Beautifully rendered characters and scenery transport the viewer into Coraline's fantasy world. Dakota Fanning gives Coraline an emotive voice, bringing to life both the girl's excitement and fear. The viewer is tempted by the "other" parents right alongside the heroine, as tasty meals and fun activities are readily available in this alternate world. Underneath it all, the viewer feels something is not quite right. The director successfully draws us into this fantasy and startles us with the eventual, twisted truth. A modern re-imaging of the "Alice in Wonderland" myth, the film would seem entirely original and unique if the similarly-themed "Pan's Labyrinth" had not been released only a few years back.
Coraline is a guaranteed entertaining adventure for the entire family. The fact that it is presented in 3D or 2D on the same disc only adds to the enjoyment. Because of the scariness of the underlying story (though there is no blood or gore) I would not recommend this for children too young. I expect Coraline to be a serious contender for Best Animated Film come Academy Award time.
Rated PG for thematic elements, scary images, some language and suggestive humor.
"Green Lantern: First Flight" is a direct-to-DVD release from DC Comics and Warner animation. I never particularly cared for the Green Lantern before this film, but this exciting and thoughtful story made me a fan. Unlike Superman and Batman, there have been several Green Lanterns but this story focuses on the first human Green Lantern, Hal Jordan.
Jordan is a military test pilot who finds a crash-landed alien on Earth. The alien passes the Lantern ring along to Jordan. The pilot soon learns that with this ring comes certain duties including learning how to properly use the super-powered item and patrolling a sector of space (Green Lanterns are intergalactic police). When the creators of the ring find that Jordan was chosen without their input, they are reluctant to allow him to formally join the corps. A well-respected, veteran Green Lantern, Sinestro, agrees to take Hal under his wing and train him. Hal gets more than he bargained for when he's caught in the middle of a plot to violently overthrow the Green Lantern Corp.
(Spoiler warning) - The introduction of Sinestro as a comrade and leader when Jordan joins the Green Lanterns makes his eventual decision to betray the group that much more riveting. - (Spoiler end) The plot is easy to follow while still taking some twists and turns. There are several exciting action sequences throughout the film and a few entertaining surprises. Kilowog (another Green Lantern) is especially well cast in this movie. The voice of Michael Madsen ("Kill Bill" 1 and 2) gives the alien an orneriness and world weariness not seen before in the character.
There are a few moments where the story begins to lose momentum but the action or drama quickly picks back up again. Setting the film almost entirely in outer space felt a bit disorienting at first but I was surprised at how well constructed a story could be told without any other Earthlings. DC animation continues to prove itself dominant over its Marvel counterpart, with "Green Lantern: First Flight" as further compelling proof. If you are a superhero fan, you owe it to yourself to give this animated movie a try.
Rated PG-13 for sequences of sci-fi action violence.
