Title: Coraline
Recommended Age: E (Everyone)
Director: Henry Selick
Writer: Neil Gaiman
Voices: Dakota Fanning, Teri Hatcher, Keith David, Robert Baily Jr.
My Rating: 9/10
Some people would probably argue with me whether this review belongs in a fantasy blog. However, while it's not sword and sorcery, Coraline is the most fantastic thing I've seen in some time - in every sense of the world. By turns delightful and frightening (and sometimes disturbing), it has everything I would expect from a genuine fairytale.
The Plot - Warning! Spoilers to follow!
Eleven year old Coraline hates her new home in Oregon. The scenery is dreary, the neighbors are eccentric in a past-their prime sort of way, and the only person her age is Wybie, who is both desperate to impress her (with gross/scary anecdotes) and a little intimidated by her. Her overworked parents do little to help: her mom is irritable and waspish, while her dad is merely exhausted.
The trouble/adventure begins when Coraline finds a tiny door in one of the walls. When Coraline convinces her mother to unlock it, the space behind the door is bricked up - but that night, she finds that it leads to a fantastic alternate version of her life, complete with alternate parents. They look like clean, refreshed, better dressed versions of her own parents, with one major difference: instead of eyes, they have black buttons. However, despite Coraline's initial wariness, Other World quickly draws her in. After all, everything in Other World is just like home, only better. Other Mother cooks delicious feasts fit for Thanksgiving, with all the dessert you can eat. Other Father sings wacky, charming songs and creates a beautiful magic garden as a tribute to Coraline. The alternate neighbors present her with a dazzling mouse circus and an outrageous dance/acrobatics show. On the surface, Other World seems a far preferable alternative the real world.
However, as the tagline says, “Be careful what you wish for.” The movie hints at a dark side to Other World all along, and when the catch finally comes up, it isn't unexpected but it is still disturbing: Other Mother promises that Coraline can stay forever, if she agrees to sew buttons into her eyes. She refuses, and is thrown into a dungeon with the ghosts of the button-eyed children Other Mother has trapped before. When Coraline escapes, Other Mother captures her real parents to lure her back to Other World and trap her forever. In true fairytale style, Coraline challenges her to a game, with only the cat and to help her in a now-frightening Other World. And in the tradition of clever and courageous child-protagonists, Coraline succeeds in rescuing her parents, freeing the souls of the trapped children, and finding a way to accept her parents for who they are.
The Fantasy Tradition
I think this review belongs here at The Far Horizon for several reasons. It isn't just because I liked the movie - and I really, really did - it's because Coraline has everything I love about fantasy. Please note that I'm an old-school fantasy person. None of that sugar-coated Disney tripe for me: I grew up on RankinBass studio's The Last Unicorn, where the Harpy had three naked breasts and killed and ate people, and I prefer the Cinderella with the chopped off toes and The Little Mermaid where she dies in the end. I'm not violent or bloody-minded; I just like my stories to have some substance to them. Substance means truth and the truth is that there's a lot of brutal, desparate things happening in the world.
Anyway, Coraline has all the elements I like to see in my fantasy. It has engaging misfits to help the main character, in this case her offbeat neighbors who all have some rather surprising advice and insights. It has a hero who succeeds not by being privileged or popular, but by being brave and clever in her quest to save her loved ones. It has a journey to places that are beyond fantastic, from a garden full of glowing flowers and genuine snapping SnapDragons to the metal web of a giant spider. It has references to genuine traditional concepts like The Beldam (an old word meaning witch or hag, creatures renown for stealing away children) and Seeing Stones (an ancient artifact used by early European pagans to see the truth behind appearances and sometimes foretell the future). And of course, it has the underlying darkness that gives a story depth - nothing say creepy like seeing someone's mouth pulled into a smile with safety pins.
Don't be one of those people who says "Well, I hated The Nightmare Before Christmas, so I won't like this because it's claymation" - if you are, you're cheating yourself out of a great experience. Fantasy followers everywhere: you owe to yourself to go see Coraline.
~Blue Nephelim Out
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