A new Classic movie to remember

Rating: 10/10 (11 February 2009)

I've always loved good kids movies, because good kids movies do more then entertain kids, they entertain the whole family (Not a good idea to bore the parents taking their kids to see a movie to tears with drek). I also have special movies of my own childhood, and I appreciate movies that really push things to the limit of what should be appropriate for children to see, old classics such as 'Return to Oz', 'A Mouse and Child', and 'Monster Squad' to name a few.
This movie really seems to fit along those lines. It's not a simply happy tale like you might expect a kids movie to be, this movie has bite too it, hence the PG rating rather then a tame G rating. This movie also has some of the best work done on it I've seen in a while. I've seen stop motion before, even the latest one which I believe was the Corpse Bride. But this one was so well done, there were many parts of the movie, the majority of it, that was so well done, I could not tell it was stop motion. It looked far too good, more along the lines of CG films like Wall-e and Shrek. That takes skill and time and effort you never see in movies anymore, where making a quick buck is not the exception, but the rule.
The story is simple at first, a girl moves to a new home, an old house that has been converted into a 3 level apartment, and is struggling to deal with her parents, who are hard pressed with their work and too busy or tired to deal with the attention demanding girl. She is forced to deal with her neighbors, a crazy and eccentric circus performer and two retired bickering actresses for neighbors, a black cat that gives her the creeps, and a typical loudmouthed and rambunctious boy named Wybie, short for Whyborn. He annoys Coraline (mostly because he is a boy and also because of the fact that he was raised out in the boonies, he has few social graces) but gives her a doll he found in his home, which for some reason is identical to Coraline. Not long after Coraline stumbles onto a strange small door in the gathering room of their flat, but finds the door is not only locked but leads to a brick wall. Its not until that night that Coraline follows a mouse (Her eccentric circus neighbor claims to train dancing mice in his home) to the door, but finds it now leads down a dark tunnel, which leads to a mirror image of her own home, only its populated by strange versions of everyone in her world. Mostly she finds it a dream come true, her 'Other' mother and father, everything Coraline wishes her real parents were, doting on her with gifts and attention, meanwhile her neighbors are transformed into successful versions of themselves and perform for Coraline's amusement. The only other difference is that everything and everyone in this other world has buttons for eyes, and as Coraline visits this place every night, she is offered the chance to stay and be happy if she replaces her own eyes with buttons
I honestly think this movie should be something every child should see. It has moments in it that are so dark and twisted it reminded me of such things as the Silent Hill games, so I'd say make sure your kid does not scare easily. But then again kids need something to scare the snot outta them once in a while, it builds character. Too many things now are pacified, defanged and declawed, left harmless. This movie is sweet and endearing, but can also make you writhe in your seat and even jump from it at times (the 3D does tend to help with this). Honestly I have to say that this movie spooked me out a lot more then any horror movie I've seen in recent memory. It's use of subtle changes and twisting images that we would normally find comforting and safe to be concerning and insecure. I'm immediately reminded of such films as Return to Oz where everything we remembered from the first movie was rendered stagnant, dangerous, and decrepit, leaving you to feel very unsafe in a familiar yet horribly unfamiliar environment.
Hopefully, we will see more films like this, and maybe more film makers will be willing to put a bit more effort into their works, focusing on creating classics rather then market success. As for this film, I would recommend it to everyone. Give your kids a good scare, they could probably use one, as it builds character. If you are concerned about scaring your kids too badly, then make it a point to not admit your kids unless they are around 8 or 7. This story definitely reminds me of the older stories children were once told to scare them to sleep or keep them in line, though this one is far more entertaining.