So why are beetroots better than flowers? Great potential and lots of room for improvement.

Rating: 6/10 (29 March 2010)

As a great admirer of doll animation I was fascinated and impressed by the amount of work the creators of the movie has put into it. A close look at the clothes, interiors and the enchanted flowers was like appreciating a piece of art. It applied to everything but the characters, which seemed to be way too sharp-edged, their proportions were too disturbed and often the general impression too grotesque as compared to classic animation.
After reading a brief synopsis, no to mention the book, you already know the whole story. Real life and real people seem so dull and cold and the other world seems so luring, until it becomes a real nightmare.
Having fought the evil witch and destroyed the illusion of the other world Coraline learns to appreciate her real family and neighbors. However, I don't see how the change in the characters did take place. Coraline shows more affection towards her parents simply because she missed them and they at least don't want to kill her or sew buttons on her face. The parents seem more cheerful and less distant than at the beginning of the movie, but not because of the adventure. They don't remember anything that happened in the other world, they simply feel relaxed and optimistic because they have completed their job that had kept them busy. Could that be a permanent change? Was the witch gone forever after the spider-needle-hand was tossed into the well?
The story doesn't justify how the real world transformed from really unfriendly (ice-cold parents, disturbed neighbors) to fairly normal. It is disappointing because I expected a real allegory of repairing family relations and mirroring of the real world in the other world not only by the looks but by the course of events (somewhat like in "The Pan's Labyrinth").
Another big doubt about the movie is the age of a target audience. It is way too creepy for little children, but not challenging enough to grasp teenagers' and adults' attention.
A real beetroot is better for you than an illusion of a flower, yet I'm not sure if it was exactly what this symbol stood for. Maybe it wasn't symbolic at all. The movie is without doubt memorable, but I'd rather have a little more beetroot than flower in it i.e. more story over the picture.