Coraline

Plot synopsis:
As the credits appear, a pair of metallic hands with spindly fingers summons a doll from the dark abyss outside a window. The hands dismantle the doll, which is wearing a pink dress and has curly brown hair, and reassemble it into a new doll with blue hair, a yellow raincoat, and galoshes. Then they send it back into the void.Coraline Jones (voice: Dakota Fanning), a girl of 11 or so, moves with her parents, Mel and Charlie (voices: Teri Hatcher and John Hodgman), from their house in Michigan to their new home at the Pink Palace Apartments in Oregon. It is a rather dilapidated pink Victorian house divided into three flats, surrounded by forest and shaded by an almost constantly overcast sky. While her parents assist the movers, Coraline goes exploring, taking a stick and using it as a dowsing rod. She lets it guide her along a trail beyond the house until she arrives at the top of the hill. A black cat emerges from the woods and studies her on its perch. Coraline asks if it knows where the old well is before she is startled by an air horn. A bicyclist wearing a skull-painted helmet appears and circles Coraline. After she knocks him off his bike, he removes his helmet and introduces himself as Wybie -- short for Wyborne -- Lovat (voice: Robert Bailey Jr.), grandson of the owner of the Pink Palace. He shows Coraline the location of the old well, right under her feet, and admits surprise that his grandmother would allow a family with a kid to move in; not even he is allowed near the Pink Palace, though he says he's not supposed to explain why. He pets the cat and explains that he cares for it despite the fact that it's feral before he hears his grandmother calling to him. He mounts his bike and informs Coraline that the stick she's holding is actually poison oak.Back at the house, as it starts to rain, Coraline attempts to gain the attention of her parents who are busy writing pieces for a gardening catalog (which Coraline finds absurdly ironic since her parents dislike handling dirt). Her mother gives Coraline a doll that looks just like her, telling her that it was left on their porch. Attached to the doll is a note from Wybie explaining that he found it in his grandmother's trunk and thought she would like it since it looks like her. Coraline takes the doll and goes to see her father who tells her to explore the house and write down what she sees ... as long as she will let him work. Doll in hand, Coraline takes note of everything in their flat, including a painting of a sullen-looking boy in blue clothes above the fireplace. Finishing her notes, she discovers that her doll, which she'd left on a nearby table in the drawing room, has mysteriously moved beneath a mattress leaning against the wall. Coraline moves the mattress to find the outline of a small door behind the wallpaper. Noticing a keyhole and no other way to open it, Coraline begs her mother to help her. They find a black skeleton key in a kitchen drawer with a button end and find that it fits the keyhole perfectly. However, when they open the door, they see nothing but a solid brick wall. Irritated, Coraline's mother tells her to let her finish her work.That evening, Coraline is sent to bed early after complaining about the grimy-looking dinner her father prepared. In the middle of the night, she is awoken by a squeaking sound and looks down to see a mouse in her room. She follows it out of her room and downstairs to the drawing room where it disappears behind the small door in the wall which has been cracked open. Coraline opens the door and discovers that a wide and colorful passage has opened up. She crawls through it and emerges out the other end to find herself in the drawing room again, however, this one is brighter and even the painting of the boy above the fireplace looks cheerful. She smells something from the kitchen and wanders over to find her mother cooking. When her mother turns to greet her, Coraline sees that she has black buttons for eyes. Coraline's shock subsides when her 'mother' explains that she's her Other Mother and that everyone has one. She tells Coraline to collect her Other Father in his study before dinner. Coraline obliges and finds her Other Father, looking lively and fun, playing piano with a pair of puppet hands protruding from it. He sings a song for Coraline, bringing a smile to her face, before they all sit down to dinner.The Other World food is delightful and served with plenty of flair. Coraline can hardly contain her excitement at finding that her Other parents are more fun than her real ones, showing their enjoyment for mud and explaining that it's a natural remedy for poison oak. When Other Mother offers to play a game, Coraline expresses concern that she'd better go back home and to bed. Other Mother takes Coraline up to her 'other' room, which is strewn with colored streamers and toys that speak, including a picture on her nightstand with her two best friends from Michigan (voices: Harry Selick and Marina Budovsky). Her Other Mother rubs mud on the poison oak on her hands before putting Coraline to bed. Coraline quickly falls asleep. She wakes up the next morning to find herself back in her old room. She is disappointed but sees that the poison oak has disappeared from her hands. When she tries to open the small door again, she finds that it's bricked up as before.She tries to tell her parents all about her adventures the previous night, but they dismiss