Coraline (2009)

Coraline (2009)

Written by Henry Selick and Neil Gaiman

Directed by Henry Selick

            I don’t even know what to say about this film.  It was just amazing.  The visuals in this movie were beautiful, terrifying, haunting, this is just another level of filmmaking.  From the opening title sequence, which depicts a doll being taken apart, and then remade, to the final frame, you are going to love every second of this film.

            The story goes like this – a girl moves to the middle of nowhere with her parents, who don’t pay any attention to her, and loses all her friends, and understandably needs a means of escape.  Rather than take the Wild Things approach, little Coraline ventures through a miniature door in the living room of her ancient house.  On the other side, she discovers a doppelganger version of her own world, complete with an “Other Mother”, “Other Father”, and annoying (yet awesome) neighborhood kid “Other Wybie” (real name Wyborn).  This world has everything the real world doesn’t.  Parents that care, awesome neighbors, a talking cat, the best freakin garden you’ve ever seen, and most importantly, people with buttons for eyes.  After a few visits, our titular character realizes that this “Other world” isn’t quite what it appears.  A life lesson ensues.

            I went into this movie thinking it would be a typical kids flick.  Boy, was I wrong.  Now, like everybody from my generation, I’ve seen (and love) The Nightmare Before Christmas, which was also directed by the great Henry Selick (which most people don’t know, they all think it was Burton that directed, he was just a producer), so I thought this would be kind of more of the same thing.  Again, wrong.  While Nightmare kind of retains some youthful imagery and tone, Coraline was dark, dark, dark.  If I were a kid, this movie would give me nightmares.  Shit, I’m an adult (kind of) and it still scared me.  I mean, the girl is escaping from her parents, because they DON’T LOVE HER! And not in the cute way that Max from Where the Wild Things Are thought his mom didn’t love her.  This girl’s parents really don’t give a shit about her.  Also, her “other mother” wants her to sew buttons over her own eyes, and then turns into a giant spiderwoman.  There was so much creepy imagery and tone here that I don’t know how to properly describe it.  Despite being creepy, it was beyond beautiful.  I’m about 98% sure that this is what Heaven looks like.  I’m also fairly certain that Henry Selick invented new colors for this film.  Your eyes will be please after you watch this.

            I know that it sounds like I didn’t like this movie.  That couldn’t be further from the truth.  I’m positive that come December 31^st, this will be in my top 5 movies of the year.  I just don’t think it’s a kids flick, so don’t expect that from it.  This is a movie for adults, much like Where the Wild Things Are is.  Coraline is a brave little girl.  This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in years, and you owe it to yourself to watch this.