Review of Coraline (2009) by Doctor S — 13 Aug 2012

An imaginatively twisted, visually appealing Alice In Wonderland-meets-Hansel & Gretel family movie - one that is neither too simple-minded nor confusingly complex, although the dark intensity of the later reels might frighten children 9 or younger. Tough rocks for them.

While I enjoyed Coraline, I'm giving 4 stars mainly for the technical wizardry - this is a movie that deserves to be seen for the 'wow' factor. Incredible blending of 88% stop-motion and 12% digital animation, raising the bar from James and the Giant Peach and Nightmare Before Christmas by several more rungs. I counted 18 animators listed for working on manipulating the facial expressions alone, that should give you an idea about the amount of detail. When Coraline talks, not only do her eyes and mouth move, we can see her tongue change position and all her teeth, including a wayward incisor on her left side. All these small movements had to be done one frame at a time, remember!

The story is pleasingly peculiar but only decent enough and several supporting characters could have been stronger, therefore these two areas keep Coraline from really delivering a classic. However, the soundtrack is brilliant and the voice acting is strong with Dakota Fanning really making Coraline Jones the star of the show, infusing every line with personality. Too bad we couldn't inject Miss Fanning with an age-stunting serum so that she could play the role of every 12-to-15-year-old girl in the movies for another ten years. Think how society would benefit, would that be so wrong?