Now Playing in Town: Coraline

I took the animation class on a field-trip to see "Coraline" in 3D. I thought it was an extraordinary film -- exquisitely detailed & designed, and perverse and strange enough that it seemed miraculous it had actually been greenlit. If you've been considering seeing it, I'd strongly urge you to catch it on a big screen, in 3D -- the 3D didn't seem like a gimmick, it actually opened up the space of the film in a way that felt very appropriate to the visual style. Each set was like the back side of a doll house -- rooms with the walls opened up, so we can inhabit them, even if we don't really physically fit into the furniture. The story's very smart, too. There aren't enough examples to call it a general trend, but "Coraline" joins "Pan's Labyrinth" and "The Science of Sleep" as a recent movie that takes the atypical position that the imagination isn't just a place of freedom and escape: it's a place that has its dangers.

The above image is taken from an LA Times blog post -- there are more set photos to be found there.