Coraline

Coraline is the first stop-motion 3-D animation film. Henry Selick, director of "The Nightmare Before Christmas" and "James and the Giant Peach," brings Neil Gaiman's fantasy horror novella to life in an artsy and dark atmosphere. The film takes us into a child's parallel fantasy world of seeming perfection, but with traces of horror throughout.

Coraline Jones, voiced by Dakota Fanning, has just moved with her family. Her parents, voiced by Teri Hatcher and John Hodgeman, are both garden journalists working on an upcoming project together. Coraline is desperate for their attention, but most of the time they barely listen to her at all. They're focused on getting their work done and Coraline is just distracting them from it. She soon meets a neighborhood boy, Wybie, who lives with his grandmother who is still grieving over her sister who went missing from this neighborhood years ago. Coraline calls Wybie her stalker, since he always seems to be following her around. All of her neighbors seem to be a little bizarre. The contorting Mr. Bobinsky, voiced by Ian McShane, lives upstairs, trying to perfect his mouse-centered circus act. After meeting him, Coraline goes downstairs to the somewhat batty old ladies, Miss Spink and Miss Forceable, who warn her that danger lies ahead.

Coraline soon finds a small door in her room blocked by wallpaper. She gets her mother to unlock it only to learn it is covered by bricks. When she checks again later, the door opens to a blue vortex leading to another world. When Coraline arrives in this world, everything is nearly identical from her own world, but perfect. In this world, all of the little things that she felt frustrated with and wished were different were like a dream come true. Coraline gets delicious dinners and desserts, affection and attention from her parents. Her other mother is a star chef and her other father is a talented and cheerful pianist. Mr. Bobinsky is a brilliant magician and puts on circus shows especially for Coraline. Also, in this universe, Wybie doesn't talk unlike the overly chattering boy Coraline first met. Miss Spink and Miss Forceable also put on a show for her and their true identity as pretty, slender, young women is revealed. Everything seems great here. When Coraline wakes up in the ordinary world, she just counts down the minutes until she can come back. The next time she goes in this ideal world, she learns that she could stay forever, but at a price. To stay she would have to sew buttons over her eyes. Coraline is terrified by this and tries to escape this world. She almost isn't able to, but has to go back to face it one last time to save her family and others who are trapped there.

Dakota Fanning voices young Coraline Jones full of personality and inquisitiveness. There is enough soft toned innocence not to distract from the character. While listening to her voice, you aren't stuck thinking you are listening to Dakota Fanning, but Coraline. Teri Hatcher showed a distinctive difference in her voice between mother and the other mother and even more so the wretched creature the other mother turns into. Keith David provides a low baritone voice as the wise and smooth talking cat who becomes Coraline's greatest ally when things start looking bad.

"Coraline" should be very relatable to children. Coraline has a certain unique spark, but she is essentially just like every other child. She wants attention from her parents and doesn't really understand the adult world. She is amazed and feels completely content with the utopia world at first until she learns that when something seems too good to be true it usually is. It's a lesson in being thankful for what you have, even when things aren't necessarily going your way. The utopia world also displays a child's imagination come true.

For adults, it will be more about the atmosphere and vivid images. The visuals are without a doubt the most impressive thing about "Coraline." The setting is full of darkness and shadows. It doesn't completely stick on this image though, although it is the predominant one. The real world is pretty bland, focusing on faded and tame shades. Once we get into the alternate universe though, everything is brighter. When it's proved to be not so perfect, the colors correlate with being even more drained and lifeless than the ordinary world.

There's a clear correlation between "The Nightmare Before Christmas" and "Coraline." There's the obvious image of Jack Skellington in the eggs the mother makes, but it goes a bit deeper than that. The two films show a connection through our main character not being happy with the world they are in and finding a portal to an entirely different world. In both films, these characters become obsessed with this other world until things have gotten so turned upside down. They almost aren't able to set things right again, but eventually are reminded that where they were from is where they will feel most alive. Through "Coraline," we are finally given a look into another world just like Jack Skellington's discovery of Christmasland. The adventure that we are given in "Coraline" is much more reminiscent of the average child bored with their own life and wishing for a life full of fun and excitement.

"Coraline" is an intriguing film, but it didn't go quite as far as it could. It's a simple story, which works well enough. There is inventiveness when we are first shown the alternative world, but having more unique and imaginative creatures, things, and events could have made it a more lasting film. The movie had a responsibility to stay true to the book to an extent, which might have kept it from expanding upon the images to show this type of creativity all throughout the narrative. There was a musical play production written based on the book. This style could have worked wonders if the movie would have followed this format. It would be a way to give it a creative spark and identity of its own without rewriting the story. All in all, "Coraline" is a mystical, deeply stylistic, and simple story that draws lines between the underrated normal world and the dark possibilities of a deceptive utopia.