User reviews

Feisty eleven-year-old Coraline walks through a secret door and discovers a parallel reality. That reality is sort of similar to the life she already knows yet deeply unsettling in a number of ways. Coraline (voice of Dakota Fanning) begins a journey of adventure and self discovery when her parents (Teri Hatcher and John Hodgman) relocate the family to Oregon from Michigan. No one in this new space has time for her so she spends her time exploring her new neighborhood with an talkative local boy named Wybie Lovat (Robert Bailey Jr.). 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. To Selick's credit this is the first 3D stop motion ever made; stereoscopic 3D. Selick himself worked on the film for three years. The style is stunning and the story is an unwavering fairy-tale nightmare that has some genuinely scary moments. 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. Inside is her alternate space where there are doubles of her distracted parents now lavish loving attention on Coraline, the oddball neighbors are friendlier, and her pesky friend long longer speaks. 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. The imagery, however, is very child like. Both talents live side by side and bodes well for Selick's previous work in Nightmare before Christmas, James and the Giant Peach and even Monkeybone. His work has always been fascinating. Gaiman is to be credited with the story for sure, but this is Selick through and through. This film is sure to become an instant classic and as well executed as this movie is it should be.

First - if you see this movie, try to see the 3D version - not all presentations are in 3D. Second, know that this movie is way too dark (IMHO) for kids under 10. Not only could the visuals be too intense, but the pacing is not that of a children's show.

OK - that said, this movie is great. 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. One night, she learns that a little door in the house opens into a passageway to a parallel world. In this world, there are alternate versions of her parents, friends and everything ... as she journeys back and forth, she learns more and more about this world ... and the story progresses from there.

If that sounds a bit too simplistic, there's more to it in the full story. Plus, it's presented in a serious and dark tone - which adds to it's mystique. The only area I can knock it is in a tame use of 3D. There are definitely some spectacular 3D parts, but the way it's used in general makes it fade into background

If you're drawn to the visual aspects of movies, then this is must-see movie for 2009.

"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."

Henry Selick's "Coraline" is a smart adaptation of Neil Gaiman's extremely popular award-winning novella. Selick's screenplay is excellent and faithful without being a carbon-copy of Gaiman's story, and Selick adds some of his own dialogue to the film, so his contribution is most certainly not only visual, and chooses which dialogue to use from the novel wisely. 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. The film's fantasy world grows more bizarre each time we see it, and is as discomforting as it is fun. 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 voice cast is very good and one cannot praise the spectacular animation enough. I was very pleased with the 3D presentation here, it was very, very rarely (only once or twice) used as a 'cool effect', and overall was very tastefully used to give the visuals more depth. Perhaps the first really good film to have a wide release in 2009, and looking at the next few weeks I see more than one film I'm moderately interested in, so this might end up being a pretty good year.

When i saw a teaser of this film i didn't imagine it would be a fantasy/horror movie for kids. 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.

The Movie Coraline is an animated film well worth watching more than once. SPOILER ALERT The movie starts out introducing Coraline, voice actor Dakota Fanning, who is new to the Pink palace and is soon introduced to the black cat, voice actor Keith David, and Wybie Lovat, voice actor Robert Bailey Jr., who both are stalking Coraline. We then meet her mother Mel Jones, voice actor Teri Hatcher, and her father Charlie Jones, voice actor John Hodgman. Corallines' new life is shown to be less than wonderful as she meets her other tenants and is unable to realize her dream of gardening. Soon she discovers another world, which is much better in every way tailored specifically to Coraline based on information gathered by a spying Coraline doll carried by Coraline unknowingly. The other mother quickly turns villainess, as she is unable to get Coraline to do what she wants. With the help of the black cat, Coraline is able to escape the other mother and return home saving other children's souls who were less fortunate than she was. As well as her parents who were trapped to lure Coraline back to the other world.

The movie end with Coraline now happy with her real world and realizing she had everything she needed there all along. The theme of wanting more than what you already have and not seeing how good you have it is common among films today. However, the creative imagination of Coraline takes a spin and makes a very unbelievable situation seem plausible. The motif of the movie is seen often as the theme is drawing on what is real and what is too good to be true. When the sound and lighting are as controlled as in Coraline the Director can really impress upon the viewer a believable world that you can see yourself involved. The songs used make the world's first the regular world and then the other world seem like a place of dreary and boring plainness and then a world of pure imagination yet also terror. When the other world is dissolving the technique of fading the edges into white is pure genius.

