Review of Coraline
Henry Selick’s 3-D stop-motion fairy tale, starring Dakota Fanning
© Cody Roy
Feb 19, 2009
Coraline, the latest stop-motion animation work by Henry Selick (The Nightmare Before Christmas), pleases with its wonderful inventiveness and stunning visuals, but this movie is not for children. Hardly a Disney delight or a Dr. Seuss whimsy, this film deconstructs the fairy tale genre, leaving a chilling nightmare in its wake.
Synopsis
Adapted from the novel by Neil Gaiman (graphic novel god), Coraline tells the story of an eleven-year-old girl (Dakota Fanning) whose family has very recently moved from Michigan to Ashland, Oregon. Coraline and her parents (Teri Hatcher and John Hodgman) occupy the first two floors of a three-story, ramshackle Victorian called the Pink Palace. And despite her eccentric neighbors—the acrobat known as the Amazing Bobinsky (Ian McShane) and the retired vaudevillian (or adult?) actresses Miss Spink and Miss Forcible (Jennifer Saunders and Dawn French)—Coraline finds herself quite bored.
A somewhat surly, high-maintenance child, Coraline can’t seem to grab the attention of her parents, two gardening experts who paradoxically dislike dirt, so she tries other outlets. She, for instance, reluctantly befriends a neighborhood boy named Wybie Lovat (Robert Bailey Jr.), who gives her one of his grandmother’s dolls that scarily resembles Coraline. This eerie toy and a mysteriously painted-over door turn out to be incendiary seeds that quickly blossom into quite a misadventure.
Like Alice, Coraline ends up tumbling down the rabbit hole behind this door and finds herself transported to an alternate dimension. In this new world, she encounters her Other Mother and Father, similar to her own parents except that they want to lavish all of their attention on her . . . oh, and they have black buttons for eyes. At first, Coraline savors the affection of her Stepford parents and considers remaining there indefinitely, but before she can decide, her Other Mother tries to force her to stay with the black-button treatment. When she refuses, the sinister side of this Other World reveals itself, culminating in a chase scene involving a disembodied Terminator-like hand.
Critique
Though the plot tends to meander at times, one hardly notices due to the totally immersive visual experience Coraline delivers. The attention to detail, particularly textures, is nothing short of awe-inspiring, and 3-D beautifully complements this film by adding a tactile depth that literally draws the audience in further. From the very first frame, it becomes apparent that this was a labor of love, and the viewers are ever more appreciative for it.
Coraline reminds us that childhood isn’t always as pure and innocent as we like to remember it. Even the most capricious whim, the silliest sentiment, the most innocuous dalliance, the most fleeting desire, these can all turn out to have scary ramifications. As the tagline states, “Be careful what you wish for.”
