THE DANMAN CAN

While I prefer Neil Gaiman 's 2002 novel , particularly due to the unnecessary addition of the Wybie character in the 2009 film, Henry Selick 's Coraline   is nevertheless a fantastic work of stop-motion. The film could stand to be ten minutes shorter but the visuals are so awe-inspiring and the craft on display is so mesmerizing that it is easily forgivable. The recently released 4K UHD looks and sounds stupendous. Bruno Coulais ' score is one of my favorites (he manages to out- Elfman Danny—at least anything he's done since the '90s) and it's just as enjoyable outside the film. Unlike so many animated films (of any discipline) of the last twenty-odd years, I mostly love the character designs in Coraline , which is something that will determine whether I even watch an animated film. I am of the (unpopular?) opinion that Coraline  is superior to Selick's most well-known film,  The Nightmare Before Christmas   (1993) ( review ).

Coraline  (2002) was my first Neil Gaiman  read (believe it or not, I've never read Sandman , which is extra weird as I love Sam Kieth ) and I absolutely adored it. I love the film and plan to rewatch it tonight now that I finally got around to reading the book.