Review of Coraline (2009) by Kaitlynn2021 — 03 Feb 2017

Looking through the eyes of Coraline’s life.

“Coraline” is a creepy but humorous movie that had me on the edge of my seat the whole time. I just watched this movie in my 8th grade English class. “Coraline” gave me the chills throughout the whole movie. The movie has many different opinions, but you either hated it or you liked it. I was more in between. “Coraline” is made with clay animation which in my opinion makes the movie a little bit scarier. It also has many scenes in the movie that were a little sketchy and scary. “Coraline” was made by Laika Entertainment, they specialize in clay animation, just like “Coraline.”.

In present day Oregon, 11 year old Coraline Jones (Dakota Fanning) moved to the Pink Palace Apartment. She meets her neighbors Wybie, Mr. Bobinsky, and Ms. F and Ms. S. Coraline feels her life is boring because of the lack of attention from her parents. Out of curiousity Coraline stumbles upon a secret door leading to a new dimension. There she meets her other mother (Teri Hatcher). Her other mother gives her anything she could imagine, new clothes, delicious food, and even made a garden out of the shape of her face. Everything seems to be perfect to Coraline until she wants to go back home, but discovers she may not leave her other mother. Coraline finds out the truth about the new dimension. Coraline must figure out a plan to leave. Coraline uses her strategic ways to escape her other mother. The characters in “Coraline” had great stories about them, but their bodies were out of proportion and not realistic. Mr. Bobinsky was 10 feet tall and his skin color was blue. Coraline’s relationship with her parents didn’t develop as well as I would have liked it. In the beginning they barely talked and it doesn’t get resolved until the last ten minutes of the movie. The movie’s clay animation created a creepier vibe than a kid friendly one because when the characters have eyes for buttons it’s not a pleasant thing to see. Even though some parts I did not like, the movie did have some positive elements about it. I like how it taught a lesson in the story, “ Be happy with what you have.” The movie had a suspenseful plot leading up to the big climax of the story. I also liked that it was playful at times when Coraline had to go find the eyes of the lost ghosts. This movie is PG, a rating that might not be appropriate to younger children, especially from the ages 5-7. I would recommend parents watch the movie first to find out if your child would like it. The movie was awarded a Golden Globe for best animated movie of the year in 2010, a year after it was released. Overall I thought the movie was great. It was entertaining and suspenseful all at the same time, but I would not watch the movie again.