Second Hand Movies Done Dirt Cheap: Coraline (2009, Dir Henry Sellick, 1h 40m)

Yes, that's right. I've never seen Coraline before. Sue me. (Don't actually sue me, I don't have any money and you'll likely have the case thrown out, but I digress). Whilst a decent hit for the then new Studio Laika (who, despite making this, the supernatural-comedy Paranorman, the odd-as-ninepence but brilliant Boxtrolls, and the astounding samurai/supernatural epic, Kubo and the Two Strings, all of which have pushed the medium of stop start animation, never really seem to have hit the big-time), it's subsequently picked up something of a cult status in the nine years post its release.

Directed by Henry Sellick (the person who actually directed Halloween/festive stalwart A Nightmare Before Christmas, and a decent live-action/stop-start animation adaption of Dahl's beloved James and the Giant Peach), and based on a story from the pen of fantasy grand-duke Neil Gaiman, Coraline is a wonderfully wrought, beautifully told story of a girl dealing with her boredom, and the forces it unleashes from another fantastical world, and rightfully is one of the best childrens' films made so far this century.



Whilst Sellick may not be one of cinema's most prolific directors, his visual style is unmistakable, both in the design of his puppets, and his sets, and even early in their history, Studio's Laika's stunning ability in both these fields is clearly seen throughout the film, and its many setpieces, with traditional animation used as much as possible, only occasionally augmented by CGI, whilst the advent of 3-D printing (most spectacularly seen in Kubo and the Two Strings, which features the largest puppet ever built), allowed a stunning amount of expression from the puppets. But for all this technical mastery, this beautifully crafted world, the greatest piece of skill is in creating a world that you simply forget is stop-start animated.

Each set, from the truly massive house, both in the normal world, where the area around it has a perfectly Burton-esque gothic dilapidation, whilst the interior of the normal house is drab and unexciting, perfectly contrasts the richly coloured, and fantastical interior and gardens of the house, whilst the various homes of the Other residents, from a grand theatre, to a circus, are beautifully realised, even upon Coraline's return to do battle with the Bedlam that rules this world, as they are blanched grey, before the world itself begins to collapse in a jawdropping sequence that simply erases the world around the house, as it collapses into nothingness on a stark white background.





At multiple points, the puppets, large and small, move with a rare dynamism, rarely seen in the medium of stop-start, from Mr Bobinsky (Ian McShane), an enjoyably eccentric bizarre Eastern European acrobat who keeps a mouse circus,  to the circus of the Other Mr Bobinsky, a perfectly co-ordinated troupe of mice who entertain Coraline in complex circus antics, including a wonderfully shot rolling ball that the camera tracks after down the slope, to the deterioration of the sinister Other-Mother, whose face and hands and whole appearance begins to distort and break down, going from a perfect facilimile of Coraline's mother to a disturbing insectoid creature.

Every puppet has its own personality, and this is imbued not only in its design but also in its movement, from Coraline's teenagerish appearance, and great range of facial expression, matched in her disobedient, and lonely teenage personality to the spindly and perfectly realised cat, to the oddly Igorish Wyborne who acts as a foil to Coraline, and who eventually becomes her friend, to her overworked and "boring" parents, and exciting and artistic Other-Parents, and the inhabitants of the house and Other-House. Not only this, but, as with Sellick's other films, the voice-work matches the characters perfectly, from Dakota Fanning adding a teenage nervousness as Coraline, to Keith David softly bringing the cat's snarky tone to life, to British comedy duo as French and Saunders as a pair of retired, over-the-hill actresses.

But by far the best performance is Teri Hatcher as both Coraline's mother, a harassed, tired, and overworked writer, and the Other Mother, an initially gentle and sweet version of Coraline's mother, whose Stepfordish charm, and care for her daughter, gives way to a truly horrifying twist on traditional fairy tales, her voice cold and dangerous, echoed with the formerly perfect world and its denizens becoming aggressive and disturbing. This dual performance truly holds the fabric of the movie together, with one scene in particular perfectly encapsulating the film's move from dream to nightmare, with The Other Mother remaining chipper in tone as she explains exactly what Coraline will have to do to stay in the Other world.

Much like James and the Giant Peach, and Nightmare Before Christmas, Coraline has a perfectly created tone, switching effortlessly between the dull, grubby, monochrome of the real world, and the polychromatic world of the Other-Mother and Father, but beyond this, creating a real tone of slowly building, through excellently wrought scenes, a sense that, for all its escapism, the Other world is fundamentally wrong, before revealing in perfectly executed (and for a children's film, surprisingly scary) scenes exactly how wrong it is.

From here, Sellick provides a third act straight out of Grimm, (and throughout, Gaiman's skill as a story-teller, in creating a new fairy-story that sits well alongside classics, is clear, even through Sellick's screenplay), with Coraline proving to be a resourceful, tough protagonist, through trickery and with the help of her friends. Throughout Coraline, there are all manner of cleverly wrought references to Gothic and horror sensibilities, together with something altogether older, and more primal, a childhood Aesop of being careful what you wish for.

Thus, it is hardly a surprise that Coraline has, in nine short years, become a true classic of not only Hallowe'en, but childhood viewing in general, with enough scares to frighten all but the hardiest (a little), but enough charm, in its beautifully created world, and within its characters, to win over any audience at any age. Whether you be animation, horror, or supernatural fan, or simply looking for a good spooky film for the family, Coraline is a perfect world to escape into

Rating: Personal Recommendation