Are Those Button Eyes?

Coraline Title Card

Other Mother

     The movie Coraline stars Dakota Fanning as Coraline Jones and revolves around her life after recently moving to the countryside. The movie also stars Teri Hatcher as Mother and Other Mother and John Hodgman as Father and Other Father. The movie is a stop motion film from the same director as The Nightmare Before Christmas, Henry Selick.
       The movie is centered on Coraline and her relationship with her mother and father. Her parents are always busy and never have time for her. Her parents are always focused on their jobs. One day, the neighbor, Wybie, gives Coraline a doll of his grandmother’s that looks identical to Coraline. This starts a series of events that cannot be stopped. One night, she is awoken by a mouse that she then follows into a small door and enters into a new world. There she finds happiness with her “Other Parents” that treat her well.
  This new found happiness only lasts so long, however. Her new parents don’t want her to leave. They want her to stay with them forever. When she refuses, the other mother transforms into a monster and Coraline narrowly escapes. Upon reentering the real world, Coraline discovers that her parents are gone. They have been kidnapped by the other mother and are being held in the other realm. She returns to the other world and challenges the other mother to a game where if she can find her parents and save them, she must let them go.

Coraline and Wybie

  As a whole, this movie was a solid two and a half stars out of five. The stop motion animation was excellent, the voice acting was good, but the story itself was so-so. The movie was adopted from a novel but does not hold true to the book. Whole scenes and even characters have been added. The story was intense for younger viewers so one with young children may not want to see it. All things considered, the movie wasn’t half bad.

The Funniest Show on TV just got Funnier

The Office logo for season 9

     The show The Office has aired on NBC for eight full seasons now and recently begun its ninth and final season. The show is centered on what is referred to as “a typical American workplace” and the employees within. The show originally starred Steve Carell as the main character and branch manager of Dunder Mifflin Scranton, Michael Scott. However, Carell did end his career with the show in the seventh season, not appearing in the eighth season at all. The show changed from focusing mainly on the manager to how the company functions. The new branch manager is Andy Bernard, who is portrayed by Ed Helms, but the show’s main focal characters are now Jim Halpert, his wife Pam (Jenna Fischer) and his rival Dwight Schrute (Rainn Wilson). Halpert and portrayed by John Krasinski. 

Steve Carell as Michael Scott

The episode opens with the characters recapping what has happened over the summer since we last saw them. After the title sequence airs, we see two new characters emerge from the kitchen asking where to toss out some trash. The group quickly mocks them and then begin to refer to them as “New Jim” and “New Dwight.” Jim quickly jumps on the defensive and argues to the camera that he is not the new Jim and that if he is, then everyone is the new Jim. Dwight however remains silent on the matter. At this point Andy walks into the office returning from a soul searching trip for the past three months. At this point, Dwight embraces New Dwight. 

Rainn Wilson as Dwight Schrute

It doesn’t take long for the rivalry between Andy and Nellie to spark up as she previously stole his job. With Dwight trying to connect to New Dwight he sparks a conversation with him which ends with New Dwight trying to steal Dwight’s clients and him storming off in a fit of rage. Now, Andy takes the rivalry to a whole new level. He sets up a slack line, essentially a tightrope, outside and walks across. Next, He invites Nellie to do the same and says whoever falls off will look like a real “Nellie.” When she attempts, he pushes her off. Soon, New Dwight and old Dwight are at it just like Nellie and Andy. New Dwight does the line perfectly and Dwight falls off numerous times. We have a private talk with Jim where he tells us that he created an idea with his friends that they are pursuing and that he could be partners with but he declines. As the episode approaches its end, we see Jim hesitate to make a phone call. He even hangs up once after dialing the number. He does, however, make the call and we discover that he is going to accept the partnership. 

The episode ends and the credits roll. This, as an opening episode, was one of my personal favorites because it ties everything together, yet it leaves room to grow.