Coraline Reviews

Coraline: Back home, cats don't talk. So how are you able to...
Cat: I just can.

An adventurous girl finds another world that is a strangely idealized version of her frustrating home, but it has sinister secrets.

Dakota Fanning: Coraline Jones

Coraline is a surreal merging of new and old techniques. Utilizing beautiful stop motion animation and presented in luscious 3D, the film offers a time-honoured message in a state of the art package. 3D has advanced to the point where it actually serves the story as opposed to being an end unto itself. In the opening credit sequence, we see long, spindly iron fingers above the screen as they construct a button-eyed doll. There is menace in these metallic hands and the three dimensional effect adds to the sense of dread. The hands seem close and capable of reaching out to ensnare our vulnerable selfs. When the characters on screen stand outside a doorway, the viewers are tempted to lean forward in order to peak into the room on display. The 3D is effective and enriching, Coraline pleasingly is the first film I have watched in 3D, making it even more of a pleasure to behold.

Coraline (Dakota Fanning), the pre-teen heroine of the film, is moving into an apartment complex in the filled with eccentric neighbors. Her parents both write and leave Coraline feeling alone and neglected. She hates her dad's cooking and misses her old friends. And then she finds a mysterious door in the wall and while playing one evening chases a little mouse through the door and into a mirror universe that looks similar to her own, but seems better. The food is better, the world never boring, and her button-eyed Other Mother and Father give her everything she wants.

''You know, you could stay forever, if you want to. There's one tiny thing we have to do first...''

The film, based on an excellent novel for children by Neil Gaiman, has a strong message at its heart. Coraline posits that hedonism is both empty and dangerous. Also, in order to fully indulge you must become blind to the suffering your pursuits will result in. It's slightly surprising that in a package as aesthetic and mesmerizing as Coraline that we are essentially being presented with a traditional moral warning of wishing for more than we have. The film is not pummeling us into submission with learning this however, and possibly younger viewers will not quickly pick up on the deeper aspects on offer. In the context of the film, the message is completely viable.

The animation on display is excellent and smooth, but as the movie showcases its character design and animation set pieces the story sometimes loses some momentum and it's pace halted. Once Coraline discovers her quest, however, the movie becomes engrossing, tense and something of a horror/thriller. In fact, the film's extended climax will likely be too intense for the very young or squeamish. The voice work is delightful with Terri Hatcher surprising in two vibrant roles as Coraline's mother and the film's spidery villain. She is obviously enjoying the layers of her characters and it enriches the experience as a whole. The artistry on display is delightful and the film offers a unique animated experience. Go see this one soon, Coraline is up there with favourites, Monster House, Nightmare before Christmas, Corpse Bride...Coraline is unique enough to be an entirely new story, a thrilling twisting ride, and yet another fulfilling success to its genre and medium.

''You probably think this world is a dream come true... but you're wrong.''

As a comicbook nerd, I first became aware of Coraline as a graphic novel written by comicbook writer Neil Gaiman (though, it's original format of release is as a novella).
It's horror fantasy for young readers and as a film, it's a fine modern update of the Alice In Wonderland theme, with it's mixed ingredients of creative psychodelica, slightly edged childlike wonder, along with a nice dash of horror, but just enough to gurgitate a lump of fear in the throat of the kiddie audience within its targeted age. But not so much that it would scare any of it's viewers to the point of absolving their parents of any responsibility for any trauma that might lead 'em up to the top of a building with a sniper gun, later on in life.
Hopefully.

Eu sempre sou uma pessoa atrasada para filmes. Eles saem pro cinema, vão pra locadora e só um tempão depois eu vou ver, saber do que se tratam...
Nunca soube do que se tratava "Coraline", só ouvia falar. Ontem não tinha nada pra fazer, resolvi alugá-lo. Chamei a minha irmã pra ver, crente que seria um filme fofinho e engraçadinho igual a todos os outros filmes de animação que eu tanto amo. Mas não, Coraline é mais que isso.
Pra mim soou como um País das Maravilhas moderno, com uma certa mistura de filme de terror e cenas lindas, mas tão lindas, que até agora é difícil crer que é tudo MESMO feito à mão.
A história é completamente surreal, mas me passou uma boa mensagem, bem à la Magico de Oz... "Não há lugar como o nosso lar", e mais ainda, não há ninguém como a nossa família. Por mais que a grama do vizinho enxa os nossos olhos e nos faça pensar que é mais verde. Quando a gente chega perto, vê que a nossa é o máximo que poderia ser.

"You probably think this world is a dream come true... but you're wrong."

A screen adaptation of the 2002 novella of the same name by Neil Gaiman, Coraline signals Henry Selick's long-overdue return to the realm of stop-motion animation (after The Nightmare Before Christmas and James and the Giant Peach). In an era dominated by computer-animated movies (courtesy of Pixar, Dreamworks, etc), stop-motion puppeteers are few and far between, which makes Coraline an enchanting breath of fresh air. Better yet, the film doesn't rely on toilet humour, blatant morals or hackneyed plotting. Just like The Nightmare Before Christmas, Selick's latest effort can be absorbed by both kids and adults - kids can admire the luxurious visuals, while adults can absorb the themes and enjoy the scares. Coraline is a gorgeous motion picture, but it lacks substance, and the visuals often overwhelm basic storytelling requirements.