it as a vivid dream. Her mother suggests she tell her dream to the actresses living downstairs, although she calls them ding-bats. Out on the porch, Coraline trips over a pile of mail addressed to a Mr. Bobinsky; the man who lives upstairs. She goes to his door but is prevented entry by the eccentric Bobinsky (voice: Ian McShane), a tall and acrobatic Russian man with a blue complexion; possibly due to his role in the Chernobyl cleanup which is indicated by the medal worn on his shirt. He accepts the packages which contain foul-smelling cheese. He tells Coraline (whom he misnames 'Caroline') that he is training circus mice and hopes the cheese will alleviate their apparent musical difficulties. Before Coraline leaves, he leaps down from his balcony to issue a warning from his mice: "They say, 'do not go through little door'."Halfway accepting her experiences as nothing but a dream, Coraline dismisses the message and heads to the lower flat to visit Miss Spink and Miss Forcible (voices: Jennifer Saunders and Dawn French), two retired burlesque actresses who clearly have not gotten over their past days. Coraline is offered tea as the actresses reminisce and tend to their many Scottie dogs, some of which are dead and stuffed on shelves on the wall, dressed in angel outfits. Miss Spink reads Coraline's tea leaves and predicts that she is in danger, seeing a gnarled hand in the leaves, while Miss Forcible sees a giraffe from her perspective.Coraline goes outside, where a thick fog has covered the ground. She discovers Wybie spying on her with a three-turret lens, although he insists he's hunting for banana slugs. The cat rests on Wybie's shoulders as he skulks around, inspiring Coraline to call him a 'wuss-puss' which insults the cat, though Wybie says he just doesn't like getting his feet wet. The two share laughs as Coraline takes pictures of Wybie holding a slug before he admits that he's never been inside the Pink Palace because his grandmother thinks it's dangerous. He says that his grandmother had a twin sister and, while they lived there as children, she disappeared. His grandmother seems to think she was stolen, but Coraline offers that maybe she just ran away. She asks Wybie about the doll's resemblance to her, but Wybie says that he found it as is and that it must be as old as the house. Coraline is skeptical: why would it look just like her?That night, Coraline leaves out bits of cheese in her bedroom and goes to sleep, hoping for another visit from the mice. Sure enough, she's woken later by their squeaking and follows them through the open portal. She finds her Other Mother cooking in the kitchen, using the very cheese Coraline laid out. She tells Coraline to fetch her Other Father, who is in the garden. Coraline finds him planting colorful, fluorescent flowers and snapdragons, using a tractor shaped like a praying mantis. Other Father takes Coraline for a ride on the mantis as it sprouts propellors and flies them above the gardens. Overhead, Coraline sees that the entire garden has been fashioned into her likeness. After another bountiful dinner, Other Mother opens the front door to introduce Other Wybie. She explains that she made this one so that he doesn't talk because she thought Coraline would like it. Coraline is pleased with her silent friend and they go to Mr. Bobinsky's flat together for a surprise. Inside, pedal-controlled cannons shoot cotton candy and popcorn machines line the walls. A circus tent is erected in the center of the apartment and Coraline and Other Wybie go in to see Bobinsky's mice put on a musical show, bouncing on circus balls. At the finale, Other Bobinsky appears, looking dapper in a ringmaster's coat and hat, and thanks them for their applause. Coraline is later led to bed, happily satisfied with the night's events, and falls asleep with Other Mother, Other Father, and Other Wybie sitting beside her.The next morning, Coraline grunts as she finds herself in her own bed once more. Her mother takes her into town the next day to shop for school clothes. They drop off her father at the train station so that he can deliver the latest edition of the catalog to the editor. At the store, Coraline approaches her mother with a pair of colorful gloves which Mel refuses to buy, looking instead at drab and grey uniform pieces. Coraline shuns her mother on the ride home, especially when Mel reveals that she locked the small door after finding rat excrement near it. Seeing that the fridge is nearly devoid of food, Mel offers to buy some groceries and asks Coraline to accompany her. Coraline refuses and Mel leaves, looking slightly saddened. Taking opportunity of her solitude, Coraline takes the skeleton key from its perch and investigates the small door, finding the passage surprisingly open. She eagerly crawls through as the feral cat watches her disapprovingly from outside. In Other World, Coraline finds the house seemingly empty, though the kitchen table is laden with treats and different foods along with a gift box containing a new outfit for her to wear. A note next to it from Other Mother explains that Other Spink and Other Forcible have something to show Coraline after lunch.Outside, Coraline comes upon the cat and remarks that he must be a copy but is missing the trademark button eyes. She is shocked when the cat speaks (voice: Keith David). He tells Coraline that he is the real world cat and has the ability to transverse the barriers between