Movie Review:  Coraline (2009)

Director: Henry Selick

Plot:  Based on a story by Neil Gaimen, Colraline is a story about a little girl by the same name that moves with her family into a house converted into apartments.  She has a very active imagination, and no friends.  Inside of the house, she discovers a hidden door that leads to a parallel world where her parents are kind to her and she is able to make friends with her neighbors – but everyone has button eyes.  Every night she goes back to this world and wakes up back in the original one.  However, she begins to uncover secrets that the button-eyed world may not be all that it’s cracked up to be.  Other people have gone missing over the years, leaving behind only dolls with button eyes.  These people have all been seduced by the ruler of this alternate world to replace their eyes with buttons, and live in her world forever – and Coraline is next on her list!

The movie was very imaginative and fun to see in theaters (and surprisingly had some frightening images in there for kids).  The claymation was top-notch, and the fact that I got to see it in 3-D was a real joy (as previous flicks in 3-D have mostly sucked or not interested me).  The story was so-so, but it was good to see a strong female protagonist – as there aren’t a lot of them outside of franchises, that I’ve noticed. 

Overall, this flick is very enjoyable and I totally recommend that you see it or rent it at some point. 

posted by TrevorAMueller  # 1:01 PM