Wasted opportunity

Rating: Null/10 (31 December 2010)

"Of course you don't understand. You're just a copy!" - Coraline Jones
Though not as good as "Monster House", "Corpse Bride" and "The Nightmare Before Christmas", three other recent animated horrors aimed at kids, "Coraline" nevertheless has better material at its disposal. The tale of a little girl who ditches her annoying life and parents in favour for disappearing through a "rabbit hole" and living in a freakish simulation with creepy witches and rag-doll copies of her parents, this little film has the kind of twisted plot that would appeal to a Dahl, Dick, Cronenberg or Lovecraft (It's the children's version of "Existenz" or "Mulholland Drive").
Unfortunately the film is unwilling to commit to the dark ideas its script demands it pursue, whatever horrors and psychological issues the film hints at ultimately bulldozed to make way for generic plot points and a deus ex machina ending designed to hook a male audience.
The film's visual style has been praised, but it is low rent Tim Burton.
7/10 – Worth one viewing. The film was directed by Henry Selick, whose best film remains "The Nightmare Before Christmas".