Coraline

Well happy (late) Halloween everybody. I will review Coraline. It is based on a book of the same name by Neil Gaiman. So lets watch a scary Stop Motion film in my review of Coraline.

We meet a girl named Coraline (Dakota Fanning) who just moved into a new house called the pink palace. Coraline is looking for a well when she comes across a boy named Wybie (Robert Baily jr). Coraline seems to be bored in her new house and while exploring the house she finds a small door. Her mother (Teri Hatcher) opens the door but it is bricked off. That night Coraline sees some mice in her bedroom and follows them through the little door. But now the door is a tunnel that leads to the same house. Only this house isn't the same house, it belongs to a woman who looks just like her mother but she has buttons for eyes and calls herself the Other Mother (Also Teri Hatcher). Coraline has dinner with the Other Mother and Other Father (John Hodgman). She goes to sleep and wakes up at home. Her real Mother and Father don't believe her, so Coraline tells her neighbor Mr. Bobinski (Ian McShane) who tells her that the mice he's training want her to keep away from little doors. Coraline also tells her other neighbors Miss. Spink (Jennifer Saunders) and Miss. Forcible (Dawn French) who don't seem to offer much help.

That night Coraline goes back to the other world where she see's that the garden in the house is a magical wonderland and that it is in the shape of Coraline's face. When Coraline comes back to reality she tells her parents and this convinces her mother to lock the little door. That night it turns out that Coraline can still access the door and this time she goes to see the other Bobinski (also Ian McShane) with the other Wybie (who can't talk in this world). The Other Bobinski puts on a circus show with his amazing jumping mice. Coraline goes back to the real world once more only this time when her mother goes out to buy groceries she sneaks into the little door in the day time. This time Coraline and Wybie go and see the two actresses perform. But before she goes to see them a talking cat (Keith David) warns her that the Other Mother is not what she appears to be. When Coraline talks to the Other Parents they ask if she wants to stay forever. Coraline says yes but that means she has to sew buttons to her eyes. When they tell Coraline this she runs upstairs and tries to go to bed, only when she wakes up this time she is still in the other world.

***SPOILER ALERT STOP HERE IF YOU DON'T WANT THE END RUINED***

Coraline tries to escape from the house by running away but she ends up coming back to the house. She then finds the other mother who transforms into a witch and she throws her into a room where Coraline sees the ghosts of the children who where trapped there before her. The ghosts say that they let their eyes be replaced by the buttons and to escape someone needs to find their eyes. With the help of Other Wybie Coraline escapes back to the real world. But Coraline's parents were kidnapped by the other mother, so she tries to convince Wybie to help but he thinks she's crazy. So with the help of the cat from earlier she goes into the other world where she challenges the other mother to a game. She needs to find her parents and the ghost children's eyes within a certain amount of time. Coraline finds the eyes and her parents and defeats the Other Mother.  Coraline goes to destroy the key to the door but the Other Mother's hand comes to try and stop Coraline, but she defeats it with the help of Wybie. So with the Other Mother defeated Coraline goes back to her everyday life. The End.

***SPOILERS OVER KEEP READING***

Coraline is a great movie. The animation is wonderful and the story is interesting and very scary. The Other Mother is a very scary villain and I talk more about her in a previous top ten list. The character design is very creative and original. I do have to admit that some humor they try to throw in isn't that funny. I also found that Coraline can be a bit self centered at times. But I do recommend this as a fun scary movie for the family.