Coraline movie discussion session

week 3

(14/10/2013)
                        
1. all of us gathered at the DK1, FPSK.
2. Our group leader, Nisaa gave some briefing about the plot of the coraline movie.
3. Then, we do the discussion about the movie.

4. We discuss about our feelings,main idea of the movie and which character we  like.

5. We had fun during the discussion as everyone had different opinions about the movie .

6. The future meeting will be held at the college 17 cafe.

GUIDE QUESTIONS

During the movie

1.         Who are the 5 most important characters in the film? List out the names of the actors playing them.     

•            Dakota Fanning as Coraline Jones

•            Teri Hatcher as Mel Jones/Other Mother (The Beldam)

•            Robert Bailey, Jr. as Wyborne "Wybie" Lovat

•            John Hodgman as Charlie Jones

•            Keith David as The Cat

2.         What is the story about?

        The story is about the main character, Coraline has an adventure to the other world in which people there have a pair of button eyes. The story begins with Coraline and her parents move to the Pink Palace which is also occupied by Misses Spink and Mr. Bobinsky. Coraline feels lonely because her parents are busy with their works. At the same time, she meets Wybie. Coraline discovers a  small door that sealed of by a brick wall. At night, she follows a mouse to the small door and a tunnel appears.

       She feels curious about the tunnel and she passes through the tunnel. She realises that there is another world with a better and luxurious version of the Pink Palace. She is astonished by the world and she is welcomed by her other parents who have a pair of button eyes. The other parents treat her better as compare to the real parents. She decides to stay a night at the other world. When she wakes up the next morning, she is back to the old world.The second time she visits the other world, she meets the other mute Wybie and a black cat that can speak. The black cat warns Coraline about danger of the other world. Coraline ignores the warning.

       The other mother asks Coraline to stay in the other world forever by sewing buttons over her eyes. Coraline feels scare and she wants to go home. The other mother reveals her true form which is a witch and she angrily traps Coraline in a small room behind a mirror. She meets the ghost of three children. The children tell her that they had lost their eyes and souls to the other mother. They request Coraline to find their eyes in order to free their souls. Coraline escapes to the old world with the help of other Wybie.

         In the real world, she realises her real parents have been kidnapped by the other mother. She makes a decision to return to the other world to rescues her parents and to find the eyes of the ghost children. With the seeing stone, she manages to find the eyes of the ghost children. She also finds out that her parents were trapped in the snow globe.

Coraline tricks her other mother and escapes through the small door. She closes and locks the door. This causes her other mother’s hand broken. The other mother still tries to get the key from Coraline but she manages to destroy the hand.

         Coraline is back to her real world. Her parents also return to her and they treat her better. Coraline feels happy and she appreciates more her relationship with her parents.

3.         What group of people would like to watch this film?

Children and teenagers (10 to 15 y/o)

After the movie

1.            Do you like this movie? Why or why not?

         For this Coraline movie, it was a 50-50 for me. I have a mixed feelings as there are some parts of the movies which I like and adore. While some scenes in this movie, from my point of view, could be portrayed in a different yet much better ways.

         The main thing that I like about this movie is what the movie try to bring up towards the community or viewers. The movie try to depict the idea of unrealistic dreams that one try to pursue. For this case the dream of a lonely child that long for a happy family and caring parents. She has always been left alone due to her parents that are more obliged and focused on their career rather than taking care of their own daughter. Coraline dreamed of a happy family where her other mother dedicated most of her time in the kitchen and to her while her other dad, is a cool father.

       The writers try to brought up the polemics of the responsibilities and the influence of parents in bringing up their children. How parents who are too obliged to their works could effect their children's perceptive of viewing life. The main character, Coraline was in thirst of her parents love until she enjoyed her time more in the 'fake' family rather than spending her time with her real family. Due to this, it has opened up the opportunities for the evil character (fake mother) to exploit Coraline for her own benefits.

        Some parts that I disliked and not very fond of it was the way of the execution of the movie. The movie is basically a slow-pace movie. Realistically, this movie is not everyone's cup of tea. Some may like it and some may find it as a boring slow movie. Other than that, this movie has a vibe of a creepy and a little bit spooky.  As this is a cartoon movie as we all know basically the targets for a cartoon movie are the children. The spookiness may distant the pique of children's interest to watch this movie. In addition, the illustration and animation of the movie could have been better. If a better cartoon or animation is used, this could attract more viewers to watch this movie both the children and the adults too.

        In a nutshell, Coraline is a great movie that try to portray significant theme and values yet it is not everyone's cup of tea. As its execution is one of a kind and slightly different from what we usually watched in the others movies this could be a challenge for some. My advice is to try and watch this movie for yourself. If you could go through half of this movie and enjoyed them, then this movie perhaps a perfect fit for your taste palate of movies. If not, it is just a movie you would watched only once.

2.            What rating would you give for this movie?

3 out of 5 stars

3.            What spoilers would ruin this movie if you told your readers about it?

      It seems that the otherworld is not as happiest as she thoughts. At the day when she by herself went into the Otherworld, the Other Mother want to button up her eyes so that she can stay with her forever. Caroline refuse to do that and that makes the Other mother became so mad at her. By that time, Caroline starts to know that the world that can bring happiness to her even more cruel than the real world she living in. The other mother locked Caroline in a dark room and there she found the Wybie ’s grandmother’s sister. She then know everything about that world and try to escape. Caroline managed to escape into the real world. However, her parents not in the real world, The Other mother seems had locked Caroline’s parents in the otherworld. Caroline had to get back to the Other world and release her parents. Caroline planned a game with the Other mother so that her parents released from the Other mother. However things are not going to be easy as Caroline had to solve all the problem that she make by herself. In the end, Caroline really appreciate the real world with her real parents.

4.            All movies teach a lesson (theme or moral). What did you learn from this movie?

          First moral value that we can get from Coraline movie is from Coraline’s parent.As a parent,we must             take care more of our children by spending more time with them.We must not follow Coraline’s                     parent attitude which not take care of Coraline.They don’t have time to spend time with Coraline                   because they are very busy with their works.

                    Other than that,we also must help other people that in trouble.An example in this movie is when             Coraline agree to help the three ghosts of the children that want her to find their eyes to make them               can escape to other world.

                     After that,we must be thankful and grateful to have parent and be patient with whatever                     attitude they have.We must not follow Coraline which not patient with her parent attitude which not               spend more time with her and not give her what she want.Because of that,she get into the trap of the             witch or the evil spider.

                    Lastly,we should not call our friend with the name that they don’t like.An example in this movie           is Coraline when she call Wybie by Why Were You Born or Wyborn.This is because it can make our           friends become mad or sad with us.With this,we maybe loss our friends forever.

5.            What title would you give for your review?

Not everyone cups of tea