worlds, despite Other Mother's attempts to keep him out; she hates cats. He admits it's a type of game they play before warning Coraline of Other Mother's true intentions. He claims Other Wybie told him of the dangers and, when Coraline doesn't believe him, tells her that cats have superior senses. He then detects something in the distance and runs off. Coraline continues to Spink and Forcible's apartment which has been turned into a large auditorium occupied by hundreds of Scottie dogs. She finds Other Wybie in the front row and sits beside him as the show starts. The Spink and Forcible that we know, albeit with painted button eyes, perform individual skits in rather unflattering outfits before their competition for the spotlight brings the stage props crashing down. The curtain closes and the second act starts; Spink and Forcible appear on either end of the stage, standing on diving boards while a bucket of water is pushed to center stage. Then, they literally jump out of their skins as their older facades unzip and their youthful, skinny selves effortlessly swing on trapeze wires. They include Coraline in the act, swinging her around the auditorium and catching her as they land on the bucket, to much applause and barking.Coraline returns to Other Mother's apartment, raving about the show while Other Wybie stays behind looking sullen. As Other Mother ushers Coraline inside, she motions to Other Wybie to smile. She takes Coraline into the dining room and tells her that, if she wants to, she can stay forever but needs to perform one little thing. She places a box in front of Coraline who opens it to see two black buttons with sewing thread and a needle. Other Mother cheerfully tells Coraline that buttons are available in any color but Coraline vehemently refuses to sew buttons into her eyes. She requests to go to bed early to think things over and goes to her room where she stuffs her talking toys away and hides the picture of her button-eyed friends. She lies in bed and prays to go to sleep.When she wakes, she jumps out of bed, only to find that she's still in Other World. She goes downstairs and finds Other Father morosely playing the piano with his puppet hands. Coraline demands to see Other Mother because she wants to go home, but Other Father tells her they mustn't talk when 'mother's' not around. When Coraline says that she's going to look for Other Wybie, Other Father tells her there's no point; "Wybie pulled a looooong face and 'mother' didn't like it," his own face elongating horribly as he says so before he is silenced by the puppet hands. Coraline runs outside and begins to walk away from the house. The cat approaches her and they walk together as the Other World begins to deteriorate into nothing. The cat tells Coraline that the Other Mother only created what she knew Coraline would like and soon they find themselves walking straight back towards the house. "Small world," Coraline comments.The cat reveals that the Other Mother wants her, possibly for something to love ... or to eat. Suddenly, he lunges into a bush and comes out with a circus mouse in his mouth. As his jaws clamp down, the mouse transforms into an ugly sandbag rat. "I don't like rats at the best of times, but this one was sounding an alarm," the cat says before moving on. Coraline walks back into the house and enters the drawing room where the small door has been blocked by a beetle-shaped bureau. The other furniture comes to life, looking like insects, and seats Coraline in front of Other Mother, eating coco beetles. Coraline demands to be allowed to go home but Other Mother grows angry and tells Coraline to apologize as she counts to three. While she counts, her body begins to transform, growing grotesquely tall and elongated. (Eventually she is shown to be a spider.) At the count of three, the disfigured Other Mother grabs Coraline and throws her through a mirror into a dank room with a single bed. She tells Coraline she may come out when she 'learns to be a loving daughter.'Sensing someone in the room with her, Coraline turns to see three ghostly children, two girls and a boy (voices: Hannah Kaiser, Aankha Neal, and George Selick), who tell her to be quiet, for the Beldam might be listening. (Beldam means ugly old woman, but it has connotations of witchcraft and recalls characters from literature and folklore: the title character of John Keats's poem "La Belle Dame Sans Merci", in which a knight is enthralled by a fairy; and the witch who entices and captures Hansel and Gretel.) The ghosts reveal that they don't remember their names, but remember how the Beldam used dolls in their image to spy on them and see what made them unhappy. They tell how she lured them into Other World, giving them games and treats, telling them that she loved them. Wanting more, the children allowed the Beldam to sew the buttons into their eyes, but she ate up their lives and cast their souls aside, locking them inside the mirror. They say that their eyes were stolen and hidden and ask that, if Coraline escapes, she set their souls free by finding their eyes. Coraline says that she'll try before she's pulled through the mirror by Other Wybie, whose mouth has been sewn into a wide grin. Coraline pulls the thread out before Other Wybie brings her to the small door. He opens it and shoves her through. When she asks him to come with her, he pulls off one of his gloves, revealing that he's nothing inside but sand. He then shuts the door