Classic spin on "Be careful what you wish for"

Rating: 8/10 (15 November 2009)

What self-respecting kid hasn't, at one time or another, wished for a different set of parents - you know the kind who wouldn't make you brush your teeth or eat your vegetables, and who would let you play in the mud and stay up late at night and have every single thing your greedy little heart could ask for? Well, Coraline finds just such an alternate universe lurking in the corner of the rundown Victorian home that she and her consistently busy and utterly self-absorbed parents have just moved into - a magical world hidden behind a secret locked door where mice dance, cats talk and duplicate parents cater to a beloved child's every whim and fancy. But as the old adage says, "Be careful what you wish for" - and soon Coraline is discovering, much to her dismay, that this "perfect" world and these "perfect" parents may not be quite so perfect after all.
Based on the book by Neil Gaiman, "Coraline" is one of the most enchanting and visually arresting films to have come our way in quite some time. Prime credit for its success goes to writer/director/production designer Henry Selick and his team of 3-D/stop-motion animation wizards who have created a world that is rooted in both reality and fantasy at one and the same time. The triumph begins with the heroine herself, a feisty, naturally curious, no-nonsense kid whom any viewer, regardless of age, will be immediately drawn to. As voiced by Dakota Fanning, Coraline is skeptical without being cynical, and her yearning for a mother and father who might actually pay a little attention to her could not be more universal in its appeal. Like all good fantasies made for kids, "Coraline" finds its truths in its central character - in a lonely child who has been ripped away from her friends, and whose parents are so intensely focused on their own adult interests that they have no time to enter into the world of childish things that naturally concern her (people can't even get her name right, since just about everyone insists on addressing her as Caroline).
But all is not sweetness-and-light even in the bright and colorful "other" world that Coraline visits - not by a long shot. For the movie taps into many of those primal fears - of abandonment, of being seduced by evil with promises of goodies - that loom large in many of our most cherished folk stories and fairy tales. Thus, since "Coraline" does venture into some pretty dark places, it might prove more than a little disturbing for very young audiences. Older kids, on the other hand, will likely enjoy the creepiness and will surely find themselves rooting on this imaginative and resourceful little girl as she uses her courage and intellect to outwit those who would cause her harm.
The animation is first-rate on every level. The characters, with their sharp angles and spindly protuberances, look at times as if they'd just stepped out of a Tim Burton production - and the somber, nightmarish setting, with its dark skies and gnarly trees, conveys that impression as well (not really much of a surprise, actually, since Selick was the director of Burton's "Nightmare Before Christmas"). Yet, "Coraline" never feels derivative of other movies; it is instead a wholly original and beautifully crafted work in its own right - and one you would be foolish and improvident in the extreme to miss out on.