Coraline (2007)

Director: Henry Selick

An adventurous 11-year-old girl finds another world that is a strangely idealized version of her frustrating home, but it has sinister secrets.

When a child’s parents doesn’t pay enough attention to a child, they’re bound to make up imaginary friends. These imaginary friends will also have a perfect world – escapism for the child, and a world he secretly longs for. This is the main premise of ‘Coraline’.

While there’s much to love about the film – like the stunning animation – there’s also some issues. What is the target audience? Children will love the animation and the cute little girl in the lead, and the cat (although the cat is a horrible looking thing!), but will they understand what the film is all about? Adults might understand the premise better, but will they relate to the characters as children would?

This animated film has a very dark theme, with evil lurking around every corner. Some scenes might even give very young kids nightmares. Parts of the film reminded me of ‘Pan’s Labyrinth’. I must be honest, though, towards the end I found it difficult to understand what was actually going on. The film became very weird. After encountering ghosts of previous child victims, Coraline is given an adder stone – similar to ‘Ouija’ – to find their real eyes (now having buttons for eyes). Ghosts, witchery, evil spells, luring children – these are all themes not really suited for a young audience.

‘Coraline’ certainly is magical and mystical, and the animation is beautiful. I’m just not sure this is entirely my cup of tea…

‘Coraline’ received an Oscar nomination for Best Animated Feature. It received a number of award nominations and won 7, including Best Animated Film, Movie of the Year, Best Character Design, Best Music, Best Production Design…

Would I watch it again? I think not.