Coraline
Director: Henry Selick
Cast: Dakota Fanning, Teri Hatcher, Ian McShane, Jennifer Saunders, Keith David, John Hodgman
Genre: Fantasy / Animation
Rated: PG
Review By:
Michael Dance
School:
NYU Tisch '07
Quote:
"...And hey, I met you. You are not cool." -Almost Famous
Coraline
Review By: Michael Dance
MichaelDance@TheCinemaSource.com
Coraline
“Everything’s right in this world, kiddo.”
I love that line, maybe because there’s no reason to ever say it unless you’re lying. In Coraline, it’s uttered by the Other Father, who speaks in cheerfully empty phrases and has two black buttons for eyes. If you think that’s creepy, you should meet the Other Mother.
Coraline is at points funny, exciting, and terrifying, but it’s always inventive and magical. It’s the kind of movie that might give little kids nightmares, but in twenty years they’ll be saying “I wish they still made movies like Coraline.” It’s a new classic.
Coraline Jones (voiced by Dakota Fanning) is a moody little girl with a pretty good reason to be moody: she just moved from her friends in Michigan to a big pink Victorian house in rural Oregon. Her parents (Teri Hatcher and John Hodgman), who both write about gardening — but never actually garden themselves — are dismissive and constantly hunched over their computers, so she goes exploring. Two old ladies (Jennifer Saunders and Dawn French), former burlesque dancer, live downstairs. There’s another boarder in the attic, Mr. Bobinsky (Ian McShane), who trains mice and used to have a circus act. And around the “neighborhood,” as it were, is an annoying boy named Wybie, which is short for Wyborn. And yes, he realizes that means Why Born, like a question.
All of these supporting characters’ eccentricities could supply more than enough plot for another movie, but in the case of Coraline, it’s all setup: Coraline finds a waist-high painted-over doorway in the house, and crawls through it to discover another world: just like her own, except that the Other Mother and Other Father are attentive and charming, the boarders put on marvelous free shows, and Wybie doesn’t talk as much — in fact, he doesn’t talk at all.
Except…everybody has buttons for eyes. And then there are the three imprisoned ghost children through the mirror…and a black cat (Keith David) who seems to be able to go between both worlds just like Coraline can…
All this is presented in motion-capture animation, as in director Henry Selick’s previous film The Nightmare Before Christmas. Here the story is about as scary and macabre but also simpler for kids to have a better handle on, and it looks wonderful. The acrobatic act performed by the two old women, and the synchronized mice, and the aerial tour of the Other Father’s garden, are among the most original and beautiful moving images I’ve seen in an animated film.
The musical score — easy to notice thanks to a prolonged opening credits sequence — also shoots for the fences. It isn’t your typical fantasy movie score, adopting a slower pace and tapping into the sense of wonder that’s so vital for
At the risk of starting to sound like I’m fawning, the cast is also pitch-perfect. Fanning brings to life an already excellent character — a young girl who’s not only proactive and courageous and a good role model, but who is also allowed to be moody and mean sometimes — and Hatcher and Hodgman are stunningly good. Hatcher transforms the Other Mother into a monster with just the right amount of gradual tweaking, and Hodgman (the PC in the Mac commercials) — well, my brain just immediately goes back to that awesome one line again.
This is really just a case of everything coming together perfectly. I keep talking about how children will react to the movie, but really, it works for everybody. The standard practice in today’s kids movies is to have an idiotic story and then throw in a few adult references as a bone for the adults in the audience. Coraline, on the other hand, works on the same level for everybody: thrilling, magical, constantly surprising entertainment, no matter who you are.
Movie Grade: A+
P.S. I saw Coraline in digital 3D, but you’ll get the same experience no matter what kind of theater you watch it in. I’m becoming convinced that the 3D experience is nearly identical to the 2D experience — our brains have become so accustomed to 2D as “reality” in movies that they sort of fill in the extra dimension automatically. And besides, wearing the 3D glasses makes the screen look darker.
Official Synopsis:
Coraline Jones is a girl of 11 who is feisty, curious, and adventurous beyond her years. She and her parents have just relocated from Michigan to Oregon. Missing her friends and finding her parents to be distracted by their work, Coraline tries to find some excitement in her new environment. She is befriended–or, as she sees it, is annoyed–by a local boy close to her age, Wybie Lovat and visits her older neighbors, eccentric British actresses Miss Spink and Forcible as well as the arguably even more eccentric Russian Mr. Bobinsky. After these encounters, Coraline seriously doubts that her new home can provide anything truly intriguing to her, but it does; she uncovers a secret door in the house. Walking through the door and then venturing through an eerie passageway, she discovers an alternate version of her life and existence. On the surface, this parallel reality is similar to her real life–only much better. The adults, including the solicitous Other Mother, seem much more welcoming to her. Coraline is more the center of attention there–even from the mysterious Cat. She begins to think that this Other World might be where she belongs. But when her wondrously off-kilter, fantastical visit turns dangerous and Other Mother schemes to keep her there, Coraline musters all of her resourcefulness, determination, and