as the Beldam calls for Coraline. She crawls back to the real world and calls out for her real parents.However, she finds no one home. The groceries that her mother had gone out to get lie on the kitchen table, moldy and covered in flies. When a knock sounds at the door, Coraline eagerly opens it only to see the real Wybie, who tells her that he needs the doll back. His grandmother is angry because the doll once belonged to her missing sister, but Coraline tells him that the doll once looked like the three ghost children. She realizes that the third child, the girl with the braids and ribbons, was Grandma Lovat's missing sister. She brings Wybie upstairs to give him the doll, explaining everything along the way. Coraline describes to an incredulous Wybie how the doll is meant to spy on everything that's wrong with a child's life before the Other Mother gives false promises to trap them. When she can't find the doll, Wybie runs from the house screaming that Coraline is crazy. She throws her shoes at him and runs outside to see her parents' car, but no one is there. A phone call to her father brings no answers either.Coraline visits Spink and Forcible as Spink is sewing an angel outfit on her dog Angus, claiming that he hasn't been feeling well lately. When Coraline worries about her missing parents, Spink and Forcible break a ball of hard taffy candy to reveal a small triangular seeing stone with a hole in it. They give it to Coraline, saying that it's useful for bad or lost things (they can't agree on which one specifically). Coraline then returns home and creates likenesses of her parents out of pillows in their bed before crying herself to sleep. She wakes up in the middle of the night to see the cat sitting on her chest, looking at her closely. She asks him if he knows where her parents are. He pulls Coraline's doll out from under the bed but, instead of looking like her, the doll is two-faced, resembling each of her parents. In the hallway mirror, Coraline sees an image of her parents shivering in the cold and writing 'help us' on the frosted glass. She goes downstairs and lights a fire on the hearth, throwing the doll into the flames to curl up and burn. Knowing her parents can't return on their own, she resolves to rescue them and dons her favorite army hat, a vest, and puts the triangle stone, some tools, and the skeleton key in her pockets.As she and the cat go through the small door, the cat pipes up and tells her to challenge the Other Mother to a game; she never refuses games. Though the Beldam won't play fair, this gives Coraline the best chance. When Coraline emerges, she hears her mother calling to her and finds her in the drawing room. She goes to hug her mother, but the figure transforms into the Beldam. She takes the skeleton key from Coraline and, after locking the small door, swallows it. Other Father, reduced to a squat, blubbering mess, puts Coraline into a chair before he is dragged away by the furniture after the Beldam inquires about tending to the garden. The Beldam then takes Coraline into the kitchen to serve her breakfast, asking her again to stay. Coraline proposes a game: if she is able to find her real parents and the eyes of the ghost children, the Beldam must let them all go. If Coraline is unsuccessful, she will stay and let the Beldam sew the buttons into her eyes. Coraline then demands a clue, which the Beldam relents to give: "In each of three wonders I've made just for you, a ghost's eye is lost in plain sight."Coraline's search begins in the garden, where some hummingbird plants attempt to steal the triangular stone. Finding this curious, Coraline looks through the hole in the stone to see that the world appears grey, except for one colorful ball of light: the first eye. It is disguised as the shift knob on the praying mantis tractor. Other Father starts the tractor and chases Coraline with it. He apologizes, claiming that 'mother' is making him do it. As the mantis chases Coraline across the garden pond's bridge, it collapses, sending the tractor and Other Father into the water. Before he submerges, Other Father grabs the eye and hands it over to Coraline. With the eye in hand, the entire garden dies and turns to stone.Meanwhile the moon overhead is beginning to eclipse -- a time limit on Coraline's search. She makes her way to Spink and Forcible's place, which has deteriorated. The Scottie dogs now reside on the ceiling, looking more like bats, and the actresses have cocooned themselves in a taffy-like wrapper on the stage. Coraline sees one of them holding the second eye as a pearl ring and reaches into the wrapper to get it. However, she wakes the actresses, their tangled bodies resembling taffy, and they shriek and grab at her. Coraline shines her flashlight at the dogbats overhead, agitating them and inciting them to fly down at her. She ducks in time for the dogs to collide with the actresses and Coraline gains control of the eye. The auditorium turns to grey stone and Spink and Forcible disintegrate with the dogs.Next, Coraline goes to Other Bobinsky's apartment where she sees, dangling from a pole on the balcony, the empty clothes of Other Wybie. She shouts to the Beldam that she's not scared before entering the apartment. Bobinsky emerges from the shadows, reduced to only his ringmaster coat and hat, asking why Coraline would want to leave a perfect world. She answers that he couldn't understand since he's merely a copy of the real