Coraline is a
dark horror-fantasy stop-motion 3D animation that sticks in your mind as one
creepy movie. It stalls you, keeping you in suspense as you try to decipher
where the terror will come from. And when it finally does, you find yourself
hoping this is one of those films where the good guy wins. There are plenty of
those, but this one just has to be.
Coraline doesn’t
strike me as a film for children, though it carries a strong message about
appreciating what you have. The grass may look greener on the other side, but
there’s always a price to pay to get there—and an even higher one to stay.
The movie is
based on the book of the same name by British author Neil Gaiman (who also
wrote Stardust, which was adapted into a film in 2007).
The plot follows
a girl named Coraline Jones (voiced by Dakota Fanning), who moves with her
parents to an old house that has been subdivided into flats. The other tenants
include Miss Spink and Miss Forcible, two elderly former stage actors, and Mr.
Bobinski, who is training mice for a circus act.
One rainy day,
Coraline discovers a locked door in her room that has been bricked up. While
visiting her neighbors, Mr. Bobinski delivers a cryptic message warning her not
to go through the door. Coraline, of course, ignores the warning and steps
through—into a parallel universe.
There, she finds
a near-identical version of her house, but with one major difference: the
people in this world, including her "Other Mother" and "Other
Father," have buttons for eyes. They seem warmer and more caring than her
real parents, making her feel wanted in a way she hadn’t before. Her neighbors
exist in this world too, appearing more lively and magical.
But soon,
Coraline realizes that this other world isn’t as perfect as it seems, and her
life is now in danger. Worse, she finds herself trapped, unable to return to
the real world.
Coraline was
published in 2002 and went on to win the 2003 Hugo Award for Best Novella, the
2003 Nebula Award for Best Novella, and the 2002 Bram Stoker Award for Best
Work for Young Readers. The film adaptation was directed by Henry Selick, who
also directed The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993).
Coraline was well received by critics and performed decently at the box office. Selick was set to adapt another Neil Gaiman book, The Graveyard Book (one of my favorite Gaiman novels), but as of 2013, the project fell into development hell at Disney. There’s been no new information on its production since.
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