Laika's 'Coraline' Challenges Pixar's Dominance

Rating: 9/10 (14 February 2009)

Last year, 2008, DreamWorks Animation Studios pulled a fast one on all of us by offering up an animated film that seemed poised to steal the coveted Best Animated Picture award at this year's Oscars, Kung Fu Panda. Awards king Pixar Studios, however, wasn't about to let that one go unanswered, as they subsequently unleashed their greatest masterpiece yet, WALL-E, the critical darling of the year and would-be Best Picture candidate.
This year, freshly-minted animation studio Laika has delivered what is likely to be the greatest blow to Pixar in many a blue moon, Coraline. Director Henry Selick, known for his The Nightmare Before Christmas job, improves on his previous effort with superior animation, pacing, and storytelling. Selick has crafted here an entrancing and original piece of art that, I believe, will reign supreme in next year's Best Animated Feature Oscar category. Coraline manages to be quite subtle in its first half, with a slow-burning tension and quiet, offsetting realism most films only dream of achieving. The anticipation builds as a bizarre and charming cast of characters are introduced, with purposes not entirely disclosed until we reach the wholly surprising final half. This set-up is incredible, and the multiple payoffs are even more so.
At precisely the moment the audience is begging for the characteristic grotesqueness of Selick's stop-motion animation features, the film explodes in a torrent of surreal, chilling, effectively creepy sequences that are relentlessly inventive. From a very mysterious, shadowlike feline, to the frightening spider-themed villain. From a walk around the circumference of an imagined dreamland, to a haunting circus tent, to a nightmarish garden, the settings here act as their own characters with astounding effectiveness.
This film has an extraordinarily classic feel to it, which may elicit audience members to reach back into their subconsciousness, asking themselves, "where have I seen this movie before?" You haven't, you only think you have because the story is so intrinsic that it feels like an amalgamation of every children's story you've ever heard in your life. No, this film is strikingly original, and it feels right at home tucked into the recesses of our mind where those other disturbing and unforgettable tales reside.
With haunting intensity, Laika has managed to craft here one of the greatest animated films of the decade. As we continue to follow Laika's future projects, I am hopeful that the added competition exhibited by animated films in recent years will allow some of our finest filmmakers around to pump out more and more masterpieces. My prediction for 2009 is that Laika's Coraline will outdo Pixar's newest offering, Up, in critical praise, and end-of-the-year awards.
9.5/10