Bobinsky. Using the stone, she finds the third eye inside Other Bobinsky's hat. She removes his hat to retrieve it but his clothes fall away to reveal the circus rats within. The head rat shrieks at her and attempts to flee with the eye in its mouth. The others try to sabotage Coraline and, as a last resort, she throws the triangular seeing stone at the head rat as it exits the doggy door of Bobinsky's apartment. She misses. She chases the rat onto the balcony which begins to fall apart and collapses. Coraline falls to the ground below and begins to cry when she realizes that she's lost the rat, and the game. The eclipse of the moon completes, revealing the shadow to be that of a button.The cat then appears with the rat in its mouth and relinquishes the last eye. Coraline thanks him and then, together, they go back inside to find her real parents, the paint on the walls thinning and peeling off. She meets the Beldam in the drawing room, darker and filled with webbing. The Beldam herself has been reduced to her true form; a large, spidery figure with spindly fingers and cracked, white skin. She sneers at the cat and holds up the triangular stone before throwing it into the fire. Without her tool, Coraline is forced to use her wit to guess the location of her parents. She announces that her parents are behind the small door in the wall. The Beldam coughs up the key and as she goes to open the door, Coraline sees her parents miniaturized and trapped within a snowglobe on the mantle. With the door open, the Beldam turns to Coraline, chuckling and saying that she's now trapped in Other World forever. "No I'm not!" Coraline shouts, throwing the cat at the Beldam, grabbing the snowglobe and stuffing it in her pocket. The cat scratches out the Beldam's button eyes and the room falls apart, leaving nothing but a low net of webbing. The cat howls and runs through the small door as Coraline struggles to avoid falling into the center of the net. As she climbs, the vibrations are felt by the sightless Beldam who climbs after her. Coraline manages to get through the small door just in time as the Beldam shrieks and wails that she will die without her. Coraline slams the small door shut in the real world and locks it.Coraline's parents 'come home' and she runs over to embrace them, though they scold her for breaking the snowglobe and cutting her knee. Despite the snow melting off their shoulders, they have no recollection of what happened and announce that they're going out to eat that night in celebration of the published catalog. After discussing invitations for a garden party, Coraline's parents put her to bed. Her mother leaves a box on her bed; it contains the pair of colorful gloves she'd wanted. Coraline goes to sleep, happy to be home at last.She wakes in the middle of the night to see the cat outside her window. Though he is visibly upset with her, she apologizes for throwing him at the Beldam and he snuggles up beside her in bed as she places the three ghost children's eyes under her pillow. She dreams that they are finally free spirits and they thank her but warn her that the Beldam lives and will never stop looking for her. Coraline awakes to find that the eyes are broken beneath her pillow but realizes that the skeleton key is what the Beldam is after and she must hide it. She dresses and leaves, resolving to dump the key inside the well at the top of the hill. However, the Beldam's spindly hand, having escaped through the door, follows her. When it discovers her intent, it attacks her and attempts to take the key back. Coraline struggles with it until Wybie appears to help, riding his bike and blowing his air horn. He grabs at the key but the hand trips him up and he falls into the well, dangling as he holds onto some roots. Before the hand can stab at him, Coraline wraps it in her shawl which it quickly rips through. Before it can pounce again, Wybie, having gotten himself out of the well, drops a large rock on it, breaking it. He and Coraline wrap the hand and rock together in the shawl and tie it with the key string before dropping it into the well.Wybie apologizes for not believing Coraline and shows her a picture of his grandmother as a child...with her twin sister holding an identical doll. He then hears his grandmother calling for him again and Coraline tells him to bring her to the garden party the next day where they will tell her everything together. At the party, everyone gathers to help plant flowers in the garden and Coraline distributes cold drinks. Wybie escorts his grandmother to the party and Coraline offers her a drink, saying that she has so much to tell her.Just beyond the house, the cat sits on the sign post in front of the Pink Palace. He stretches and walks along the beam, passing the tip of the post and vanishing from sight.

Tags: dark, fantasy, boring, depressing, gothic, whimsical, cult, horror, alternate reality, psychedelic, storytelling

Review:
After discovering the odd neighbors all of whom are true characters, she is still bored somehow.All of this immense undertaking is courtesy writer and director Henry Selick, director of Nightmare Before Christmas, and the well crafted adaptation of Neil Gaiman's international best-selling children's novel.
is a masterful movie and an exciting tale of mystery and imagination.In the rotting nooks and crannies of Coraline's new home the real story begins and where she discovers a hidden doorway behind the wallpaper.
