After finished reading Coraline, comparsion with the movie version is inevitable. I believe the movie adaptation made some smart decisions to improve on an already great story. Things such as the invention of the character Wybie so that there is someone else for Coraline to talk, the spying doll which gives the story an even more creepy element, the backstory of the landlord lady and her missing sister, and the fact that Coraline’s family just move in! Non of them are in the original story, but they do all improved on the story. No that the story is not good or anything, in fact there are scenes that they left out or changed that I would rather they go with the original story. Scenes like the basement where the other father reveal his condition and warned Coraline but eventually crumble to the control of the other mother, the strength of the three ghost and Coraline’s parents combined together to help Coraline closed the door, and the ending where Coraline singlehandedly outsmarted the hand by herself – that ending is way better than the one in the film!

There are books that are much better than their movie version (Twilight comes to mind), then there are movies that improved on the original source materials (Inkheart, Benjinman Button comes to mind). Coraline stands in between the two extremes.

Related posts:

1. Coraline
2. Wasted Concept
3. The Lightning Thief
4. Twilight’s final trailer
5. The Second Short Life of Bree Tanner

Tagged: Books · Coraline · Neil Gaiman