Solve Unamusement: Dream Relms (Coraline and/or Alice)

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The Dudel Journal

Dream Relms (Coraline and/or Alice)


Alice meet Coraline, Coraline meet Alice. The two of you have had similar adventures both including rabbit holes, evil queens, a guiding cat and being a book later made to film. While with Alice In Wonder Land, this is rather literal with an actual rabbit hole and evil Queen of Hearts etc, Coraline's lines are more abstractly drawn.

The "rabbit hole" in Coraline is nothing more then a locked door. This could also be taken back to Alice with the talking doorknob as both are required to be opened to allow entrance into the world of wonder. While the talking doorknob has no key, the small wallpaper door has a key to match the world it hides, a button skeleton key. Also, Alice's door is only one way, letting her in but not out while Coraline may travel freely between both worlds, at first.

Evil Queens always run dream worlds, so it seems. It is as if women are the target to shatter the dreams of a small child. In Alice it is a "mother figure", keeping tabs on her kingdom even with a slightly ironed fist. Coraline literally has "another mother" to deal with. Each "evil queen" of the world is the main hurtle but, unlike Alice, Coraline actually fights. Alice flees from the Queen of Hearts and only has herself to save, Coraline has several she selfishly frees and even dooms the "other mother" to a destroyed world. Coraline the little girl savior, Alice the damsel in distress fleeing for her life and praying for her hero.

Cats! One, the Cheshire Cat is a guide into insanity and from the reality. Alice follows, dumbly, and eventually finds herself in loads of trouble do to this mangy feline. Coraline's feline companion warns of and tries to prevent trouble. Even rescuing Coraline at one point. Cat's are good at killing rats and helping, when it suits them, it seems.

Now on to a core issue. Alice was actually dreaming, there was no harm and once she woke it was only a personal lesson learned. Coraline's dream realm was a real threat. One that caused actual physical and emotional pain to herself and several others. No one believed, except for he friend Wybie, that the girl was telling the truth so only in essence was the world "not real".

Both books have also been made into movies. Alice in Wonderland getting the "Disney Make Over" and making everything a little less violent and/or angry in the process. while Coraline has the same charm of The Nightmare Before Christmas. Graphically there is no contest but this is due to the years the movies are apart. Because of that fact, neither can be judged against each other. As most of you have seen at least Alice in Wonderland, I shall only talk about the visual quality of Coraline.

3D is a neat trick in the theaters but it still fails at home. Still, at home, the staple of "one blue, one red" 3D glasses is how the movie is displayed. This would work better if one was not slightly colorblind, like myself. At one point there was time to stop the 3D of it and simply watch the 2D version as the glasses hurt not only my eyes but others. When you take the 3D "away" not much is actually lost. The movie still has a great charm and what is needed to be passed along in the story, is.

Musically, I am unsure. Both have their quirks, take a personal choice among the two songs I favore most from each.

Alice in Wonderland - Caterpillar



Coraline Song: Exploration




With Alice it is "cartoony" and the tone of music seems dated while Coraline's music has less of a need for the film itself, which is good when judging music on itself, it is still difficult to pick between them. However, when push comes to shove, Coraline beats Alice hands down on all counts; even if Alice "did it first" Coraline does it better, faster and stronger.

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