The angle also helps you see through a subjective viewpoint in the majority of the scenes, even though it is not truly the camera angle but how the slides are drawn to show certain angles. The theme is so crucial in Coraline because few people would think the way Coraline is acting at the start of the movie might even be bad but as the movie progresses you see how she is flawed in her original outlook and judgments of her parents and new neighbors.

As a Neil Gaiman fan, I was, of course, very happy with the book "Coraline", and was extremely excited to hear that a movie was being made for it. I had very high expectations from director Henry Selick after seeing 'The Nightmare Before Christmas' and 'James and the Giant Peach'.

I was not disappointed.

It followed the book surprisingly closely, though there were a few anomalies (the character of Wybie, for instance, didn't exist in the book). It had that Tim Burton-esquire feel about it; terrifying, but in an entertaining sort of way. There were one or two scenes which were a little over-the-top for younger children, but that's to be expected.

You could just tell from the opening scene alone that you were in for a treat. 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. Unfortunately, with stop-motion animation, this is difficult to avoid, and it isn't overly distracting anyway.

The other was Coraline's mother was a little... angry. Yes, she's supposed to be constantly frustrated and such, but I think she went a little overboard. Fortunately, Teri Hatcher redeemed herself with her portrayal of the Other Mother, which was brilliant.

Coraline earns a 9.5 out of 10.

Henry Selick, the director of " The Nightmare Before Christmas" and "James and the Giant Peach", once again takes us to a world full of imagery and wonder...but this time...some of it is actually frightening. It was filled with such magic and enchantment that I completely forgot that it was a dark tale..until the occasional scares filled the air. It has some highly fun and amusing characters in it also, and that is the strongest thing of the movie. After viewing it, I came to the conclusion it was basically an "Alice in Wonderland" tale (girl entering new and strange world, plus the cat that talks makes it obvious) but this world has a dark twist. Filled with a great cast and terrific visionary, I feel this movie is fun for all ages (who says kiddos shouldn't be scared?)

When it comes to visuals, nobody does it quite like Henry Selick. In unimaginably original and absorbing fashion, Selick gives life to a written fairytale, just as he meticulously gave birth to the figures that inhabit the world of Coraline. More than any traditional fable of say, Hansel and Gretel, Coraline evokes more similarities to Guillermo Del Toro's, Pan's Labyrinth in its curiousness, bizarreness and dreamy essence.

Such material almost seems to discover Selick of its own accord and with his past visions, James and the Giant Peach and The Nightmare before Christmas, his use of stop-motion technology and now 3-D, perfectly portrays the mood and atmosphere of the story on screen. Yet, there is such a thing about being too quirky and outwardly eccentric and it is this self-awareness and bizarre coldness that keeps Coraline from reaching the heights that it may have been destined to acquire. This is however a strong contender for this years Oscar ceremony and I truly hope Selick will finally be recognized for his accomplishments in the fields of animation, stop-motion and film-making and storytelling as a whole.

Peppered with well assigned and memorable voice-work, the stars anchor the film further yet into such a memorable fantasy. Staring as the scrappy youngster Coraline is Dakota Fanning, who proves she is a very capable voice actress. Moving with her writer parents to the somewhat eerie Pink Palace Apartments, Coraline feels isolated both from her mother (Teri Hatcher) and father (John Hodgman) who are buried in their work while being separated from her friends back home. She entertains herself by visiting her odd neighbours, and avoiding the only other kid nearby, Wybie (Robert Bailey Jr.). One night however, a small door in the wall of the creaky apartment seems to call to Coraline and a wonderful alternate world reveals itself. This land of fantasy is filled with kindness, gifts and love (even though its residents have buttons for eyes); the opposite of the world Coraline has grown to hate. 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. Coraline's parents are distant and somewhat cruel to their daughter as they bury themselves in work and neglect her desire to simply have fun. Even worse, is that there is no catharsis to this character flaw at the finale, and it left me somewhat emotionless. There is also the aforementioned issue with the sometimes hugely apparent, self-referent wackiness, although I won't hold that against Selick and his personal vision. Above all, Coraline differentiates itself from other stop- motion films and will hopefully anchor itself as this generations Nightmare. Parents and older children will be engrossed by the visuals and those older will be given plenty to admire, even love and those younger will be given a film they can love more with each passing year.

