Coraline: Collectors Gift Set

Coraline comes from Harry Selick, the guy who made The Nightmare Before Christmas and (the lesser-known) Monkeybone. He has a spirit similary to Tim Burton (who produced Nightmare) as his films are all dark worlds and people needing to face these worlds. Coraline exceptionally fits into that category.

The story of this one is Coraline is moving into a new home. She finds inside a new world that facinates her. This world is full of dancing mice and cool versions of her parents. However, there's a sinister reasong behind this world, one that freaked out even me...

The fun thing about the film is that it dosen't dare to let kids get in the way of it's true storytelling. Like Fantastic Mr. Fox and Up, this film mkaes sure it tells it's story perfectly without ever worrying if kids will get scared. The animation (CLay-Motion ehre like Wallace and Gromit) is stunning and really is some of the best I have ever seen. I must say that this makes you wonder if this is an actual
world someone just found.

The 3D is brilliant here and although it may have needed to be a little longer, this is one of the best of the year and a real great film.

Rating: 8.9 out of 10 or A-

SYS

The Short List For Oscar Shorts

The following are all the shorts that will be competing in the race for Best Short Film. I think either Wallace and Gromit or Partly Cloudy will take home this statue!

The shorts are:

* “The Cat Piano,” Eddie White and Ari Gibson, directors (The People’s Republic of Animation)
* “French Roast,” Fabrice O. Joubert, director (Pumpkin Factory/Bibo Films)
* “Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty,” Nicky Phelan, director, and Darragh O’Connell, producer (Brown Bag Films)
* “The Kinematograph,” Tomek Baginski, director-producer (Platige Image)
* “The Lady and the Reaper (La Dama y la Muerte),” Javier Recio Gracia, director (Kandor Graphics and Green Moon)
* “Logorama,” Nicolas Schmerkin, producer (Autour de Minuit)
* “A Matter of Loaf and Death,” Nick Park, director (Aardman Animations Ltd.)
* “Partly Cloudy,” Peter Sohn, director (Pixar Animation Studios)
* “Runaway,” Cordell Barker, director (National Film Board of Canada)
* “Variete,” Roelof van den Bergh, director (il Luster Productions)

Love the shorts here. I'll post a few of them from Youtube. By the way, if you want the video's in full screen, just click on the video. You will go to the video's webpage and you can go full screen there.

SYS