Coraline

I received two very special pieces of paper this past week. One was an animated card (a Phenakistoscope) from Shelley Noble -- it's so impressive to see a little card that animates like that! So well done. Thanks Shelley!

The second little piece of card was an advance screening pass for Coraline. I was SO EXCITED to see this show last night that I waited in line an hour and a quarter before it started... and it was a very full house, so I'm glad I did. Chris Landreth (writer / director of Ryan) was there to introduce Neil Gaiman, who in turn introduced the movie and did a Q&A at the end. I wish there could have been a whole second Q&A for Chris Landreth, but oh well.

I can't really even describe how much I loved this movie. So I won't. It's very rare that there's such delight in the visuals of a movie that tears come to my eyes while watching, and though it's incredibly cheesy to say, that's just what happened. Several times.

The story was amazing, the visuals absolutely magical, and the animation, well... I feel partly depressed and partly inspired, I guess. The only thing is, if anyone is reading this, you MUST go see it at a theatre in 3D. The 3D just adds so much to the experience, and the film is really designed to be seen that way. Apparently here in TO it is only on 3D screens for the next 3 weeks, as some other silly 3D movie is coming out to take its place. It's unlike anything you've ever seen before (stop motion in 3D!) Go see it!!!