A Wonderous Visual Feat!

Rating: 9/10 (16 February 2009)

Coraline- ****/****
It is ironic that I found a more satisfying experience in terms of pure storytelling craft in a (supposed) children's film, than I do in most films released these days. Henry Selick's Coraline is a dark, stop motion fantasia. The film's roots can be traced back to the fairy tales of the brothers Grimm and the works of Lewis Carroll (as a reconstruction of the fairy tale it recalls the wonderful Pan's Labyrinth), fine company indeed. By essentially reworking Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, the film begins with a predictable premise, but creates two separate worlds that are presented in enchanting 3-D.
Coraline Jones is a young girl who has recently moved to the Pink Palace, an apartment house inhabited by wild characters. However, Coraline is a bitter little girl, who is constantly feeling ignored by her workaholic parents. While exploring her new house, Coraline encounters a mysterious door leading to an alternate world, where everyone Coraline knows is changed to fit Coraline's image of what they should be. However this quasi- Utopia is revealed to be a much more sinister place than Coraline first thought.
Make no mistake, this film belongs to director Henry Selick, who has wrought not one, but two fascinatingly designed worlds, and as the film drives forward Selick continually ups the visual ante, making even the most tired clichés breathe with vibrant, rich life. This is a film with visual wonders to nourish the eye, visuals that follow the story all the way with its darkest implications.
Some have taken the film's script to task. Indeed, Coraline may have benefited from the touch of a writer strong enough to match Selick's visual artistry, but as it stands Coraline is competently written, or at least written well enough to render the script a non-issue.
When it comes down to it, this is a visual film, as most animated features are. In its own plucky way Coraline is as great an achievement as Pixar's Wall-E. Some have complained that the film could lose ten to fifteen minutes, but I disagree. This is a film that I wish was lengthened, allowing this world to be presented without the machinations of plot. I want to be immersed in these worlds, even as the darkness inches closer.