“Coraline”

Director: Henry Selick

With: Dakota Fanning, Teri Hatcher, Jennifer Saunders, Ian McShane, and Keith David.

Original Release Date: February 6, 2009

PG

 

I remember the first time I ever heard about Coraline. I was about nine years old. I had watched the trailer and something about it stuck out to me. I had never seen something with this particular animation style on this scale. I had seen movies such as “Flushed Away” and “The Nightmare Before Christmas”, but I never really appreciated stop-motion animation until I watched Coraline. I thoroughly loved this movie and the experience that it provided me.I soon delved into stop-motion. I tried to watch as much of it that I possibly could. It made me rewatch “The Nightmare Before Christmas” and I fell in love with that. I even went out of my comfort zone and watched movies I had never even thought about watching, such as “James and The Giant Peach” and “Wallace and Gromit”. I even tried to dabble in it myself. I would use my phone, which I can’t imagine was much more than a clamshell, to make these little photos of my action figures and make tiny stories with them. They weren’t great and they never turned out the way I wanted them to, but I still enjoyed the experience. Stop-Motion quickly came one of my favorite story telling methods to this day. I’m a huge fan of Laika, the company behind “Coraline” and every time I hear about a stop motion movie coming out, I am always the first in line. But the funny thing about this is that I have only ever seen Coraline once before. I saw it in theaters when I was younger and thoroughly enjoyed every minute, but not everyone I was with enjoyed it as much as I did. My dad and my step-mom both were not fond of this movie and I remember that their negative feelings towards this movie discouraged me from ever watching the movie while I was at their house. So , I just never had the opportunity to enjoy it again. When trying to decide a movie from my childhood that I hadn’t watched in a long time, I immediately gravitated towards this one.

From the first frame of this film, I was entranced. The way the music from the opening scene works with the action, I was immediately unsettled and I knew I was in for a treat. It then transitioned to the Jones family and their move to the Pink Palace. Coraline is young and just wants to be with he parents as a family, but her parents seem to be disinterested with her. They are so involved in their work that they don’t pay any attention to her. She then begins to explore her new living space. She explores the outside and her parents don’t care. She explores the house and all of its quirks, and her parents show her no interest. She eventually comes across a door and through that door, Coraline finds a world that completely different than her own. Her parents are there, but they no longer are focused on their work, but are doting on her, giving her all of the attention she has hungered for.

This movie is a spectacle full of color and thought provoking action. Every single frame has something intriguing to look at and consume. The color palette really shows the duality of the worlds. Everything in Coraline’s normal world has a muted color. It seems very gloomy and dark. The atmosphere is dank, it is usually raining. This mood and setting reflect Coraline’s feelings towards everything. Nothing feels quite like it should and it all causes a little distaste. Alternatively, everything in the “other” world is extremely bright and colorful. The scenery is vivid and everything is just as Coraline would want it, but yet, not everything feels quite right. Soon, Coraline learns that the ‘other” world is not exactly what it seems. That is where the movie truly finds itself. I remember thinking that when the “other” mother finally takes her true form, she truly was terrifying. The art style brought out this level of creepiness that really unnerved me.

Overall, I wish that there were more movies made like this. This is a children’s movie, despite what some people might say. It takes a concept that children face daily, wanting more than they already have, and show them the negative aspects of that in a way that can truly entertain them. I learned a lot from this movie to be comfortable in my situation and that it may not be great now, it’ll end out the way it should. Please, if nothing comes from me writing this splurge of nonsense, let it be that you watched “Coraline”.  You’ll be glad that you did.

Rating: 10/10