Fundamentally Alice in Wonderland reconfigured for David Lynch fans, this eerie-yet-elegant tale sets its sights on an adventurous young girl named Coraline (voiced by Dakota Fanning). Having moved with her family to a remote apartment building in Oregon (far away from her friends), Coraline is bored with her new home and annoyed by the inattentiveness of her workaholic parents. One day Coraline discovers a hidden door that turns out to be a portal which transports her to a bizarre alternative dimension that contains an idealised version of her home. But the time-honoured cliché applies: if it looks too good to be true, it probably is...

As the animation realm gradually becomes dominated by computers, Henry Selick seems wholly content operating in the world of stop-motion. It's impossible to deny the visual mastery of Coraline when it's a proud member of the stop-motion club; relinquishing routine CG sheen for breathtaking textures and luscious artistry that can be delivered only through this painstaking process. Selick's amazing visual style is almost smooth enough to be mistaken for CGI, but there's a distinctive appearance to this approach that reveals itself as something more laborious. Selick additionally explores Gaiman themes of heroism and magic while furthering his own interest in spooky creatures and surreal Burton-esque production design. Coraline has been tagged with a well-earned PG rating as it definitely falls on the dark side of the fairytale spectrum. It isn't an excessively violent movie, but there are a few intense, frightening scenes.

The plot, while admittedly rather slim, is involving from start to finish, and the narrative trajectory is rather unpredictable in spite of the incorporation of familiar elements. The key problem with Coraline is one of pacing - the story progresses at one pace throughout, and never heats up. Meanwhile (and there's no other way to put it), the film is gorgeously off-putting - a considerable achievement of visual dread. In the end it's pretty blah, yet (even without a story worth telling) the visual panache is compelling.

In a post-WALL-E animation market, a movie must come armed with insight into the world at large. In this respect, Coraline contains solid ruminations on parenting, individuality, and (most brazenly) the bond between mother and daughter. The voice acting is solid as well. Dakota Fanning is unrecognisable yet instantly likeable and boundlessly appealing as the feature's titular character. The rest of the vocal performers are equally unrecognisable. Teri Hatcher has no difficulty with her role as Coraline's two mothers, seemingly channelling the Wicked Witch of the West for her verbal performance as the Other Mother. Ian McShane does solid work as the Russian who runs a mouse circus upstairs, while Jennifer Saunders and Dawn French voice Coraline's strange downstairs neighbours. There's also Keith David as a prophetic black cat who plays a vital role in the story.

Though a few of the more perverse concepts from Neil Gaiman's Coraline novella have been excluded, the author's talent for dark and lively imagery has been translated with gravitas by Henry Selick. Despite a well-worn message (the grass is always greener/be careful what you wish for) and the fact that this enchantment runs out of steam before it ends, Selick's latest project remains a laudable accomplishment in animation and imagination - lean, funny, and entertaining. You don't have to be a child to be enchanted by it.

7.6/10

It was okay, but to be quite honest, it wasn't very good. Personally, I think that for critics to say it was 'amazing' and 'grade A' was a tremendous overstatement. I think that the plot was strange, didn't carry through, and the animation was just plain awful. For all you people who 'loved' this movie, either heighten your standards or just stay away from me.

Just got through seeing CORALINE for the third time (twice 2-d, once 3-d). It was a good crowd for the first showing on a Monday. Is Presidents Day a school holiday? Eh, it was cool, part of the movie takes place on Presidents Day (as a sign declares when Mom & Coraline are at the clothing store).

Three times is my limit, unless I really love it (I think I saw THE INCREDIBLES five or six times). I could probably sit through it again another couple of times (at least once more in 3-d, for sure, but I probably won't). Three times is good enough. I hope they include the 3-d version on the dvd. Tried to pick up details in the background, like three silhouette profile portraits on the wall in the dining room of Other Mother's three other victimes (I guess she really did love them, ha ha).

I had read the book, but that was years ago; all I remembered was the basic plot, not much in the way of details, so I was (initially) going in mostly fresh. I guess Wybie could have been named Basil Exposition, but if he didn't particularly add anything to the story, he didn't particularly detract from it either. The musical bits were completely organic to the story so I had no problems with them. I'm quite fond of the mouse band segment, which I take as a homage to George Pal's Puppetoons (though all I've ever seen of those are clips).

As for the horror aspect...I think that W&G:CURSE OFTHE WERERABBIT is more of a straightforward horror movie (I"ve read people splitting hairs about W&G and CORALINE not being the same claymation vs stop-motion; it's silly, same process, stop-motion, different media, clay/puppets). CORALINE is a dark fantasy, like LABYRINTH or MIRROR MASQUE (only there isn't anything that honorific in either), with elements of horror.

Obviously, I like the movie, because the more I like something, the more copy I produce. I guess in 10 years or so we'll know if it has the same kind of legs that NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS has. I think I'll probably be squeezing in a viewing every October.