Coraline

For certain, “Coraline” was the weirdest movie of ‘09. It was directed by the underappreciated Henry Selick, also the director of “A Nightmare Before Christmas.” The stop-motion world in which the story takes place was strangely grotesque, as were the characters. However, the stop-motion animation, which hasn’t been applied successfully in quite some time, was nearly flawless, and the whole movie was intriguing. It leaves covetous children with a solemn message: Be careful what you wish for.

Fed up with her boring home life, Coraline wanders through a secret door that takes her to a new dimension where her parents are tons of fun, everything is perfect, and everyone’s eyes have buttons sewed into them. She soon finds out, though, that this world is not so wonderful as it seems. As the true evil of the place reveals itself, Coraline begins to realize the grave danger she’s put herself in, and must get back home before it’s too late.

Like the new “Wild Things” film, “Coraline” may not be for young kids. This time, however, it is not because of deep psychological themes, but because of the genuine creepiness of everything. The people in the movie were anything but anatomically correct. Some had twig-like limbs, some had heads bigger than their entire bodies, and everyone looked oddly deformed and misshapen. Creepy music played on and off throughout the film. The buttons covering the other peoples’ eyes were also pretty freaky, especially when they wanted to put them on Coraline herself. And, the list goes on. Add it all together, and you get a movie that no six year-old should watch.

The visual effects of the “Coraline” world were very, very impressive. Certain effects, such as water rippling, or a ribbon falling through the air seemed to have been stuck in just to show the world how skilled the various animators are. And they are obviously very skilled. The animation was smooth and slick, like hair greased with Crisco. There were a few close-up shots that, from time to time, looked a little fake, but mostly the stop-motion effects were a match for modern computer animation.

I don’t really know what to make of “Coraline.” It’s such a weird, out-there movie that I can’t tell if I really enjoyed it or not. I suppose I did, and I think it’s worth checking out. It earns 7 out of 10 stars, for proving that stop-motion animation is nowhere near the end of its popularity, and for giving audiences an intriguing story with an ominous moral, but maybe going a little overboard with the creepiness, and making it a bit too scary for the younger kids.