[MOVIE REVIEW] Coraline (2009)

OR

Title: Coraline

Starring:  Dakota Fanning, Teri Hatcher, Keith David, Jennifer Saunders and Ian McShane

Genre: Fantasy / Family / Horror / Adventure

Company:   Laika Entertainment

Directed by: Henry Selick

Year: 2009

MPAA Rating / TV Rating: Rated PG - For Thematic Elements, Scary Images, Some Language and Suggestive Humor

Buy:  Amazon  //  Blu-Ray.com

When a young girl named Coraline ends up moving to a mysterious home that is inhabited by other neighbors (who are bizarre in nature), she finds her new life to be a bit boring due to her parents being so absorbed with their work that they can't spend time with Coraline.  It wasn't until later on that Coraline finds a mysterious door inside the house which leads to another world that is similar to her world, except that she gains another mother called the "Other Mother" and the other mother ends up giving Coraline everything she wanted including good meals and exciting performances from her neighbors.  Unfortunately, Coraline will soon realize that not everything is as it seems in the other world when the other mother ends up kidnapping Coraline's real parents and Coraline must go and save her parents from the Other Mother!

I remembered reading Neil Gaiman's book on this classic story about a young girl wanting a better life, but finding out the hard way that sometimes it's good to be satisfied with what you have rather than having a life that's not real and I have always loved how this story was set up and how creepy it was!  So, when I heard that they were finally making a movie about this novel, I was super excited and my excitement was definitely not misplaced in this movie!  I just loved how the animation really fit with the creepy tone of this story as it was jerky in your typical stop motion way and yet gorgeous to gaze at!  I also loved the story itself as it was about Coraline learning that not all things are paradise when she visits the other world and I also loved the fact that Coraline took it upon herself to rescue her parents when they were kidnapped as it showed great courage in her character!  I also loved Coraline's neighbors in both the real world and the other world, as they were eccentric yet helpful towards Coraline, especially Mr. Bobinsky, who was probably one of the most interesting characters in this movie!

The only problem I had with this movie was that the beginning was sort of slow and I wished that there was more action at the beginning that would have capture my attention of this movie from the beginning.

Overall, "Coraline" is definitely one movie you should check out, especially if you are a huge fan of Neil Gaiman's books or if you are a huge fan of weird and creepy animated films in general!