Coraline: Charming and Creepy
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March 30, 2009
Filed under Arts and Entertainment
Courtesy of New Line Cinema
Set in an unnamed small town in Oregon, which looks very familiar if you have ever visited or lived on the wet side of the mountains, Coraline weaves an enchanting and creepy ghost story.
At several points during the film I found myself wondering if Coraline was ever intended for children, though it is technically a children’s film. There were moments that were certainly unnerving, as only a Neil Gaiman story can be, that resulted in the younger children in the theater crying or loudly proclaiming that they wished to leave.
Teenagers and adults, especially those who are fans of Peter Selicks’ work ( Selick collaborated on The Nightmare Before Christmas), would certainly enjoy this artistic fairy tale.
Coraline herself is a girl who appears to be between 10 and 12. Her mother and father don’t really have time to garden or like dirt but are writers for a gardening company. They even have mugs to drink coffee from that say I Love Mulch as they hunch over computers. This is akin to what I am doing now, seeing as I barely have time to watch movies because I am too busy writing movie reviews.
Coraline is frequently ignored by her busy parents and truth be told she does not do much that would make them want to spend time with her. Coraline is fairly obnoxious and strong willed.
At the start of the film, Coraline and her parents are moving into an ornate Victorian house called the “pink palace”. They have three neighbors, one in the attic and two in the basement. The man in the attic is a retired Russian circus performer who spends his days training mice for his mouse circus.
In the basement there are to women who, in their youth, worked in the adult film industry. Now they spend their days reading tea leaves and playing cards with their many beloved Scotty dogs. There is a very disturbing scene where, in the alternate world, the old women put on a show for Coraline, mostly naked. If you have an aversion to seeing scantily clad claymation puppets do dance routines, I would not suggest this movie.
Her adventure begins when she goes through a tiny door in her new house and finds herself in an alternate world where everything is better, her house, the neighbors, and especially her parents. The only strange thing is everyone has buttons instead of eyes. Her “other mother” wants to sew buttons on her eyes and keep her there forever. Despite how creepy this is Coraline is tempted by the offer, for a very short time at least, which is certainly a testament to how unhappy she was at home.
Coraline soon discovers that her “other mother” is not her dream come true but a monster that steals the souls of unhappy children.
After this revelation, Coraline must save her parents and the souls of other little children from the creature. Part of what makes the story so enjoyable was the fact that Coraline is able to use her obstinate and obnoxious qualities to her advantage, showing that girls who are not sweet and nice can still be heroines.
Overall, Coraline was a truly delightful movie. The claymation was lovely and the 3D effects were a natural extension of an already multidimensional medium.
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