Curious, bizarre and dreamy

Rating: 7/10 (24 March 2009)

When it comes to visuals, nobody does it quite like Henry Selick. In unimaginably original and absorbing fashion, Selick gives life to a written fairytale, just as he meticulously gave birth to the figures that inhabit the world of Coraline. More than any traditional fable of say, Hansel and Gretel, Coraline evokes more similarities to Guillermo Del Toro's, Pan's Labyrinth in its curiousness, bizarreness and dreamy essence.
Such material almost seems to discover Selick of its own accord and with his past visions, James and the Giant Peach and The Nightmare before Christmas, his use of stop-motion technology and now 3-D, perfectly portrays the mood and atmosphere of the story on screen. Yet, there is such a thing about being too quirky and outwardly eccentric and it is this self-awareness and bizarre coldness that keeps Coraline from reaching the heights that it may have been destined to acquire. This is however a strong contender for this years Oscar ceremony and I truly hope Selick will finally be recognized for his accomplishments in the fields of animation, stop-motion and film-making and storytelling as a whole.
Peppered with well assigned and memorable voice-work, the stars anchor the film further yet into such a memorable fantasy. Staring as the scrappy youngster Coraline is Dakota Fanning, who proves she is a very capable voice actress. Moving with her writer parents to the somewhat eerie Pink Palace Apartments, Coraline feels isolated both from her mother (Teri Hatcher) and father (John Hodgman) who are buried in their work while being separated from her friends back home. She entertains herself by visiting her odd neighbours, and avoiding the only other kid nearby, Wybie (Robert Bailey Jr.). One night however, a small door in the wall of the creaky apartment seems to call to Coraline and a wonderful alternate world reveals itself. This land of fantasy is filled with kindness, gifts and love (even though its residents have buttons for eyes); the opposite of the world Coraline has grown to hate. But soon a sinister essence begins to show itself and the young heroine must choose between this new world and the one she wishes to leave behind.
Of the few problems that impede Coraline, one of the most detrimental is the somewhat solemn and depressing mood of the film which is sure to put off some children, even if not the accompanying adults. Coraline's parents are distant and somewhat cruel to their daughter as they bury themselves in work and neglect her desire to simply have fun. Even worse, is that there is no catharsis to this character flaw at the finale, and it left me somewhat emotionless. There is also the aforementioned issue with the sometimes hugely apparent, self-referent wackiness, although I won't hold that against Selick and his personal vision. Above all, Coraline differentiates itself from other stop- motion films and will hopefully anchor itself as this generations Nightmare. Parents and older children will be engrossed by the visuals and those older will be given plenty to admire, even love and those younger will be given a film they can love more with each passing year.
7.5 / 10.0
Read all my reviews at: www.simonsaysmovies.blogspot.com