Coraline

Watch: Coraline

Unrated

2/5/20091h 40m

Premiere Release (US)

~ Be careful what you wish for. ~

Overview:

Wandering her rambling old house in her boring new town, 11-year-old Coraline discovers a hidden door to a strangely idealized version of her life. In order to stay in the fantasy, she must make a frighteningly real sacrifice.

Director:

Henry Selick

Status:

Released

Language:

English

Buget:

$60,000,000.00

Revenue:

$185,860,104.00

Key words:

friendship
dreams
based on novel or book
villain
eye
stuffed animal
stop motion
parallel world
button
new home
secret door
female villain
aftercreditsstinger
duringcreditsstinger
horror for children
talking cat
somber
parallel universe
callous

Cast

Dakota Fanning

~ as ~

Coraline Jones (voice)

Teri Hatcher

~ as ~

Mel Jones / Other Mother (voice)

Jennifer Saunders

~ as ~

Miss April Spink / Other Spink (voice)

Dawn French

~ as ~

Miss Miriam Forcible / Other Forcible (voice)

Keith David

~ as ~

The Cat (voice)

John Hodgman

~ as ~

Charlie Jones / Other Father (voice)

Robert Bailey Jr.

~ as ~

Wyborne 'Wybie' Lovat (voice)

Ian McShane

~ as ~

Mr. Sergei Alexander Bobinsky / Other Bobinsky (voice)

Aankha Neal

~ as ~

Sweet Ghost Girl (voice)

George Selick

~ as ~

Ghost Boy (voice)

View full cast & crew

Reviews (3)

t
talisencrw
Written 9 year(s) ago
9
Neil Gaiman is so contemporarily vital, both in literature and cinema, because he more than anyone else (with the possible exception of Terry Gilliam) notes that children and adults alike are fascinated with what lies outside our observable and tangible realms of existence. He realized the reasons storytelling have been significantly important since the dawn of mankind, and devised, as the Brothers Grimm did, that fairy tales and children's stories had to be haunting and entertaining to be both memorable and timeless. This is a great film depicting the growing sense as a child approaches adolescence that their parents and their world aren't exactly as they seem, and that through their trials and tribulations (the 'rites of passage', if you will) they'll reach the 'happy medium' they need to in order to find true happiness in their lifetimes.

I definitely hope that all of Gaiman's books and graphic novels are made into movies (I most anticipate the 'Miracleman' graphic novels--both those by him and Alan Moore). Ones so well-written would truly be 'comic book movies' worth watching for me.
ZeBlah
Written 6 year(s) ago
10
Quite dark, but entertaining and very well done. One of the few american animated movies I liked.
Kamurai
Written 5 year(s) ago
9
Fantastic watch, will watch again, and do recommend.

I really wish more movies would follow this simple and great movie structure. Instead of a typical 3-act structure (not that it isn't technically there), the story is much closer to that of a video game.

You have a standard introductory act, but the rest of the movie is split into video game-esque "levels" that develop and unlock as Coraline makes new discoveries and completes different sections of the "map" / house.

There is a lot of messaging here as well, mostly concerning relationships between children and parents and how to navigate those in regard to real life events, but everything is "do not tell" levels of subtle so it's not in your face at all.

The Beldam itself is a magnificent creation of a "thing that bumps in the night" style of monster. While there is a lot left unexplained, there is plenty that is exampled about the Beldam and her world.

The movie also reminds me a lot of "The Wizard of Oz" in a few different ways so its good that there are family friendly movies of this quality that make vague callbacks to classic movies.