Bad animator! Bad!

Guess whoooo just went to see Coraline? Imagine this said in the creepiest voice possible. The voice that asks you to guess is not happy, it is not gloating, it is scary and ominous.

Ok, so why am I a bad animator? Well it's this: simply put, I did not do my homework. A good animator always does their homework. I knew negligible bits about Coraline going in. Being more than familiar with Henry Selick I knew I was in for a bit of a scare fest. As I did not want to ruin the experience I chose not to do too much research. Mainly I was intoxicatingly excited by the tactile reality of it. I wanted to savor every bit of stop-motiony goodness without being distracted or knowing too much about the plot. I did not read reviews. I did not read the book. I did not watch previews. I looked at several subway posters and that was that.

*Spoiler Alert:
If I hadn't disregarded all of modern technology, I would have known what I was getting into.
This movie is friggin' scary!!!! I know I said I was prepared for a scare fest, but I thought it would be a child-sized scare fest! Granted, I am more like a five year old than most 27 year olds, but STILL!!! I'll admit I'm a little worried about going to sleep.

I watched it in 3D at the Zigfield (two of my favorite things). There were tons of kids in the audience. The clarity of terror I had made me certain I would never take my kids to watch this film. I'm sure it wouldn't be long before they'd be calling me "other mother" and throwing cats at my face. Worse, they'd be having nightmares and daymares for weeks.

Coraline was perfect Friday the 13th faire. The film itself is gorgeous. It excited the good animator in me. I was treated to ooh and ahh moments. There are several characters in the film that equal shear genius. I felt the movie's main characters were lacking that little something special, but some of the peripheral characters more than made up for a spark. I can't wait to load the musical score onto my pod. The backgrounds were so yummy I wanted to eat them. After spending the last ten minutes on IMDB I now know that I could have. Every cherry blossom was hand-painted popcorn. I like to remind you there here at 'She Sure is Sketchy,' "nerd" is the word.

In the end it was an enjoyable ride, but a terrifying walk home.

I'm sure I'll never look at buttons the same way.

I wanted to give you a sneak peek of some new surface designs I've been playing with. I hope you get to form an opinion about them before you watch Coraline ;)
Happy Friday the 13th!
I hope it scared the pants off you.