Marvellous!

Rating: 9/10 (27 September 2009)

As incredible as Coraline is, we cannot say it is an "unexpected delight". When it became known to us that this film would be based on a novel by Neil Gaiman, the author of Stardust, and that Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas' Henry Selick was going to direct and write the screenplay, we knew we were in for a treat. The voice cast here – which includes Jennifer Saunders, Dawn French, Keith David and Ian McShane – is superb, and the remarkable originality and creativity that surrounds this wonderful story makes this a serious contender for this year's hotly contested Oscar for Best Animated Feature Film.
The adventures of feisty young Coraline Jones (voiced by Dakota Fanning,) the neglected daughter of two dull grocers Charlie (voiced by John Hodgman) and Mel (voiced by Teri Hatcher) begin when she meets the talkative yet friendly Wybie Lovat (voiced by Robert Bailey Jr.) a boy who lives nearby who finds and gives to her a stuffed doll with buttons eyes that look exactly like her. This is the start of a monstrous plot invented by the "Other mother" (Hatcher again) to spy on Coraline and find the faults in the young girls life, then use this information to create a perfect and intoxicating world to impress Coraline, luring her into it with a mysterious secret door.
Regardless of the fact that this is of course a children's film, you'll find that there is genuine tension created by the film's mid-way point. This is not only due to the brilliantly crafted plot, but by the ingenious and meticulous design of the always delightful claymation that possesses a charm, devotion and power that CGI lacks tremendously.
Though Selick's direction isn't quite as tight as his screen writing. The script of Coraline contains the same flaws as those of other, similar animated films such as Nightmare Before Christmas and 'Tim Burton's Corpse Bride' (2005) where the overall concept of the narrative is sensational and highly imaginative, but the results of the writers' difficulties in turning it into a story of reasonable length are rather tiring and tedious.