Coraline

Rating: 7/10 (26 April 2012)

I saw clips of this film during the time of its release, and I recognised the same style of stop motion animation from Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas, so I had to see this, from director Henry Selick (James and the Giant Peach). Basically Coraline Jones (Dakota Fanning) and her parents, mother Mel (Teri Hatcher) and father Charlie (John Hodgman), have moved from Pontiac, Michigan into a new three-apartment building in Ashland, Oregon called the Pink Palace, which is old and decaying. Also living in the building are retired actresses Misses Spink (Jennifer Saunders) and Forcible (Dawn French), and eccentric Russian acrobat Mr. Sergei Alexander Bobinsky (Ian McShane), but Coraline has left behind her best friends, and feels lonely, bored and ignored by her parents who do almost nothing but computer work. One day though while looking around, Coraline comes across a door covered up by wallpaper, and given the key she unlocks it and travels through the hidden passage, and on the other side is an alternative parallel world. In this world it seems almost exactly the same, but everything is much better in condition, and all the characters have with buttons for eyes, and of course her Other Mother and Other Father are much kinder and caring than the real world, it is like a dream world she has always wanted. Coraline goes through the hidden wall to have well made and delicious meals, have the Other Parents treat her like she wants to, and have some fun, but she can't convince her real parents that the place exists, only the building landlady's geeky grandson Wyborne 'Wybie' Lovat (Robert Bailey Jr.). Coraline knows that this world is not real, and soon there are signs that she is trying to be kept there by the her Other Parents, they invite her to stay and she refuses, and that is when danger comes in to play. They are trying to force her to stay so that can fulfil an evil plan, sew buttons onto her eyes, and turn her into one of them, trapping her forever. But with the help of her friend The Cat (Keith David), in between both worlds, Coraline is able to find her way out of the world, and rids herself of the key so she can never return and can feel fine about staying right where she is. The cast all suit their characters with their voices, especially Fanning as the curious and adventurous girl and Hatcher as both the good (well, regular) and bad mother, the story is full of both fun and peril in equal measure, and the both dark and colourful imagery and animation is near (a few tiny glitches) immaculate, there are some scenes possibly intense for children, but it is an animated fantasy for the whole family. It was nominated the Oscar for Best Animated Feature Film of the Year, it was nominated the BAFTA for Best Animated Film, it won the BAFTA Children's Award for Best Feature Film, and it was nominated the Golden Globe for Best Animated Feature Film. Very good!