Coraline is the latest effort from director/animator Henry
Selick, who teamed up with Tim Burton for The Nightmare
Before Christmas. This time, Selick teams up with renowned fantasy author
Neil Gaiman, upon whose book Coraline is based. Brought to life by the same
puppet animation technique that Selick used on Nightmare, Coraline deals with a
young girl who moves with her parents from Michigan to an apartment house
located in a small town. Coraline’s parents are both writers who are too busy
working at their respective computers to even bother to unpack their things.
When Coraline tries to coral them into doing something with her, she’s spurned
by either her mother’s nastiness, or her father’s absentmindedness. When
Coraline finds a small door in one wall of the living room, she investigates,
and discovers that it leads to another, alternate world.
Once there, Coraline meets her Other Mother and Other Father, who look just like
her parents, except that they’re far more nicer and more caring towards
Coraline’s needs. Everyone is so nice and perfect on the other side, which makes
the place seem like a paradise--with one unsettling exception: everyone there
has buttons sewn where their eyes should be. Coraline is voiced by Dakota
Fanning, who played Tom Cruise’s young daughter in the War Of The Worlds
remake, and she does a superb job at bringing her character to life. Teri Hatcher,
who also does a good job in voicing Coraline’s mother on both sides of the
doorway, is already a sci-fi fantasy fan fave for playing Lois Lane in four
seasons of Lois & Clark: The Adventures Of Superman.
Ian McShane, best known from the HBO series Deadwood, voices an eccentric
Russian tenant who lives in the attic apartment, while Jennifer Saunders and
Dawn French breathe life into the words of the dotty pair of elderly sisters who
own and run the building. While more conservative in tone, the overall look and
visual design of the film is just as breathtaking here as was in Selick’s The
Nightmare Before Christmas. And the film’s villain, once it’s revealed in all
its glory, is just as imposing and scary. Even in its normal scenes, Coraline
still has the same dark gothic vibe as Nightmare, and some moments might be too
tough for the little ones. But older children may very well enjoy this dark
ride--for the smartly written storyline treats the viewer with intelligence.
Coraline is also presented in 3-D, with four pairs of the blue and red glasses
packed with every copy of the DVD/Blu-Ray. I watched the film for the first time
in 3-D, and it works very well. To be really effective, the filmmakers suggest
that you turn off all of the lights in the room. While watching the movie, I was
enthralled as characters and items literally leapt off the TV screen--including
the subtitles for the hard of hearing, which seemingly floated above the black lines of
the letterbox format. I’m not sure if this was intentional, but, since I'm hard of
hearing myself, I thought it was hysterically funny to watch the subtitles in
this manner. There’s also a 2-D version of the film available on the same
flipper disc. But regardless of how you watch Coraline, you’ll be enchanted by
the darkly charming adventures of a brave little girl who stood up to the forces
of evil.
--SF
Main Review Page | Animated Film Reviews | Coraline (Two-Disc DVD Collector's Edition w/ 3D)