7.5 / 10.0

Read all my reviews at: www.simonsaysmovies.blogspot.com

Almost 3 weeks ago, I attended a screening from Ain't It Cool News to see Henry Selick's latest film, 'Coraline.' I was excited because the screening would showcase the film in 3-D technology, and there was the chance to do a Q&A with Director Henry Selick (unfortunately due to bad weather, Mr. Selick did not make it to our screening).

Before going in to see 'Coraline,' I had read the book on which the film was based. While many acclaimed it for it's storyline, I found it rather dull and predictable. I've been surrounded by fans of Neil Gaiman's work, though so far had never picked up a book written by him (though 'American Gods' did pique my interest).

Going into the film, I was not quite sure what to expect. 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. As well, Coraline's parents just seem to have no time for her, and so she takes to exploring her new abode by herself. In her exploration, she uncovers a small door in the house, which seems to lead to nowhere. But upon revisiting the door late at night, it opens onto a parallel world that is much more whimsical and fun than the real world.

The one difference is that in the 'Other World,' almost all the inhabitants have buttons for eyes. But still, the other parents in this world pay attention to Coraline, and the rather blasé atmosphere of the real world is electrified with color and interesting flights of fancy. It seems just so perfect...or is it? Henry Selick manages to take Neil Gaiman's story, and crafts a world that just seems to take great advantage of stop-motion in a world where the obvious choice would be to go for a totally computer-generated world. 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. Fanning on the other hand, fleshes out a character that seemed rather dull in Gaiman's work. Her voice gives Coraline the life that I didn't think was possible.

One unsung hero (along with the countless animators who will be passed over in the press junkets) is the composer, Bruno Corlais. Mr. Corlais had never crossed my ears until the screening, but his music lends a touch of brilliance to the film, and makes it seem almost like a European production. Growing up in he US in the early 80's, I saw a number of stop-motion productions from Europe that played on the Nickelodeon show 'Pinwheel.' Corlais' music just transported me to that simpler of times when music didn't need to be 'commercial.' His score really helps to establish the world as well, and uses some instruments that may sound foreign to American ears.

And if anyone is questioning if the 3-D is worth it-it is! This isn't the fly-in-your-face #-D that was seen 2-3 decades ago. It's subtler, but gives dimension to the miniature world of 'Coraline.' I think if you showed this film to a child in 3-D, they'd go home dreaming of creating their own little worlds of stop-motion puppets.

For the year 2009, 'Coraline' so far (as of 2/6/09), is my first enjoyable film experience. I'm hoping my other upcoming film hopefuls (Watchmen, Up, Transformers 2) will also make me feel as positive.

I had not heard of the book on which this film is based but the involvement of Selick was enough to convince me that it was worth a look even before the uniform spread of five star reviews of it starting appearing in the media. I wanted to see it even more when some of the same media outlets starting having "complaints" from parents who had taken their toddlers to an animated film safe in the knowledge that NOBODY had ever, ever made an animated film that wasn't aimed at toddlers. 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. This is not to say that it is not a family film though because outside of those being overly protective, this is the modern equivalent of a Gothic fairytale or a ghost story around a campfire – something that will chill and grip a child with a fear but not to the point where reason or hope goes out the window. As such it is a great film because the story is strong at the core with an engaging scenario that reminds me of the "ideal" world of David Lynch, where the darkness is only just below the surface. So it is for Coraline where the supposedly perfect family behind the door turns out to be much more sinister. Throughout the telling the delivery makes it fun and engaging – with a patient pace that isn't ever slow but never seems to be rushing things. The "message" isn't rammed down our throats but is there for children old enough to think through what they are watching.

Although I didn't see it in 3D the film still manages to look great. Whether it is the warmth and softness of the perfect family home, the weird and wonderful creatures or the effects in the later reveals of the "other" mother. It all looks great with the animation being technically impressive but the imagination also being a big part of it. Some of the images will be too dark for younger children but, aside from providing age-appropriate scares for older children, it is well pitched. The voice work helps things without being particularly distracting in the way that some of the "who is that" voice work in other animated films can be. Fanning seems to have gotten past her precocious-sounding stage and does a solid turn in the title character. Hatcher is better though, capturing sweetness while being sinister and easily being evil later. Saunders, French, Hodgman, David and McShane all do good turns but again do so without being themselves, if you know what I mean.

