Comments on Reel Nerds: Coraline? More Like Bore-aline.

I did notice Gaiman was on the hook for the Beowul...

2009-02-13T17:15:00.000-06:00

I did notice Gaiman was on the hook for the Beowulf script, which saddens me. Maybe he's better at prose than at play/screenplaywriting.

Nice use of the word "heuristic".

OK, but I'm a victim of the availability heuristic...

2009-02-13T15:40:00.000-06:00

OK, but I'm a victim of the availability heuristic here. I mean, I didn't see the new Beowulf movie, but I heard it was ludicrous, and I personally had the displeasure of the messes that were Stardust and Coraline. I guess I'm going to have to take look at the other works you've mentioned to find out whether we have a genuine disagreement or not.

Before you start tearing Gaiman apart, let me come...

2009-02-13T15:34:00.000-06:00

Before you start tearing Gaiman apart, let me come to the author's defense. I have not read Stardust, and Coraline is in my stack of to-read, but I've read 3 of his works (American Gods, Anansi Boys, and Good Omens [with Terry Pratchett]). Each of those works have been highly imaginative works that suck the reader into that frenzy that makes you realize you've been reading for 4 hours straight only after the fact. Many reviewers of Stardust and Coraline remark how the filmmakers have stripped the stories to their timbers, with varying impact. Coraline the film might have missed the mark, but that may not be its originators' fault.