The Blogtastic Blogfest That Is Getmeoutofthis.net!

So, I didn’t think I was going to get to go out and see it opening weekend, but I managed to swing it! I saw Coraline. This is the first movie that I’ve actively wanted to see for a long while, so it was a good excuse to get out of the house. Being out of the house is good, right?

The first thing that kinda surprised me when I got there was that it was in 3D. This was a mostly pleasant surprise. I don’t think it added a whole whole lot to the film, but it was fun, and a good reason to see it in the theater. On the other hand, I didn’t much appreciate paying like 3 dollars extra to buy the 3D glasses. On the other other hand, these are some serious 3D glasses. I rather like them. I’m keeping them. (There was a box to recycle them outside the theater. Why the hell would you do that? You paid extra for them, and they’re nice! Crazy.)

The movie itself… well, I think Essner said it best. If you watch the trailer, you know whether you are going to like the film or not. The movie is not surprising. It doesn’t switch things up, or have any twists. It’s just fairly straightforward.
Now, I don’t find that a bad thing. I love childish stories. This is completely a childish story, and it was a lot of fun for me to just let my inner kid out and enjoy every moment of it. It was well-enough put together, though I think you could safely say it follows a formula that many stories have used before. Still, those kind of things are why I like childish stories. I like getting lost in that. That’s mostly a personal preference, though.
It also helps that the visual style is pretty nice and stylized. I mean, I’m in the camp that says that the expense of doing stop-motion animation just isn’t worth it, but at the same time, once you’ve spent that money, it looks damn cool. The movie knows it, too, because the beginning perhaps drags a little bit trying to show you “Look how awesome our effects are!” And they’re awesome! But it apparently put Essner to sleep. It certainly takes a little while to get dramatic, I suppose.

Anyway, I thought it was pretty nice. I had a good time. I smiled all the while. Still, it’s not an instant classic, and I’m certainly only going to consider getting it on DVD on the cheap. It was fun, though.

And gods, it was a million, billion, billion times better than Corpse Bride. I think everyone can agree on that.