Only her parents' eyes now black buttons give a clue that something isn't quite right.Selick has created a world as much for adults as children as there are references dotted throughout that the young won't understand.
Hauntingly beautiful, well choreographed, and, plain and simple, a bit terrifying; it really hooked your attention and promised a good time.However, there were two problems throughout the movie that I could spot:One was that some scenes were a little choppy in the animation; almost like they hadn't quite taken enough pictures to make it run smoothly.
Life is not about getting it all right now, but instead a slow and steady climb built on love and trust, one whose benefits far outweigh the whirlwind romance that is never truly as it seems.Remember folks, this is a story that won the 2002 Bram Stoker Award for Best Work for Young Readers; it's not all sing-songy like Selick's masterpiece A Nightmare Before Christmas.
Less of a horror story than the novella and more of a dark fantasy, "Coraline" features a well-written and well-drawn lead character and brings the novel's bizarre world to life without compromise.
I missed the singing rats from the novella, but this was more than compensated for by the visual splendor of the garden scene, and there are numerous other examples of the changes from the novel making total sense as Selick's vision of the story differs from Gaiman, but doesn't betray the original work of art, only compliments it.
The strength is in three areas: visuals (scenery, characters, and little 'details'), style (this is movie is simply a work of art - a very dark and offbeat style) and emotional impact (the film visually evokes a lot of childhood feelings about growing up).The basic setup: A little girl and her parents move into a big, mysterious old home.
I had had tastes of the film from the trailers, but the general consensus was that Henry Selick had tarnished Gaiman's story, turning it into 'Disney fodder.' The truth is: the film manages to be both charming and creepy.For those not in the know, "Coraline" tells the tale of Coraline Jones, who moves to a new town and a house with several strange characters.
Seeing minute details such as Coraline's clothing made of actual material makes the world seem even more magical, where invisible giants manipulate the Lilliputians in this miniature world.Dakota Fanning, Teri Hatcher, and a number of other vocal actors give voice to a number of wonderful characters, with Hatcher really doing double and triple-duty with her vocal talents.
The minor characters in this story, by the way: such as "Mr. Bobinsky," "Miss Forcible" and "Miss Spink" - are a real hoot.I'd say this film is more for adults than kid, especially if one appreciates great artwork and creativity..
so right away i knew i was in for a pretty great movie visually, if nothing else.as it turns out, the musical score was amazing, as well as the 3-D animation and the storyline.to those who think it won't be as creepy as the book.
That's great because there aren't many, and it must be difficult to display a colorful world with the right amount of frightening elements not to leave a child having bad dreams up to adulthood.Coraline is a girl who wishes she'd had more attention from her parents, a prettier place to live and better neighbors.
After she discovers the entrance to an apparently enhanced version of her reality, she'll soon find out that too much perfection can't be real.Good and imaginative story, delighting visuals, creepiness from the beginning and a couple scary scenes make this an enjoyable film..
That said, I'm sure that Coraline looks almost just as beautiful in 2D, as nearly all of the environments are just so incredibly lush, and the ones that aren't are bizarre and spooky.Ontop of being one of the best 3D films I've ever seen, this is also one of the scariest animated films - period - that I've watched.
When the Other Mother invites Coriline to stay in her world forever, the girl refuses and finds that the alternate reality where she is trapped is only a trick to lure her."Coraline" is a dark and creepy animation that follows the style of Tim Burton in "Corpse Bride" or "The Nightmare Before Christmas" with non- likable characters.
Of course, working from a story written by graphic novel wizard Neil Gaiman certainly has its advantages.The star and titular character of the story, Coraline, is the perfect imaginative kid for a perfect imaginative tale, set in a similar vein as the children from Narnia or even Dorothy Gale if both were re-imagined by the aforementioned Tim Burton, even though Gaiman is absolutely no stranger to all things eerie as this tale clearly shows.
Meanwhile, the viewer is whisked away into yet another gorgeous world of stop-motion animation where Selick's imaginative realism borders on pop-art candy for kids and something more sinisterly macabre that would certainly induce nightmares for the under-10 crowd, which includes ghost children, a wanna-be mouse-circus ringleader, and retired actresses whose age could be counted like the rings of a tree.As it is easy enough to imagine, the promises and threats of the Other-world soon have real implications in the real one.
Aside from the goth-lite plot and a nearly-too convenient wrap-up, Selick does his very best to keep the craft of his animation at the peak of its form while also using it to benefit the story, something that Burton seemed to forget in the not- quite-as-hip CORPSE BRIDE (2005).Fun, beautiful to watch and perhaps mistargeted to a kiddie crowd that Pixar usually caters to, CORALINE is a winner.
