunders) and Miss Forcible (Dawn French), a pair of aging British actresses, and crossing paths with the outright weird Mr. Bobinsky (Ian McShane), the precocious young girl becomes convinced that her new surroundings are just as dull as she'd initially suspected. Shortly thereafter, Coraline discovers a hidden door in her new house, and decides to investigate. Venturing into the eerie passageway inside, Coraline emerges into an alternate version of her own reality. At first glance, this strange new world seems even better than the real thing; there her parents aren't distracted by work, and Coraline is always the center of attention. There's even a mysterious Cat (Keith David) that's fascinated by her every move. But when Coraline's button-eyed Other Mother (also Hatcher) attempts to make her stay permanent, the frightened young girl must summon her resourcefulness and bravery in order to find her way back home and save her real family. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

DVD FEATURES:

• Region: 1
• Number of Discs: 2
• Audio: Dolby Digital Stereo
• Screen: Enhanced Wide Screen Letterbox for 16x9 TV
• Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 (Theatre Wide Screen)
• Features:
  • Includes both 2-d and 3-d versions of the movie!
  • Feature commentary with director Henry Selick and composer Bruno Coulais
  • Deleted scenes
  • The making of Coraline-exclusive documentary about how this stunning stop-motion film was made
  • Voicing the characters-see how Dakota Fanning, Teri Hatcher, Jennifer Saunders, Dawn French, and Ian McShane brought their characters to life

AWARDS

• Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

•     Nominated Best Animated Feature - 2009 (Henry Selick)

• American Cinema Editors Guild

•     Nominated Best Edited Animated Feature - 2009 (Ronald Sanders, Christopher Murrie)

• British Academy of Film and Television Arts

•     Nominated Best Animated Feature - 2009

• Hollywood Foreign Press Association

•     Nominated Best Animated Feature - 2009

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

• Cast:

  
       Dakota Fanning - Coraline Jones
       Teri Hatcher - Mel, Coraline's Mother/Other Mother
       Jennifer Saunders - Miss Spink
       Dawn French - Miss Forcible
       Keith David - Cat
       John Hodgman - Charlie, Coraline's father/Other father
       Robert Bailey Jr. - Wybie Lovat
       Ian McShane - Mr. Bobinsky
       Aankha Neal - Sweet Ghost Girl
       George Selick - Ghost Boy
       Hannah Kaiser - Tall Ghost Girl
       Harry Selick - Photo Friend
       Marina Budovsky - Photo Friend
       Emerson Hatcher - Magic Dragonfly
       Jerome Ranft - Mover
       Christopher Murrie - Toy
       Jeremy Ryder - Toy
       Carolyn Crawford - Wybie's Grandmother
       Yona Prost - Shakespeare Rascal

• Director:

  Henry Selick

• Producer:

  Henry Selick, Claire Jennings, Bill Mechanic, Mary Sandell

• Screenwriter:

  Henry Selick

• Book Author:

  Neil Gaiman

• Cinematographer:

  Pete Kozachik

• Songwriter:

  They Might Be Giants

• Composer (Music Score):

  Bruno Coulais

• Musical Direction/Supervision:

  Bruno Coulais

• Editor:

  Ronald Sanders, Christopher Murrie

• Production Designer:

  Henry Selick

• Art Director:

  Thomas Proost, Phil Brotherton, Bo Henry

• Executive Producer:

  Michael Zoumas

• Sound/Sound Designer:

  Randy Thom, Ron Eng

• First Assistant Director:

  Melissa St. Onge

• Animator:

  Brad Schiff, Antony Elworthy, Malcolm Lamont, Chris Tichborne, Chris Tootell, Philip Beglan, Teresa Drilling, Ian Whitlock, Payton Curtis, Suzanne Twining, Jeff Riley, Bartek Prusiewicz, Jeff Mulcaster, Julianna Cox, Amy Adamy, Sarah de Gaudemar, Jan-Erik Maas, Justin Kohn, Misha Peesha Klein, Kim Blanchette, Richard C. Zimmerman

• Production Manager:

  Ezra J. Sumner

• Re-Recording Mixer:

  Tom Johnson, Randy Thom

• Lead Animator:

  Eric Leighton, Trey Thomas

• Visual Effects Supervisor:

  Brian Van't Hul

• Supervising Animator:

  Anthony Scott

• Storyboard Supervisor:

  Chris Butler

• Line Producer:

  Harry Linden

• Associate Editor:

  Cam Williams

• Post Production Supervisor:

  Jeannine Berger

• Production Coordinator:

  Theresa Braunstein

• Second Assistant Director:

  Daniel Pascall

• Storyboard Artist:

  Graham Annable, Vera Brosgol, Ean McNamara

• Lead Animator:

  Travis Knight, Phil Dale

• Dialogue Editor:

  Carlos Sotelango

REVIEW:

• Coraline begins with its heroine in a sorry predicament. Coraline Jones (voiced by Dakota Fanning) is new in town, and with the exception of her immediate family, everyone refers to her incorrectly as Caroline. However, as frustrating as that may be, she's long since resigned herself to living in a world that perpetually mispronounces her name. The real problem is that Coraline has explored virtually every inch of her new house and its surrounding property (her findings include a boarded-up well rumored to be bottomless, or at least really deep, and a stray black cat too smart for its own good), and she's now excruciatingly, mind-numbingly bored. Her life is safe but unexciting; her parents are kind but unavailable; and the closest thing she has to friends are her neighbors (two washed-up actresses and the would-be ringmaster of a circus staffed entirely by trained mice) and the landlord's grandson, whom Coraline treats with the disdain expected of a girl her age -- especially after he gives her a doll sewn in her image as if she were the kind of girl to play with dolls. Even the mysterious little door hidden behind old wallpaper is a letdown; at first glance, it leads to a bricked up wall Coraline's mother believes was erected in the house when it was divided into separate apartments.
  
  Of course, the door isn't just a door, the cat isn't just a cat, and the doll isn't just a doll. They're all connected to an Other world almost exactly the same as Coraline's, with a few major exceptions: it's magic, much more dangerous, and ruled by a malevolent woman who first disguises herself as Coraline's "Other Mother" (voiced by Teri Hatcher), identical to her real mother save for having buttons instead of eyes. She lavishes Coraline with attention and adventure, but living in her wonderland comes at a steep price. Those familiar with Neil Gaiman's work, particularly his children's books, know that he writes a world as fantastic and charming as it is macabre and dangerous. An adaptation of Coraline was a worrisome prospect, because Coraline is only a children's book by the thinnest of margins, and toning down the creep factor would have done a great disservice to all involved. Thankfully, Coraline is appropriately dark, and like its inspiration, is only a children's movie by the thinnest of margins. Director Henry Selick's experiences directing The Nightmare Before Christmas and James and the Giant Peach have served Coraline well; the Other world is somewhere Jack Skellington and Roald Dahl would build their summer homes. It's hard to lose oneself in a film that is Coraline's combination of ingredients -- fictional, animated, and 3-D -- but that's exactly what happens. Coraline is equal parts fanciful, menacing, beautiful, and subversive. The result is an audience -- adult as well as children -- that doesn't feel at all silly rooting passionately for Coraline to listen to the talking cat and get out of bizarro land before it's too late. ~ Tracie Cooper, Rovi