Animation Turnaround #2: Coraline (2009)

Previously: Animation Turnaround #1: Shrek (2001)

Laika made a splash in 2009 when they released their first animated film, Coraline. Done entirely in stop-motion, the film is a rarity in mainstream animation, because it's one of the few truly spooky family films that has appeared on the big screen. Based on the famous novel by Neil Gaiman, Coraline represented a rebirth for the stop-motion format and a glorious return for director Henry Selick (The Nightmare Before Christmas), who crafted a lovingly terrifying world and made Laika a force to be reckoned with.

Editorial: In Animation, Anonymity is the Brand that Sells

"From the creators of:" Disney and Pixar are big selling points, but the directors rarely get a mention
in animated film marketing. As opposed to what we see in live-action.

When you hear about an animated film, you don't hear who's directing it but rather the name of the studio that's doing it. Disney, Pixar, DreamWorks, Blue Sky, among others, are studios that sell their films through the power of their respective brands but who rarely name the human talent behind the projects. For the record, I don't condemn that practice as people have come to expect a certain level of excellence when they hear a new film is coming from Pixar or Disney, but I think that this  kind of anonymity has contributed to the general disregard that animated films are an "easy" thing to do; leading to not taking the people behind them seriously.

Henry Selick's The Shadow King Happening After All

Months ago, we heard the sad news that Disney had halted production on the next stop-motion animated film from Coraline director Henry Selick. The film apparently wasn't on track to meet its release date - although deeper problems were thought to exist within the Mouse House - and Disney pulled the plug on the film, previously called Shademaker, now going by The Shadow King. Selick then tried to court Laika into taking on the project, but nothing came of that, and it seemed it was time to fear the worst. But life's a happy song, and it seems things are back on track after all.

UPDATED - Selick in Talks to Take Shademaker to Laika (Or Not)

Director Henry Selick (left) and Laika CEO Travis Knigt (right)

IndieWire is reporting that The Nightmare Before Christmas director Henry Selick is in talks to take his, previously tentatively titled, Shademaker, to Laika!

The project was being produced by Selick's Cinderbiter/ShadeMaker Productions, alongside Brain Trust members from Pixar, until news recently broke that Disney had pulled the plug. Claims were that the film's story wasn't where Disney wanted it to be and that production was lagging. The rumours emerging today though claims that Selick is shopping the idea to Laika, whom he previously worked with on 2009's Oscar nominated Coraline.

IndieWire also offers up some rumoured details about the film's plot and style:

I'm told that the once-titled "ShadeMaker" is the story of two brothers, and that it takes Selick's special brand of surrealism into a new direction. The sets are spectacular (especially Central Park) and they've been and they've been making use of a similar Rapid Prototype 3D printer for replacement heads that Laika introduced on "ParaNorman."

It's a shame that Selick's deal with Disney fell through - it might lead to awkwardness if/when he returns to make the planned adaptation of Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book - but the film certainly seems a good fit for Laika and we know they work well together! Be sure also to check out our review of Laika's latest film, ParaNorman!

Via Craig Good and HitFix.

UPDATE: 27/09/2012 - 00:07 (GMT)

Times look dark Selick fans, and not good, Coraline, dark. /Film reports that whilst Henry Selick did meet with Laika, the talks "went nowhere and Laika will not fund its former director’s project." First Showing also reports that the film, apparently now titled The Shadow King, is not being taken on by Laika, and is seemingly done for.

Selick supposedly sent a memo to the team at Cinderbiter, saying that Laika chief Travis Knight couldn't figure out a financially sound way to continue production on the film. Selick could shop the film around some more, but following knock-backs from his two biggest options, it might be time, sadly, to move on.

Sad news for sure, especially so short after hearing that Digital Domain's closure meant the end of The Legend of Tembo. But here's hoping it gets picked up somewhere else in the near future, and we here at A113Animation wish the very talented Mr. Selick and all on the Cinderbiter crew all the best in whatever they go on to next!