If that's true, than Coraline is like a modern day Don Bluth movie.OK, negatives first, Whybie got annoying at times, it has a few immature moments that clash with the dark tone and it doesn't work, and it might be a little too dark for kids.This is a creepy flick, the colors and lighting really add to the dark atmosphere.
But soon a sinister essence begins to show itself and the young heroine must choose between this new world and the one she wishes to leave behind.Of the few problems that impede Coraline, one of the most detrimental is the somewhat solemn and depressing mood of the film which is sure to put off some children, even if not the accompanying adults.
But still, what truly makes this movie is the haunting story and that is probably what will hopefully make it memorable.I don't know if I would be bringing the babies into this film, but I did read the novel to my first graders last year and they enjoyed it.
Well, actually it turns out that, as well as countless other films, this is not a film for very young children – by which I mean children who are not yet old enough to be able to cope with a narrative and be able to take their heads into a story, there is not a specific age on that, which is why generally one expects parents to do the job of weighing that up on behalf of the humans they created.As I'm not a parent I'll not pretend to be able to advise others but I certainly know that the film will scare kids because it is dark enough to make me enjoy it on that level as an adult.
The three characters in peril are never really explained.The 3-D technology was wasted.The film carefully sets up a parallel universe, but then fails to make sense of the parallels, in that the parents are equally weighted in one world but wildly out of balance in the other, with no real reasoning for the discrepancy.Other reviewers praise this as a movie for "kids who think," but it's more likely to be tolerated by the kind of kids who will stare at anything that passes before them.
A step backward for animated film.I did enjoy the voice work of Teri Hatcher, whose acting I have never had cause to notice before, and Jennifer Saunders and Dawn French did their best to drag in some entertainment, though their characters' voices could hardly match the less-enjoyable grotesque images.I have nothing against Neil Gaiman; I am a huge fan of "Stardust." But I can't understand why so many people on IMDb are using phrases like "the best movie known to mankind." A little bit of goth style is enough to dazzle some people, I guess..
If Edward Gorey's American Gothic could be married to Tim Burton's ghoulishness, then what would emerge would be Caroline, a film with the demanding psychology of Neil Gaiman's prose married to the wild imagination of James and the Giant Peach's convoluted film director, Henry Selick.Yes, 3-D-stop animation Coraline is not for everyone, but aficionados of the eccentric should love the complicated story of a young girl, Caroline Jones (Dakota Fanning) thrust Alice-in-Wonderland style into a parallel universe where the mother ( Teri Hatcher) and father (John Hodgman) she might have thought she wanted are nightmarish knockoffs she needs to run from.Although the film shows how Caroline, and by extension all children, must have wit and courage to fight the forces of evil, it also emphasizes the need to accept the eccentricities and remoteness of nerdy, bright parents who may have their own demons to fight before the end of the day.
The Wizard of Oz in spirit influences this film with the parallel universe motif of characters patterned out of real life and the universal message about the goodness of going home.This sometimes macabre and challenging animation is mostly not for children and a puzzler for adults who may not want to be challenged at a time when they struggle with financial monsters threatening their real homes..
It's use of creepy imagery, it's groundbreaking animation and simple yet powerful plot trap you into its horrifying web of a message.I don't feel I need to explain the story, IMDB can do that for me, all I will say though is that the film is a phenomenal moral tale about parenting.
I was nine when I watched this film (yes guys, that does mean I'm only 18 now) but the effect of this film grew on me by each day I thought about it and to this day it still gets better.In the same way The Twilight Zone encapsulated kids of the 60s and Doctor Who had our parents hiding behind sofas, Coraline is an extremely important story psychologically for children and is thrilling to watch.
The moments of my childhood I remember with film feature things like the melting faces moment in Raiders of the Lost Arc, the Rabbit Massacre in Watership Down and of course, Coraline escaping from her Spider Mother.It's the buttons, it's the tapping of the needle legs, it's the screaming children who've lost their eyes, the rats made of sand and the stitched mouth of Wyborn (can't remember spelling) as the mother makes him smile.Every element of this film is designed to scare, thrill, entertain and push the boundaries of what is acceptable.
However, Coraline then finds that there is a magical world behind a small door where a woman, who looks like her mother with button eyes, gives her everything she could ever want and more.
