GRAPHIC NOVEL REVIEW: CORALINE Adapted & Illustrated by P. Craig Russell

GRAPHIC NOVEL REVIEW: CORALINE Adapted & Illustrated by P. Craig Russell

Neil Gaiman’s glorious novel Coraline has been adapted & illustrated by Harvey and Eisner Award winner P. Craig Russell who goes out of his way to present a faithful adaptation to the celebrated fantasy novel.

Now a major motion picture Coraline (whether you read the original novel or the graphic novel) follows the exploits of a young girl Coraline who moves into a new house where her self absorbed parents want nothing more then for their child to find something to do with her time then to pester them when they are trying to work. Coraline is an adventurous young girl whose life is turned upside down when a door that opens to a bricked in apartment next door suddenly opens up to a wondrous new world inhabited by people claiming to be her Other Mother and her Other Father. Coraline finds this new world strange but wonderful even if her Other Mother & Father do have buttons for eyes and cats can speak.

When Coraline wants to leave to be with her real parents she realizes that her Other Mother has other plans and kidnaps her parents forcing young Coraline to stay in the other world. Now Coraline must find a way to save her real parents and out smart her Other Mother before she has buttons sewed where her eyes are.

Coraline is a story filled with signature Gaiman motifs of fantasy and adventure like many of his stories in Smoke & Mirrors not to mention his novels Stardust and Neverwhere. Russell does a great job at bringing Gaiman’s world to life on the page. His character designs are realistic yet retain all the visual flair of Gaiman’s prose. Since this is not a very dark story (say like Gaiman’s Sandman series) Russell uses a lot of light colors to his palette and doesn’t crowd the paneling with unneeded details (a testament to his reserved style with compliments the work perfectly).

Coming in at just 186 pages Coraline is a fast yet enjoyable read that will leave you wanting more (or at least wanting to read it again) and is perfect for reading to younger children for that slightly scary yet fantastic bed time story.

Artificial Intelligence and EAGLE EYE

The new Dreamworks action film EAGLE EYE is definitely an action film in the vein of such films as VANTAGE POINT, THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE, or THE INTERPRETER but filtered through the lens of Steven Spielberg (who is one of the producers on the film) so the story is loose and fantastic and the action is fast and suspenseful. The main reason I wanted to see this film is because of actor Shia LaBeouf who has come unto his own since DISTURBIA, TRANSFORMERS, and INDIANA JONES 4.

I’m not giving anything away (since the plot is so transparent) when I reveal that the film is about an artificial machine/program that takes over when it believes that the government has acted immoral when it comes to recent terrorist actions. It decides to use everything in its power to manipulate people and things to help it overthrow our current government. It may sound a lot like the recent film STEALTH but it’s routes in sci-fi are much more down-played.

Even with the “by-the-numbers” script on hand EAGLE EYE is extremely entertaining from beginning to end, due in part by the great cast assembled which also includes Michelle Monaghan, Rosario Dawson, than Embry, Michael Chiklis, and Billy Bob Thornton. This being said, EAGLE EYE is also highly forgettable like many of the other action films released thus far this year (i.e. BABYLON A.D. and MAX PAYNE, among others).

The film was written by John Glee, Travis Wright, Hillary Seitz, and Dan McDermott and directed by D.J. Caruso.

Film Review: The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor

I’m a huge fan of the first two Mummy films and to the original Universal classic that starred Boris Karloff, so, I was all for another film in the mummy franchise. I was even intrigued by the fact that Universal decided to go into a new direction with the franchise by focusing on Asian mummy’s and bringing in fresh blood from director Rob Cohen to actors Jet Li and Michelle Yeoh.

When THE MUMMY: TOMB OF THE DRAGON EMPEROR came out I was one of the first people in line. Returning from the previous film was Brendan Fraser and John Hannah and even though Mario Bello was taking over the Evelyn role I wasn’t to worried since director Rob Cohen was at the helm and I liked what he did with DRAGONHEART, XXX, and STEALTH. I am sad to say that the new film is a disappointment simply because of the simplicity of the film. Written by Alfred Gough and Miles Millar THE MUMMY 3 is a simply action and adventure film with none of the epic qualities of the previous two Stephen Sommers films, which felt like big summer popcorn films which high adventure, grand action, and great comedy. This new film falters at the beginning as Fraser and Bello don’t have the same chemistry as Fraser and Rachel Weisz, therefore many of their scenes at the beginning which should be understated funny (i.e. BRINGING UP BABY) come off more as clumsy humor that sometimes doesn’t work. Also, Fraser has little chemistry with actor Luke Ford who plays his grown up son Alex O’Connell. Ford is good in the role when he’s not trying to strengthen the father-son bond that seems to drive the core of the film; he has great chemistry with Isabella Long (who plays Lin).

The film plays much better in it’s action sequences where once the film finally gets onto the real adventure of the film it hits its stride and never quits. This is the strength of the film and what will ultimately keep most audience members happy. Cohen has a knack for staging some elaborate action sequences, which help over shadow all the other misgivings in the film. Unlike Sommers’ two films this film doesn’t strive to be as grand of a film (kind of like my reaction to the abysmal JURASSIC PARK III in relation to its two previous films) and simply appears to be a “paint by numbers” sequel that will ultimately be forgotten soon after it has been watched.

