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Coraline

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Coraline 3D

  MPAA Rating: PG
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Nearly every child at one point in his or her life will create a fantasy world and become lost within the confines of his or her own imagination. Coraline Jones (voiced by Dakota Fanning) doesn’t even need to use her mind, as a small door in her family’s newly purchased apartment allows her to escape to a perfect world that may or may not be hiding macabre secrets. Henry Selick’s richly dark film Coraline is a beautiful example of animation for adults. It’s smart, rewarding and lush all at the same time.

Mom (Teri Hatcher) and Dad (John Hodgman) are disinterested and vacant, so it is no wonder that their spitfire of a daughter, Coraline, yearns for something more. When she finds that the aforementioned door in her living room leads to more than bricks and mortar, she decides to pull an Alice and take the plunge down her version of the rabbit hole. On the other side of the door is love and attention, thrown at Coraline from Other Mother and Other Father, who are exact replicas of Coraline’s actual parents with one notable exception: They have buttons for eyes. In this alternate universe, everything seems to be exactly what Coraline has always wanted, yet under further inspection, things may not be as they seem. What follows is a nightmare of a journey for young Coraline and a rush of excitement and visual beauty for onlookers.

Coraline takes a bit of time to get going, but once it does, it is awesome. Selick brings his usual artist’s eye to the project, and both the look and feel of the film are unlike anything previously presented to cinema audiences. Think of the film as the art house version of The Nightmare Before Christmas. Based upon Neil Gaiman’s book of the same title, Coraline is able to fully retain the aesthetics of the book while simultaneously presenting a satisfying cinematic narrative ... in 3-D nonetheless! The voice talent is also top-notch. Teri Hatcher, in particular, is terrifying as Other Mother, and Ian McShane, Jennifer Saunders and Dawn French (the latter two teaming up after their stint on Absolutely Fabulous) are all great as Coraline’s wacky neighbors. For those who like their animation extremely dark and twisted, Coraline makes for one heck of a night at the movies.