Coraline (2009) *** PG

Coraline (2009) *** PG


Dir: Henry Selick


Starring: Dakota Fanning, Teri Hatcher, John Hodgman


Synopsis: Frustrated that her parents don't have time for her since they moved to their new home, Coraline finds a doorway to a world that is exactly like her own except for her parent's being much more fun and attentive. Everything, however, is not as it seems, and this new world turns out to be much more dangerous than she realises.


Verdict: This is another one of those films that, while aimed at kids, you can see why it has been given the parental guidance certificate. While encompassing all the charm and fantasy that you expect, the surreality and darkness of it gives it an edge which some kids could find a little too much.

From the opening scene, in which skeletal, mechanical hands create a Coraline-esque doll, to the revelation of the true nature of the other world, the film plays on the weirdly surreal things that play on the minds of children - insects, rodents, faceless apparitions: all lend themselves to building up the scary nature of the film.

Henry Selick (The Nightmare Before Christmas, James and the Giant Peach) keeps with his tradition of dark story-telling and signature stop-motion animation to deliver Coraline: based on the book by Neil Gaiman, the story of course carries with it a certain moral undertone to deliver to the age range it is aimed for as any good kids film does.

As with James and the Giant Peach, one of the stand out aspects of the film is the contrast between the real world and the 'other' world -the real world being grey and frustrating and the other world being full of colour and the friendlier (appearance-wise) characters and, just as with James and The Nightmare Before Christmas, the stop-motion animation is great. Usually when I think of stop-motion, Aardman comes to mind, and I always seem to forget that they do not have a monopoly on the technique. It is always nice to see a stop-motion movie in a world where general animation, and even CGI has become the norm in special effects and feature productions.

The cast is well chosen: Hatcher as the real, and other, mother jumps brilliantly between the frustrated parent, fun parent and sweetly sinister villain, and I couldn't help but notice that Fanning isn't actually as terrible as her screeching performance in The War of the Worlds would have you believe.

It is also good to see the British comedy duo of French and Saunders lending their vocal talents to the film in the form of the retired actresses Forcible and Spink respectively - Saunders of course making a mark on voice acting with her part as Fairy Godmother in Shrek 2, amongst other roles.


One could be fooled from the style in to believing that Tim Burton cast his hand over Coraline either in producing or writing, but people forget about Selick being the director behind The Nightmare Before Christmas - famously branded as Tim Burton's as he was writer/producer - but Selick has already proved with James and the Giant Peach and Monkeybone that he can produce something just as twisted and dark as the Alice in Wonderland director can.