I do have to commend Jet Li and Anthony Wong Chau-Sang (who play Emperor Han and General Yang, respectfully) as they make for just as formidable enemies as Arnold Vosloo as the original Mummy and keep the film on point. The CGI yeti are questionable in their execution but I enjoyed watching them when they were on screen but the three-headed dragon I could have done without. In fact, allowing Emperor Han to change into any mythological creature was a misstep in my opinion as the CGI was never any good.

The good thing about this film is that it has opened the gates to other adventures of the O’Connell clan in the same vein as the Indiana Jones films and I hope that Universal takes that advantage to explore other stories that could be told. After this film, I think the mummy should finally be left to rest…for good.

JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH 3D - Just another Forgetable Summer Film

There is no denying that the success of past digital 3D films such as THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS 3D, BEOWULF, U2 3D, and even HARRY POTTER & THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX, that Hollywood had found a way to get people back into the seats at the theater. The new Brenden Fraser remake JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH 3D is the first theatrical live action film to be filmed specifically for the digital 3D age (although U2 3D is a concert film which can also claim the same thing).

Written by Michael D. Weiss, Jennifer Flackett, and Maril Levin this new film is all fun but no brains as Trevor Anderson (Fraser) and his nephew journey to Iceland after Anderson discovers that his brother may hold the key to proving that the novel “Journey to the Center of the Earth” may be based on fact. Not knowing how to navigate themselves in the strange country they enlist the aid of Hannah (Anita Briem) to help them locate a tracer that Anderson’s brother placed years earlier. While trying to retrieve the device the three are caught in an electrical storm that traps them within a mountain. While trying to find a way out, the floor beneath them gives way and they fall deep through the mountain into the center of the Earth in which lies a world within a world.

Once there they learn that everything in the novel was true and that the only way to escape is to follow the journey of the character in the book that displays in detail how to escape. They must fight dangerous plants, dinosaurs, and even travel across a vast sea inhabited by carnivorous fish if they are to find a way back to the surface.

For anyone under the age of thirteen the film will be a joy to behold. Fans of Fraser’s GEORGE OF THE JUNGLE will love the film since it’s completely predictable and always action packed and that’s about all that it has to offer. From the moment “go” the film was meant as nothing more then a way for the studios to capitalize on the new 3D trend without actually developing a story worthy of the format. Unlike BEOWULF or HARRY POTTER, this film seems to want to make everything pop out at the audience rather then choose the best moments to really capitalize on the benefits of the format. Don’t get me wrong, the film has some amazing sequences especially the journey across the sea and the sequence with Anderson’s nephew Sean (Josh Hutcherson) making his way across the magnetic rock gully but those bits are few and far inbetween.

The film is filled with lots of bland and forced humor and some action sequences that just don’t work, which includes the dinosaur chase at the end which was done better in so many other previous films (not even the 3D CGI can help this sequence). The film seems to work better when the three adventures are fighting against the elements of the world rather then “carnivorous” forces. JOURNEY is a fun film that you should leave your brain at home for. It is a film that will be soon forgotten after its first viewing.

SPEED RACER on the IMAX!

Anyone who enjoys movies as much as I do knows that seeing a film on the big screen in a multiplex is a completely different experience then watching it at home where you can be interrupted by a multitude of different distractions forcing you to press the pause button or heaven forbid jump back a scene or two that you might have missed. So let me be the first to tell you that viewing the new film SPEED RACER on the gigantic IMAX is an experience unlike anything else I’ve seen on the big screen format (with the exception of U2 3D).

Unlike when I saw SPIDER-MAN 3 on the IMAX, SPEED RACER’s action scenes seemed catered to the format. When I saw SPIDER-MAN 3 many of the big action scenes seemed blurred and you ended up missing details of the scenes causing the film to look more cartoonish then it probably should have been (although I have yet to view it a second time on DVD). With SPEED RACER, which is a film meant for speed, not only the racing scenes were clean but the fight sequences and above all the cinematography that makes the whole film look like something that jumped out of a Terry Gilliam and Tim Burton film was clean and concise and above all entertaining.

The enjoyment of the film lies in brothers Andy and Larry Wachowski’s drop dead perfect adaptation of the beloved anime series. It takes the main theme of the original animation and expands upon it creating a film that doesn’t seem like there are just a bunch on scenes tacked on to expand the running time. With this screenplay and their previous one for V FOR VENDETTA, the Wachowski’s have returned my faith in them that has been missing since the days of BOUND and the first THE MATRIX.

Although the ambiance and world in which the Wachowski’s have created may be a little too much for some viewers I urge everyone to have as much faith in this film as you did with the Wachowski’s THE MATRIX because it is completely worth it. There are strong actors all around from Emile Hirsh as the title character to Christina Ricca, John Goodman, Susan Sarandon, Kick Gurry, Paulie Litt, Roger Allam, and the exceptional Matthew Fox, who I hate to say did a great job bringing the one character I thought they would mess up – Racer X, to the screen. Although there were some changes made to the character he remained in the spirit of the original animation and it added immensely to the overall film.

I suggest that if you’re able to see it on the IMAX then do because it’s an experience you won’t soon forget.