ParaNorman Review - A Tale of the Dead, Full of Life

*This review is largely spoiler free, but read cautiously if you haven’t seen the film yet*

ParaNorman is the latest from Laika, the swiftly-rising stop-motion house who arrived on the scene with 2009's Coraline. Coraline was fantastic, a dark, refreshingly tensely paced, nuanced and stylish film that not only cemented its director Henry Selick's reputation as a fine-filmmaker, but that of Laika as an artistically inventive and narratively bold studio. ParaNorman continues that success, as it is an inspiringly original and thoughtfully ghoulish film, that's also surprising fun!

The Art and Making of ParaNorman Review - A Spookily Different 'Art of' Book

Confession: I only watched Coraline fully a few days ago. I'm not often a fan of spooky films, but I am a fan of Henry Selick, and adored The Nightmare Before Christmas, so I wanted to see Coraline, I just never got round to it. A couple of days ago, though, I decided to finally do it, and am very glad I did. Coraline is a fantastic, nuanced and refreshingly original film, with stylish direction and gorgeous animation; I only wish I could've seen it on the big screen. I watched it in anticipation of the latest film from Laika, the studio behind it, ParaNorman.

Coraline's animation was amazing, but ParaNorman's is apparently even better. Factor in that I've heard nary a bad review about it, and you end up with a film I'm pretty damn excited for (it's not out over here until 14th September). So, I was very excited to check out the accompanying 'Art of' book, The Art and Making of ParaNorman, which Chronicle Books were kind enough to send me a review copy of.

Guest Review: ParaNorman

The second stop-motion animated film from Laika, ParaNorman, is out now in several territories and is receiving very enthusiastic reviews! One of those territories is France, and friend of the blog and our resident Tintin expert, Damien, shared his review of the film with us. Check it out below!

"Saw it this morning. 

Beautiful film. Beautiful animation. I don't think stop-motion ever looked this good before. Maybe Corpse Bride came the closest, but the way the characters and sets are handled here is incredible (You can see the light through Norman's ears! I don't know how they did that).

The story: much more my cup of tea than Coraline was - I loved Coraline, but it lacked a little in plot for me. It was a wonderful film; it had a very atmospheric, creepy feeling. And an amazing score (ParaNorman doesn't have such a good score). But there was no big surprise in the story.
Here, there are more little twists and turns, and I was delighted by the way the story evolved. They weren't "OH MY GOD WHAT ARE THEY DOING?!" twists, but they gave the film a nice dynamic feeling. 

A few problems I had with ParaNorman: sometimes, the characters repeat themselves. I was saying to myself in my head "Yes, you already said that, we get it!". But it's okay. Also, I'm not saying that ParaNorman is Coraline, but I hope Laika isn't only going to do movies that are so close thematically. They're handled very differently, but you don't have to look too hard to find similarities between the two. Maybe next time, try another genre. 

All in all, ParaNorman is a great and fun movie, with a pretty adult sense of humor; but it can be moving too. Looks like 2012 will be a nice year for stop-motion. The Pirates!, this, and Frankenweenie later this year. I really hope this technique doesn't disappear, as it gives a different feeling than CG or traditional animation. 

It was opening day in France, and we were only 4 in the theater room. Sad to see this kind of thing. Just checked: ParaNorman had only the 4th biggest opening of the day, with The Expendables 2 on the first spot. And two miserables French films at #2 and #3.
This is terrible. I don't get the audience... 

But the good news is - and to end on a happy note - we have a terrific film with ParaNorman!"

Sounds promising! ParaNorman opens here in the UK on 14th September, so I'll have my review up around that time. In the meantime, thanks to Damien for contributing his great review - be sure to follow him on Twitter (@Archibald_H), particularly if you're a Tintin fan - and if you've thoughts either way on ParaNorman, let us know them!

ParaNorman's Out in the US - What Are the Critics Saying?