Other characters like Wybie, Mr. Bobinsky, April & Miriam and the cat support Coraline to help confront her fears in the alternate world (especially compared to their heinous alternate forms), and they're memorable enough to leave an impression from their eccentricities alone.Even for a first time feature by a then brand new studio, the animation is very impressive.
The character designs are very good as well.The story follows Coraline Jones, an extremely bratty girl who discovers a small door in her new home that leads to a parallel universe.
The characters, story, animation, music, overall design, and little details in the world and between characters all come together to create one of the most unique movies that I have ever seen.
Coraline herself is a wonderful character, and we get to watch a bored girl with a poor attitude develop the strength to accept that while her world is not perfect, it is what she has, and she can love it for that.This film sets up its macabre and charming tone from the opening shots – under fairly creepy music a hand of needles empties a doll and builds a new one, before sending it floating out of a nearby window.
This is a return to the creepy morality tales of yore, and while young children may have nightmares from the unsettling mood and tone, older children and adults will likely delight in both its imagination and its message.Coraline's title character is a plucky and resilient child (expertly voiced by Dakota Fanning) who has moved to a dusty, lonely old house in Washington with her parents.
Both are neglectful in their own way: her father is caring enough, but is constantly aloof, while her mother (voiced by Teri Hatcher) is so busy that she hardly notices her daughter, and is often annoyed by her when she does.One night, Coraline discovers a portal into a parallel existence: same house, same parents, but here everything is exactly as she wishes it were in reality.
The dream world serves as a perfect metaphor for the cunningly disguised lies of harmful people, as well their tactics of using subtle counterfeits to grant people's wishes in the short run, while slowly entangling (and later chaining) them in the long run.As my mother always said: "If it seems too good to be true, it probably is." With regards to Coraline's dream parents, they may be seen as a practical warning against slick strangers who might lure children away by promising them exactly what they want (much like the "candy man" character in Chitty Chitty Bang-Bang).
Far from a mere gimmick, the 3D in this case actually brings more life to the story, revealing layers and depth that were actually created by hand and filmed, one meticulous frame at a time.Parents should be warned, that while the film contains no real violence, it is full of unsettling images and a creepy atmosphere that will doubtless give nightmares to little ones (much like the wicked witch from The Wizard of Oz, though this is a good deal scarier).
Overall Coraline sends great societal messages and a cute but creepy movie to its audiences and both children and adults with love the horror and thrill for a long time..
The expressions of characters are rich like a human being.The story starts off with an old house where Coraline moves in with her parents.
Adapted from Neil Gaimon's book, comes Coraline, a truly wonderful animated film with lots going for it.
"Coraline" is simply one of the best animated films ever made: The plots is brilliantly developed, the animation is detailed and beautiful to look at, the characters are fascinating and interesting, and the world created by Neil Gaiman and Henry Selick it's simply captivating, but mysterious and dangerous and well.Clearly influenced by "Alice in Wonderland", "Coraline" is charming and macabre at the same time: At first "The Other World" seems like a dream come true, but there is also a constant sense of danger in the air.Dakota Fanning makes a great work as the main character, and Teri Hatcher is flawless in her role of the Mother (And the Other Mother as well) of Coraline, not to mention the excellent performance of Keith David as the cat."Coraline" is one of the best movies of the recent years, and it is the best movie of Henry Selick as director since "The Nightmare before Christmas.".
"Coraline" is simply one of the best animated films ever made: The plots is brilliantly developed, the animation is detailed and beautiful to look at, the characters are fascinating and interesting, and the world created by Neil Gaiman and Henry Selick it's simply captivating, but mysterious and dangerous and well.Clearly influenced by "Alice in Wonderland", "Coraline" is charming and macabre at the same time: At first "The Other World" seems like a dream come true, but there is also a constant sense of danger in the air.Dakota Fanning makes a great work as the main character, and Teri Hatcher is flawless in her role of the Mother (And the Other Mother as well) of Coraline, not to mention the excellent performance of Keith David as the cat."Coraline" is one of the best movies of the recent years, and it is the best movie of Henry Selick as director since "The Nightmare before Christmas.".
From the mind of Neil Gaiman comes Coraline, a sweet and beautiful stop motion movie about a little girl who moves into a new home and discovers a secret world on the other side.
It is the visuals that make this movie so great, but the characters, plot and music are all top notch too, which add up to a fantastic film.Coraline (Dakota Fanning) and her family have just moved, and Coraline is bored.
Coraline moves into a new house with her parents and finds that she has other parents who love her through a small door in a wall.Neil Gaiman's neo-classic children's (YA?) book comes to the screen from Laika Studios and specifically Henry Selick as one of the rare stop motion animated features made these days.