Coraline is not for everyone and should certainly not be seen as being for all ages simply because it is animated. It is an engagingly dark fantasy with content and imagery that provides an effective Gothic fairy tale for those older children able to process it beyond what they see. Of course it is another sign of quality that, in the absence of any child of any age, adults can still easily enjoy it.

With Henry Selick as the director, you know, the man behind Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas, I expected a special treat when I watched Coraline especially in 3-D. Don't get me wrong, I did like the images that were presented throughout the movie in the rare stop-motion animation style in an era where everything else that's animated is usually done by computer. And there were interesting characters that made one want to get involved for the whole picture. It's just that after a while, there seemed more style and not enough substance to really keep you involved in the story with your eyes and ears thinking awesome the whole time but your heart wondering if there could have been more to the characterizations. In fact, since this was based on a novel, I'm sure there were some cuts that had to be made to make a certain running time. But like I said, while there wasn't enough intensity to make this truly thrilling, Coroline still was pretty exciting at certain points and many young children watching this will not get bored when the climax comes. So on that note, I am recommending Coroline for animation buffs and anyone who doesn't mind if their under-12 children holds on to them for a while...

Well, it's happened again: another animated movie that can I describe "the greatest-looking animation I've ever seen!" (This has happened several times now in the past few years, and especially when them available on a stunning Blu-Ray disc transfer).

You literally have to see this animation to believe it.....and I'm talking about the 2-D, not the 3-D (which is not even in the same ballpark.) Forget the 3-D glasses and watch this as you would any other movie....and get the Blu-Ray, if you can. You'll be extremely impressed at the colors and detail, and just plain blown away by it all.

Not only to the colors and detail dazzle, but the inventiveness here is really fun to watch and items change from one form or color to another. It reminded me of the Beatles' "Yellow Submarine" but with more sophisticated art.....but the same cleverness.

To me, all of this made the story almost secondary but the latter is very interesting, too. The story is unique; quite different, with a good message getting everything you want not always being as attractive as that sounds. Once "Coraline" meets here "other" parents, you'll really get hooked into this strange story filled with weird images and characters.

I only wish the Coraline had been a little bit nicer kid since it's easier to root for someone when they're likable but the story should keep you guessing and in suspense. That made the last half of the film very easy to get engrossed in because so many bizarre things happen here, you don't know how it's all going to end. Thus, I found myself not being concerned about her personality flaws. 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.

While the animation is quite good in spots, the film itself lacks warmth or chemistry. Much of the voice acting, particularly that of Dakota Fanning, is flat and sounds forced. While the 3D was interesting enough, several scenes felt like they'd been inserted for no other reason than to stick something in the audience's face. Example: the banana slug scene, which added nothing to either the story or character development. Parents should take note: many children under 9 or 10 in the theater in which I saw the film were scared to tears by the villain; I heard quite a few "Mommy, I'm scared! I want to go!" and similar complaints resulting in young children leaving the cinema. All in all, Coraline is visually nice, though not particularly noteworthy (old videos for the band Tool did better with the same sorts of material, for instance). The story is an interesting one, but this adaptation will likely leave most viewers over the age of 15 cold and those under 8 too scared to enjoy it. This is certainly nothing on par with "The Nightmare Before Christmas," and even "The Corpse Bride" was a stronger animated film.

I've watched over 300 horror movies in my time, majority of which are targetted towards the adult audience. Thus, very rarely will I rate a "cartoon" or childrens movie, if you will, so highly.

Coraline, created by an Indy company is an absolutely stunning film. I myself have watched it well over a dozen times and the quality, storyline and stop motion style in which it was created never fails to astound me.

Usually I'd talk on but I'm gonna keep it short. Its an amazing movie and I think it truly did deserve to win the oscar over Up when it was first released.

"Coraline" is slightly different from, let's say, a Disney animation. However, this is not a criticism for the permission to go a little deeper and darker allows the filmmakers to present the audience with a unique animation with a great adventure. Of course, I would not advise young children to watch this for it is pretty dark for them and some scenes may be a bit too much for them but for older children, teens and adults, they will be able to handle what "Coraline" has to offer. The titular character goes on a journey to appreciate her family and the real world. A lot of great, amusing characters and a great adventure. It is unusual and twisted but it's still a great watch.