Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Making up a song about Coraline... and Nanerpus

We saw Coraline this weekend…



This was an absolutely incredible movie. Neil Gaiman is a genius and I can’t wait to see what he does with the film adaptation of The Graveyard Book (which just won a Newberry Award, by the way)!

On its surface, Coraline is a story about a little girl who feels neglected by her parents, who are in the middle of a big work project. She finds a little door in the wall that takes her to another place, populated by “Other Mother” and “Other Father,” who pay attention to her, give her what she wants and cook better.

I won’t give any surprises away, but aside from the film’s scary parts, there are a bunch of other themes going on, that are thinly veiled and tap into a kid’s primal fears. Essentially, it’s a fear that your parents may disappear. And also, there was a feeling that I got when a child doesn’t quite understand the case when Mom and Dad are broke.

The movie was complex and beautiful and I loved it. Plus, we saw it in the most amazing 3D I’ve experienced. That just sweetened the deal.

Plus, Coraline’s family was from Pontiac, and they have a snow globe of the bear statues at the Detroit Zoo. If you went to the Detroit Zoo as a child, odds are you had your picture taken there.

The whole fam damily

Apparently the phones are ringing off the hook at the Zoo with people asking for those globes, which the Zoo has never actually produced. If they know what they’re doing, though, they’ll get with some company in China and do it fast before the buzz dies down.

Also, one more thing:

I heart Nanerpus.



Denny’s failed with this ad, because all I cared about with this ad was about how awesome Nanerpus was, and how Denny’s wrecked a perfectly good commercial with their part about their crappy food.

If there is any justice, a fifty-foot Nanerpus will rise from the depths and crush the restaurant chain once and for all, just Grand Slam them into oblivion. Then maybe, Nanerpus can finish his song in peace.

2 comments:

Cody Banning said...

The movie was great! Probably the best visually in years. THe 3-d literally popped of the screen and made you try to touch it. I was amazed by how true to the book it was... As for the Denny's ads... Nanerpus was great, and what if i like chocolate do-diddles or candy giggle-drops on my pancakes?

Kelli said...

Just dropped by and made the mistake of playing the nannerpus commercial with recruit 5 and 6 in the room. They are now running through out the house yelling I love nannerpus and you can call me nannerpus. My husband will be so proud when he returns home. I always love it when they reveal my web surfing in such creative ways...