Coraline is a film based on a children's horror story written by Neil Gaiman who is also responsible for his fanciful book of prose, Stardust. His novella, Coraline is a mixture of dark morbidity and delicate whimsy. These 'qualities' have been reproduced in an stupified and brilliant 3D animation. The work of director Henry Selick has a lot in common with Lewis Carroll and the man who wrote such stories as In the Knight's Kitchen and Where the Wild things Are, Maurice Sandak. The world they live in is a universe where everything looks normal but with a heightened realism giving it a scary surrealism. In Coraline you are transported into a land of frightening monsters, flourescent beauty and incomprehensible bravery.
The young Coraline (Voice of Dakota Fanning) is an extremely inquisitive and intelligent child who would like to travel between worlds. Her parents (Terry Hatcher and John Hodgman) have just moved into the top floor flat of an old house in Oregon. It has been raining incessantly and Coraline, left alone, is bored and feels rejected by her parents. Having a curious nature, Coraline decides to take a trip outside her surroundings to see what she can find. Hidden away in her living room, she finds a tiny door which has been wallpapered over. She opens the door and in front of her she sees a long lustrous tunnel stretching out towards the horizon. Most children would probaly close the door and go back inside being scared to face what lies ahead. But not curious Coraline - she has to step forward into the unknown.
Strangely enough, at the end of the tunnel is a room very similar to the one she has closed the door on. The room is a miror image of her parents flat except that it is warmer, tiidier and the furniture is of a better quality. Inside the room she is greeted by a man and a woman who are identical to her parents except they don't have real eyes and eye lashes only polished black buttons in the orbits where the eyes should be. Coraline is shocked at first by what she sees but soon she accepts her "other mother" and "other father" and is overpowered by their warm hospitality.
Coraline's new parents spoil her. They attend to her every whim and play games with her. Her "other mother" cooks plate after plate of scrumptious food to fill her tummy with goodness. Coraline is overwhelmed as her real mother never cooked or showed her any attention. Her "other" parents ask her to stay in this picturesque world with them forever. Except, there is a catch - she will have to replace her real eyes with black shiney buttons.
Petrified, Coraline runs back to her home only to find that her real parents have been seized by the "other mother" who orders Caroline to return at once. Although, she is terrified she realises that to save her parents she will have to deal with the "other mother" who has now changed into her true, hideous, enormously large shape. Coraline realises that to be able to save the ones she really loves she has to be courageous, efficient and ingenious.
Gaiman has a fantastic style of writing and has won many prizes for children's literature including the 2009 Newbury Medal. As well as a graphic novelist he is also a poet and screenwriter. He has a terrific imagination and a distorted mind. I find some of his stories and poems quite scary but fascinating and I am sure children will love his work if a little scared of it. There is something Poe-esque about his work.
Director, Henry Selick has taken every word and sentence of Gaiman's novella and transformed it into a film projecting sequences of illummination in an appropriately sinister theatre. Coraline, the film is very good indeed. I admire the way he has taken advantage of revolutionary leaps forward in 3D technology and added them to his familiar stop-motion animation. The outcome is the first high- definition stereoscopic 3D movie. Each character, structure, tree, leaf and expression has been made by hand and then meticulously aligned frame by frame.
When watching this animation in 3D I became absorbed in a rich, intricate and tangible world of minute detail. I was enchanted by the whole experience.
Selick's work is magical but working with such an astonishing story as Gaiman's, it makes the film even more magical. Gaiman understands children - he seems to know what makes them tick. He is tuned into their fears, hopes and desires, much more than other children's writers. When Coraline becomes aggravated by adults who don't take her seriously because she is a child, he taps into irritation all kids share. When he creates an alternative world in which parents spoil children and shun discipline he zooms in on an anarchical dream all kids hold. When he invents a false mother who lives to give Coraline all the attention she wants, he deeply perceives what all neglected children dream of. And when everything goes pear shaped and the only chance of survival in a tyrannical state of affairs is the bravery and astute ability of a child, Gaiman shows us he still hears a child's heart pounding away - fighting malicious dragons whenever they appear.
The animation is really fantastic and the colours used are wicked. When she climbs through the tunnel the colours blue and purple are so vivid as they move and swirl around - and always in the forefront is her over enlarged child's face with huge spaced out eyes. The "other father" (John Hodgman) is freaky with enormous hands that beckon and invite you into the screen. The "other mother" (Teri Hatcher) is really scary and witchlike. If I was Coraline I would be frightened of her long thin curled up nose and black shiney hair with buttons gleaming in their sockets. My favourite part of the film is when Mr Bobinsky (Ian McShane) brings news of a surprise circus attraction. I love his long pale blue nose and face and twirly whirly moustache. I also like Ian McShane's voice - there is always a touch of malevolence.
This is quite a deep story and not at all sweet and sterile like some children's stories can be. I always remember as a kid being frightened by some of Grimm's Fairy Tales and when my son was small I refused to read any 'bad' tales because I didn't think at such a young age he needed to know the evil happenings of Hansel and Gretel and what happened to the witch. Times have changed and now I think there is nothing wrong in showing children that life isn't all fun and games and that it can be creepy, scary and is sometimes a world of darkness. This is what Selick and Gaiman have tried to do in this animation and I think they have succeeded.
The animation also shows children that even when times are tough you can still come out the other side, sunnier, braver and more resilient. Sometimes it's better to tackle your fears than run away from them. And without too much pontificating, I like the moral of the tale (sorry to go all American). And the moral is, that when it comes down to it, Coraline really did love her parents and they loved her and that the pretend parent turned out to be a real sham. All children dream of never being told off but I think deep down kids would rather have boundaries - because it shows that real parents care and are not grotesque monsters with button eyes.
I recommend this film for adults and children but I don't think it is suitable for for small children as it may be too scary. Obviously some children are more mature than others so I would say if you think your child can distinguish fiction from reality then they are mature enough to watch the film.
Rating PG
Running Time 1hour 40 minutes
Summary: An animated family fantasy