Coraline Review

I have been anxiously awaiting the release of this movie, which can sometimes lead to high expectations and ultimate dissatisfaction when those expectation aren't met. What gave me such high expectations was the attention to detail the filmmakers were putting into the production of this film. There are many great behind the scenes-making of videos on Coraline's website (www.coraline.com), it may take a bit of exploring to find them all though but it's worth the exploration. After seeing the movie the website is even more impressive and there are fun things like creating your own flower or face with buttons for eyes. If you are impatient though, and just want to see all the featurette's you can do so by going to comingsoon.net and search Coraline.

Now onto the review of the movie. The movie is shot in stop motion so all of the creatures, cast, and sets are physical realities, no CGI or hand drawn animation. I find this to be very impressive. The story is about an only child named Coraline who has just moved from her home in Michigan to Oregon. Not by her choosing of course, but rather her parents, who seem more driven by their careers as writers for a gardening magazine (despite the Mothers dislike for dirt). Back in Michigan, having career driven parents may not have been all that bad for Coraline, as she she at least had two best friends to spend her time with, but here in her new home all she has is the annoying next door kid Wybie to bug her and have him stick slugs in her face.

Soon after moving, strange things begin to occur for Coraline, starting with a gift from Wybie. It's a doll with buttons for eyes and blue yarn for hair; a surprising resemblance to Coraline. Wybie claims that he found the doll with some of his Grandmothers things. The second strange find occurs on a gloomy day, bored and anxious for something more exciting, Coraline explores her new home only to find a small and peculiar door that has been locked and covered over with wallpaper. Unfortunately for Coraline her hope for some excitement are blocked as the door only reveals the brick wall behind it. Or so it appears, until one night, following some mice, Coraline is lead to the door which is now a portal to the "Other World". Could this be the world Coraline has been yearning for? Her Other Mother and Other Father lavish attention upon Coraline and cook and sing the most amazing things. Her neighbors are no longer strange shut ins; but rather put on amazing circus and trapeze acts. It is a child's dream world, but unfortunately for Coraline, she must wake up to the real world, desperate to return to the more fulfilling other world night after night. But soon, as Coraline discovers, the other world is not all that it appears to be, and it's not just the fact that everyone has buttons for eyes. There is something dark and wicked just beneath the surface. Coraline soon discovers that she may in fact be trapped in a nightmare world, and this time, she can no longer wake up back to the real world.

Visually, this movie is absolutely stunning. The art direction and all the sets were amazing, particularly the door portal to the other world (especially in 3-D). The subtle contrast between the two worlds were beautiful in that real world appeared more gray toned and the other world focused on vivid colors and visuals. So an A+ for visuals and art direction of the film and the crews fine attention to detail. However the stories flow was not so perfect. It felt as though there was a fine balancing act going on as far as maintaining a kid friendly film and one dark mysterious art film for adults. For the most part the played the balancing act well, but there were times were it seemed to affect the film, particularly the final act of the film. This act could have been brilliant and the most interesting part of the film, but instead it was rushed through. Instead of being more like David Fincher's The Game, it followed the pages of a Nancy Drew book. I still found the film to be highly entertaining and was not disappointed, despite my craving for a creeper finale in what really is a children's story (yes I mean story, not movie, not to say kids can't see it though).
Still figuring out a rating system I want to use, but for now I'll give the movie a B, or three out of four stars.