Review of Coraline

Plot
Coraline (Fanning) moves to a new home, where she feels neglected by her stressed-out parents. When she finds a door leading to a happier mirror on her own world, with a loving �Other Mother� (Hatcher), everything seems perfect � but there�s danger lurking..

Adults leaving screenings of Coraline have been overheard fretting about how scary it is — and they’re right: it’s terrifying. Children leaving the cinemas, though, have just been bouncing and laughing. Strange, perhaps, but then, this is a strange film. As creepy as it is charming, as bizarre as it is beautiful, this is a true horror movie, but also a warm, brightly coloured children’s fairy tale about the magic behind the everyday.

And don’t forget, children are more resilient than we think. The Wizard Of Oz’s flying monkeys, the set-up of A Little Princess or the Child Catcher in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang are all terrifying at the right age, but it’s rare we remain traumatised by the encounter. Instead, the sight of a young protagonist defeating the forces ranged against him/her by an adult world is one that empowers, leaving kids not cowed but exhilarated.

Our heroine is certainly the sort of role model that any kid could wish for: Coraline — voiced with a Midwestern twang and a whole lot of attitude by Dakota Fanning — is smart, funny and ultimately very courageous. She’s also self-centred, sometimes grumpy and frequently awkward, but this is a well-developed character rather than a Disney princess. She gets irritated when her name is mispronounced, misses the friends she left when she moved home, and has a habit of swinging on a door and making conversation when her parents have no time to listen.

In her defence, her neighbours — Mr. Bobinsky (Ian McShane), the Russian eccentric upstairs and Misses Spink and Forcible (Jennifer Saunders and Dawn French, respectively), two dotty English retired actresses downstairs — do all get her name wrong, while baffling her with their eccentricities. And her parents, voiced by Teri Hatcher and John Hodgman, do leave her to her own devices as they try to rebuild their business in a new town. So who could blame her when she follows a jumping mouse through a hole in the wall, into another world with an ‘Other Mother’ (Hatcher) who is devoted to satisfying her every whim, an ‘Other Father’ who spends all his days dreaming up tunes to sing her praises, and neighbours who put on shows for her amusement?

There’s just one catch: they want to steal her eyes and replace them with buttons. It’s at this point that most of the adults in the cinema start wincing. Coraline, understandably hesitant to agree to such terms, balks, and another side to her Other Mother emerges.

It’s in the Other world that Henry Selick’s gorgeous stop-motion imagination is given full reign. The real world is as bleached of colour as possible, but the Other world is (initially at least) bathed in vibrancy, and there are scenes in the delicately realised gardens that will take your breath away. Hummingbirds call Coraline’s name and glowing snapdragons form a portrait of her that’s only visible from far above — say, aboard the Praying Mantis tractor that her father rides. Touches of CG have been used here and there for full ‘how did they do that?’ effect, but most of the real magic is in the stop-motion detail: the arch of an eyebrow perfectly expressing a character’s attitude, the shine on the icing of a cake making it look edible; the glint on a silver claw adding to its menace.

An extra breath of wonder is added if you manage to see this in 3-D: insects fly around your head and flowers bulge from the screen. While there’s relatively little 3-D-sploitation, in general the technique is used strictly to augment the story, and suffers few of the focus or blurring problems that have lessened the technique’s impact in other films.

And then there’s horror in the last act as the Other Mother’s disguise falls away and her true intentions are made clear. There are chase scenes, hiding scenes and puzzles to be solved as Coraline, never one to shirk a challenge, tries to save herself, her parents and the Other Mother’s previous victims. Swinging her blue bob, and with a determined glare in her expressive eyes, you’d be a fool to doubt that she’s up to it.

Verdict
Terrifying and beautiful, believable and fantastical, this is one of the best children�s films in years and Selick�s finest � better even than The Nightmare Before Christmas.

Reviewer: Helen O'Hara

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Best animated film of the year. Looks stunning in Blu-Ray, very inventive and suprisingly scary. ... Read More

UTB About me
08:37, 09 February 2010 \| Report This Post






Coraline (2009) 4/5 Lemme tell you first this: The most terrifying animation flick I have ever seen. I'd never recommend this creepy,dark but great animated film to my kids. Very well-thought out plot, very creative story and so real! ... Read More

m_er About me
07:15, 29 January 2010 \| Report This Post




Burton Does it Better

Some of the visuals were stunning but I felt the film was too slow-going and didn't have enough pace. A bit of bizarreness is rarely a bad thing but, to me, it didn't match up to the likes of Tim Burton. ... Read More

Pezbury About me
13:11, 11 January 2010 \| Report This Post




A new classic--Coraline

Brilliant, well written, amazing looking. Excellent all the way through ... Read More

lynnshep About me
21:41, 04 November 2009 \| Report This Post




coraline

Much darker than i thought it would be but very funny. Well worth seeing but not as watchable as Henry Sellicks Nightmare Before Christmas but nightmare is brilliant. So if you saw and enjoyed Nightmare and James and the Giant Peach you will love this. ... Read More

Wizzard About me
14:59, 27 October 2009 \| Report This Post




the 3-d for the dvd is horrible

seriously, it was bareley even 3-d, only at particular points. don't waste money on th 3-d version and just get 2-d. they got 3-d right in cinemas, now get it fucking right with the fucking dvd. aside from that, brilliant film ... Read More

maxthom About me
16:05, 23 October 2009 \| Report This Post




Scary But The 3D Is Awesome.

Watched this last night with my sister, chosing the 3d verison on Blu-Ray. It's awesome to watch with the glasses, the visuals come right at you and the picture is stunning. But I thought it was a little too scary and grim for a kids film, Nightmare Before Christmas was creepy but this is under the skin terror especially when the other mother goes mental. It also seemed rushed to a point where the ending dosen't seem happy with the film itself and it's not laugh out loud funny like kids films no... Read More

joanna likes films About me
13:41, 19 October 2009 \| Report This Post




Hugely Enjoyable!

Great film. Not much else needed to be said. ... Read More

Shaunyboy27 About me
15:28, 16 October 2009 \| Report This Post






Absolutly, unbelievably brilliant. Best example of 3D film-making so far. ... Read More

Tindum About me
19:08, 22 July 2009 \| Report This Post






i really loved this, and is one of my favourite animated films ive seen. i saw it with my six year old cousin, whos terryfied by the slide in the park, and she didnt find this to scary at all, and she really liked it. i couldnt help but notice the similarities to alice in wonderland, what with all the talking flowers, and the actreses in the basement where like female tweedle dums and dees. ... Read More

england_cmr About me
18:52, 30 June 2009 \| Report This Post




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Coraline (PG)