The inspired minds that created the stylistic masterpiece, “The Nightmare before Christmas,” have introduced another marvel of imagination in the stop-motion film, “Coraline,” which was released in spectacular 3-D on Feb. 6.
Rated PG for thematic elements, scary images, some language and suggestive humor, “Coraline” was directed by Henry Selick and features the voice talents of Dakota Fanning and Teri Hatcher.
Before screen adaptation, “Coraline” was an award-winning novella by British author Neil Gaiman, published in 2002.
A spellbinding, cautionary tale, “Coraline” tells the story of a young girl’s trans-dimensional journey between her mundane, everyday life and the fantastical yet sinister dream-world she discovers through a tiny door in her family’s new apartment.
In the film, after moving with her family to an apartment in a 150-year-old house, little Coraline Jones becomes dissatisfied with her parents’ lack of time for her, and itches for excitement to fill her long, lonely and boring hours.
When Coraline explores the house, she finds a tiny bricked-over door which leads to the adjacent vacant apartment, which is sworn by the neighbors to be a dark and dangerous place where she mustn’t go.
Curious, Coraline disobeys her parents rule and her neighbor’s warnings. She sneaks down to the little door after bedtime, only to find that it opens to a passageway.
After crawling through it, Coraline finds herself in an alternate dimension, where her reality is both mirrored and improved upon. Her apartment, transformed to contain every child’s desire, down to magical toys and fantastical gardens outside, Coraline is greeted into this dream dimension by her perfected parents, who, strangely, have black buttons for eyes.
Introducing themselves as her “Other Parents”, they dote upon her making her every wish reality, and promise Coraline she could stay with them always, if she would let Other Mother sew buttons into her eyes so she would be like them.
When Coraline refuses, the dreamland facade shatters, revealing the nightmare behind it, and the Other Parents’ plot to trap Coraline with them so they could fulfill Other Mother’s obsession of having the perfect family.
Coraline narrowly escapes, but is then forced to return to the Other dimension when the Other Parents steal Coraline’s real mother and father as ransom for her pledge to stay with them forever.
Coraline must summon all of her courage, and the magic of the Other World, to maneuver through the traps and games of the Other Mother if she wants to save her parents.
Vividly reminiscent of Lewis Carroll’s classic “Alice in Wonderland,” with a delightfully sinister edge, “Coraline” gracefully and compellingly transports audiences into the surreal fantasies and imaginative horrors of childhood, all in an immersing 3-D spectacle.
The gimmicky 3-D effects of other similarly marketed films were crushed by all of “Coraline’s” astounding three dimensions, which enriches and amplifies the exquisite storytelling of the 100-minute-long film.
Visually and conceptually astonishing, “Coraline” earns instant classic status with the right to stand with its predecessor, “The Nightmare before Christmas,” while still holding its own as a separate and equally impressive achievement.
Startlingly beautiful, whimsical, fanciful, visionary and thrillingly creepy at times, the cautionary “Coraline” is a smart and refreshing tale which will leave adults spellbound, and children checking under their beds.
By AMY FAULHABER
Staff Writer
amfaulha@ius.edu
