Jeri Jacquin
Coming to 4K UHD from Laika and Shout! Factory are two classic films with CORALINE and PARANORMAN.
In 2009, writer/director Henry Selick took a story by Neil Gaiman and brought the most amazing dark stop-motion film with CORALINE.
Coraline (voiced by Dakota Fanning) is a young girl who lives with parents Melanie (Teri Hatcher) and Charlie (John Hodgman) she is dealing with the new move a pink house in Ashland, Oregon. Almost instantly she makes friends with Wybie (Robert Bailey) and an interesting black cat. Living in another apartment of the house is the very limber and eccentric Sergei Alexander Bobinsky (Ian McShane), actress April Spink (Jennifer Saunders), and Miriam Forcible (Dawn French).
Wybie gives Coraline a doll that he thought looked a lot like her but the doll has a few things to teach the young girl. A door into a parallel universe opens and waiting for her is another Mother and Father who spend their time paying attention to her. Her parents are still busy with their workaholic lives that they don’t notice their daughters’ comings and goings.
The problem comes when Coraline is visiting her other parents and they want her to stay. The only caveat is that she has to exchange her eyes and she is stunned. When she tries to leave, other mother keeps her, well, hostage. The ghosts that are trapped as well finally tell Coraline everything she needs to know to stop the madness before her real parents become part of this nightmare!
Fanning gives life to the character of Coraline as a young girl dealing with a new home and parents who seem to be lost in their work. Finding her own place, she had no idea she would also be finding her own second world. Through everything she comes to understand how the world is and that she is loved.
CORALINE Special Features include Disc One New 4K Restoration and Dolby Atmos 7.1 Mix. Disc Two Inside Laika – Discovering the Characters of CORALINE Featuring Rare Test Footage, Inside Laika – Revisiting the Puppets with Laika’s Animation Team, Character, Concept Art and Behind-The-Scenes Photo Galleries, Audio Commentary with Director Henry Selick and Composer Bruno Coulais, The Making of CORALINE, Original Featurettes, Deleted Scenes and Feature Length Storyboards.
In
2012, writer/directors Chris Butler and Sam Fell’s stop-motion film PARANORMAN
came to the screen.
Norman (Kodi Smit-McPhee) is a young boy who has the unique ability to speak with his grandmother who just happens to be dead. No one believes what he can do and it causes Norman to spend a lot of time alone. Neil (Tucker Albrizzi) is also a kid who sort of understands Norman. As a school play is rehearsing a play about witch-executions, Norman’s great-uncle Prenderghast (John Goodman) tells him he has to help protect the town of Blithe Hollow.
While the play is going on, Norman has a ghoulish site of what happened in the past. His father Perry (Jeff Garlin) and mother Sandra (Leslie Mann) know that there is something happening and are more than concerned. Learning that his great-uncle has passed, imagine Norman’s surprise when he sees him in the afterlife as he tells the boy to get a book that can help.
Going with the local graveyard he thinks to read from the book but school bully Alvin (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) wants to have his own twisted fun. Trying to complete his reading, Norman, Neil, his sister Courtney (Anna Kendrick) and Mitch (Casey Affleck) are chased by what could only be called zombies! That slows everything down and when a witch causes mayhem, Norman is knocked out only to see Aggie Prenderghast (Jodelle Ferland) and what happened to her.
Mayhem is hitting Blithe as vengeful spirits go after the town and Norman is the only person that knows how to stop it all and become the hero he never thought he’d be!
Smit-McPhee as Norman is a young boy also trying to find his place in this world even though he has a look inside the next. Loving his family, he also struggles with knowing that people he loves don’t truly understand him. When the other world reaches out to him, Norman does not hesitate to find out what is causing the problems and realizing that he is the key to helping!
SHOUT! Factory has grown into a tremendous multi-platform media company. Releasing new animated features such as the exquisite Long Way North, and the epic fantasy Beauty and The Beast. Also, their own original horror film, Fender Bender gives fans a good scare. For more of what SHOUT Factor has to offer please visit www.shoutfactory.com.
Laika is an American stop-motion animation studio specializing in feature films. The studios is best known for THE BOXTROLLS, KUBO AND THE TWO STRINGS and MISSING LINK. To see more of what Laika has to offer please visit www.laika.com.
PARANORMAN Special Features Include Disc One New 4K Restoration and New Dolby Atmos 7.1 Mix. Disc Two Inside Laika – Discovering the Characters and Effects of PARANORMAN Featuring Rare Test Footage, Inside Laika – Revisiting the Puppets with Laika’s Animation Team, Feature-Length Storyboards, Character, Concept Art and Behind-the-Scenes Photo Gallery and Audio Commentary with writer/director Chris Butler and Co-Director Sam Fell.
CORALINE and PARANORMAN are such iconic characters and bringing them back gives everyone another chance to update their home entertainment library. The deep darkness feeling and colors are stunning and add depth of richness to the story being told.
CORALINE started it all for my family and every film since is a joy for us. To be honest, we watch it several times a year and when it pops up on television, we know its time to pop some corn and watch again! The story is one of family, understanding and love mixed in with all the crazy stuff we love to experience.
PARANORMAN is charming and thrilling keeping in line with our favorite Laika films. Norman is a young boy also trying to find his place in two worlds. We love what he is able to do and watching this film, we constantly cheer as he tries and tries to help the people who have not shown him much understanding.
Laika always tells such amazing stories and uses stop-motion that allow families to embrace such fantastic characters. Now, both films return on 4K UHD (Limited SteelBook Edition) for the first time and that makes the holiday gift giving season even more special. Perennial favorites and critically acclaimed, CORALINE and PARANORMAN stop-motion and CG hybrid techniques were both nominated for Academy Awards for Best Animated Feature Films.
In the end – these are stories of unusual kids who we love to watch again and again!
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