Movie Review: 'Coraline' catches attention of adults, teenagers

In an age when slasher films have taken over the market that deals in scaring the teenage set, Director Henry Selick is a refreshing throwback to the days of filmmakers who can scare the younger crowd, entertain the adults and teach a few lessons along the way.

Selick's bailiwick is stop-motion animation, and he's the current master of that art form. "Coraline" breaks new ground with its combination of the stop-motion technique and the current, highly improved digital 3-D format.

The dark source material for "Coraline" is the novel by Neil Gaiman, but Selick wrote the screenplay and adapted it in a manner that lends itself to the motion picture idiom.

The title character (voiced wonderfully by Dakota Fanning) is viewed by some as a bratty, self-centered child. I immediately loved her. She's smart, she's brave and most of all - as realized by Gaiman and Selick - she's a character who reminds us that childhood can sometimes be a frustrating, confusing time.

Adults, caught up in work and day-to-day adult problems, sometimes tend to wonder, "What's a kid got to worry about?" But learning life lessons and the sheer act of growing up can be frustrating and confusing.

Coraline, an only child, moves with her mom and dad to a remote part of Oregon. Mom and Dad, while not cruel, are always too busy working in front of their computers to spend any quality time with their daughter.

Coraline finds a strange little door in her bedroom but finds nothing but a brick wall behind it.

That's in the daytime.

At night, she finds the bricks gone and replaced by a long tunnel. She slides down the tunnel and enters into an alternate universe, populated by her "Other Mother" and "Other Father" who, despite having buttons for eyes, are very nice and attentive. It seems like paradise for Coraline.

At first it seems that way.

Little by little, it becomes apparent that (as in a lot of fairy tales) things aren't always quite what they seem. The "others" have ulterior motives that maturate in sinister ways.

"Coraline" is a film that works on many levels for viewers of all ages. It will surely give a scare to younger viewers, but it's rated PG as opposed to PG-13 or R, and there's no blood, gore or overtly sadistic elements. It also will entertain adults who still have the wisps of memory of the challenges they faced in their own childhoods.

Gaiman - a legend in the graphic novel crowd - has fashioned a story that is original and unpredictable.

It's not a stretch to rank it with other childhood fables such as "Alice in Wonderland" and "The Wizard of Oz." All are tales of frustration and escape and, ultimately, the gaining of self-knowledge. Both the film and the title character will resonate with young and old alike.

Technical note: The stop-action animation is as good as has ever come to life onscreen, and the 3-D effects are state-of-the-art and not overdone. The end credits are worth sitting through. They are more razzle-dazzle than most of the scenes in the body of the film, featuring objects flying directly in the viewer's face and throughout the auditorium.

But even though the effects were done subtly, there's something about the process and wearing the 3-D glasses that left me uncomfortable. The wow factor is fine, but the content and artistry of the film is what makes "Coraline" so exceptional. I will be happy to watch the film in its 2-D format when released on DVD.

Jim Wunderle owns Wunderle Sound Services and is a Springfield freelance writer and musician. He can be reached at info@wunderlesound.com.[[In-content Ad]]