Kudos To Henry Sellick

Rating: 10/10 (13 March 2009)

Henry Sellick is one gem of an animator to be reckoned with. His contribution to stop motion animation is superb. I had my world rocked big time with 'Nightmare Before Christmas',as well as 'James And The Giant Peach'. Sellick mines the harbor of author Neil Gaiman (American Gods)with the story of Coraline, a feisty 11 year-old girl (voiced by Dakota Fanning)who is very unhappy with the fact that she's been moved from her original home (as well as her best friends),to live in a creepy old house, with some pretty weird neighbors. When Coraline finds a portal into a alternate dimension with parents who seem like the ideal parents,Coraline seriously decides to cross over to that realm,for good. Somehow, something seems...well...not quite right. The film gets some good mileage from the other voice talents on parade here (including Terri Hatcher as both her Mothers). This lovingly stop motion animated feature film is available in both 3-D digital projection, as well as standard 2-D,for the benefit of cinemas that do not have the set ups for 3-D,digital projection (if you have the open window of opportunity to see the 3-D edition,by all means,do it--although the 2-D animated prints would be just as much fun). Handed a PG rating by the MPAA,this film serves up some situations that are pretty creepy & scary for the little ones (much like 'Nightmare Before Christmas'was). Older youngsters will eat it up.