CORALINE review

(Reviewed by Melody Werner)
Coraline is a 2009 stop-motion paranormal animated film published by Focus Features and developed by Laika Entertainment, based on a novel of the same name by Neil Gaiman. Directed by Henry Selick, starring Dakota Fanning and Teri Hatcher. It was critically acclaimed and began a slew of films such as ParaNorman, The Boxtrolls, and Kubo and the Two Strings. Despite being a huge fan of Laika films and stop-motion animation in general, I hadn't seen Coraline until today (at time of writing). So I finally sat down and watched it, and once again found myself really enjoying a Laika production.


Coraline is gorgeously animated with a very Nightmare Before Christmas aesthetic. The style in which the characters and such are animated has an uncanny valley sort of feel, which heightens the unsettling atmosphere that Coraline revels in. It's also very visually dynamic, but not so much so that it's visually noisy; things happen on the screen but it's not a jumbled mess. The character and locale designs are breathtaking and wonderful. This is a film which will always look timeless. The voice cast is superb. So much expression in their tones and such, it really helps the film come together. The musical score is decent with a lot of crescendos and so on, but it's not masterful.


Coraline's tone is rather twisted, with some messed up plot points here and there which bounce up the creep factor. The atmosphere is suitably chilling and ominous. The narrative is Laika's take on "Be careful what you wish for" and "The grass is always greener on the other side", and the execution of it is quite well done. However, there are too many deus ex machina (<god out of the machine>) moments, whereby main characters are saved by other characters or forces which are elsewhere until the fortunate moment where they interrupt whatever danger there is. Now DEM's are common--and often times I don't gripe with them--but the explanations here I find are too lackluster to keep it from getting in the way of some enjoyment. The pacing towards the third act is much too rushed and this is partially why the conclusion itself is just a bit not satisfying enough.


The characters of the film are a mixed bag--the main characters are mostly unlikable and underdeveloped, chiefly Coraline herself. She just felt like a brat to me. The enigmatic talking cat was excellent though. The side characters are colorful and unique, between an acrobatic Russian and old models who can see the future. They're fun but not in the film much. The primary antagonist known as The Other Mother, after seeing several antimated films with anemic (haha, Daniel) baddies (Kubo and Zootopia) is delightful in how intimidating and insane she is. The never die fakeouts are unappreciated, however. The dialogue is good; not brilliant or bad, but above average and well written.


Coraline is yet another great animated film. You may have noticed that I'm sorta focused (ding!) on doing animation reviews right now, and the reason for this is twofold: one, I've realized that P&F is lacking a lot of thorough reviews in this department. Two, I'm just really enjoying looking at some good all-ages animation right now. Coraline certainly fits that bill, even if I prefer ParaNorman and Kubo to it. Coraline gets an 9/10.

Fantastic

Summary:
Stunning visuals, exceptional VO work, a chilling tone and atmosphere, a good narrative execution, nice dialogue, a phenomenal main antagonist, decent music, and a great cast of lovely side characters make Coraline a joy to watch. It is let down by annoyingly plentiful "never die" and deus ex machina moments, a third act which needed some more time in the oven, and an unlikable titular character. Is it Laika's best? No, I don't think so. But is it a good movie worth watching? Definitely.

(published by: 5/21/2017)

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