ParaNorman, the latest scary, stop-motion film from Laika, the house that brought you Coraline, is out today in US cinemas, and has been received thus far by the same enthusiastic acclaim that greeted their first film.

ParaNorman follows Norman Babcock, a young, outcast boy from the small town of Blithe Hollow, who has the inexplicable - yet somehow cinematically ubiquitous - ability to speak with the dead. Due to this, Norman is the only one able to try and stop the witch's curse that has plagued Blithe Hollow. Starring the voices of Kodi Smit-McPhee, Anna Kendrick, Jeff Garlin and John Goodman, and directed by Sam Fell (Flushed Away) and Chris Butler (storyboard supervisor on Coraline) was released today, with a new, intense, trailer (below), highlighting the scary parts of the film - rather than the comedy the earlier trailers focused on - released on the 14th.

The critics are enthusiastic so far; Laika's second film currently holds an 86% rating on Rotten Tomatoes (compared to Coraline's 90%), with a consensus reading:

"Beautifully animated and solidly scripted, ParaNorman will entertain (and frighten) older children while providing surprisingly thoughtful fare for their parents."

Top critics from all over the web seem enamoured with the film: Variety's Justin Chang writes "Few movies so taken with death have felt so rudely alive as "ParaNorman,"", and Rolling Stone's Peter Travers enthuses "Hey, it's not just Pixar that kicks ass in animation. Case in point: ParaNorman, a small miracle in stop-motion 3D from the wizards at Laika", rating it 3 out of 4 stars.

It certainly sounds promising!

Alas, ParaNorman isn't out here in the UK until 14th September (although we will have a review of The Art and Making of ParaNorman up soon!), but if you have seen it - or see it soon - please let us know what you think, either in the comments section, or on Twitter (@A113Animation).

In related news: The latest feature film from Henry Selick, who directed Coraline for Laika, has been dumped by Disney. Read the full story here.

Disney Cuts Henry Selick's Next Film

We've heard the exciting news for a while now, that The Nightmare Before Christmas director Henry Selick had entered into a collaboration with Disney and Pixar. The studio formed as a result of this was then called Cinderbiter Productions.

We didn't hear anything much for a while, before recently hearing that Cinderbiter - now retitled ShadeMaker Productions - and Selick's first film for Disney would be called, tentatively, Shademaker, after the studio. The stop-motion film - which is supposedly, following in the vein of Selick's other films, like Nightmare Before Christmas and Coraline, a scary one - was due for a 4th October, 2013 release date. However, Variety reports that Disney had concerns that the film wouldn't meet its release date, so the Mouse House pulled the plug.

Selick is expected to continue the film elsewhere (Laika maybe? After the success of their previous collaboration with Selick, Coraline), and still expected to progress with another film for Disney, an adaptation of Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book. However, the fact that Disney wouldn't postpone the release date (something they frequently do for Pixar films) suggests they weren't happy with Shademaker, so it's up in the air at the moment where Selick stands on The Graveyard Book - although Gaiman, having previously worked with Selick in adapting his original book of Coraline for Laika, would likely want to collaborate with him again.

Sad news, definitely, Henry Selick's a very talented film-maker, and here's hoping Shademaker finds a home and this doesn't spoil his relationship with Disney.

Via Bleeding Cool.

ParaNorman Teaser

I generally just cover the main animation outlets here at A113Animation: Disney, Pixar, DreamWorks, Blue Sky Studios, Aardman, Sony Pictures Animation, Illumination Entertainment etc... and the mainstream films beyond that, like The Adventures of Tintin (on a side note, I came up with a good pun for that: Tintin was Greatgreat). However, whilst perusing Cartoon Brew, I saw the teaser (above) for Laika's next film. The studio behind Coraline are bringing us another eery, dark film in August of next year, ParaNorman.

Now, the film doesn't look that fantastic, although we may see a lot more to sell me on it; but it is very creepy and the trailer for the stop-motion film will set the mood well since it's almost Halloween.