Seen a movie lately? Whether you have or haven’t, I’d recommend you go out and see Coraline. It harkens back to the Night before Christmas - it’s a movie steeped in atmosphere. It starts very mundanely, and in fact the closest thing to a “scary” moment through the first third of the movie is merely a prank pulled by another kid. Despite this, the movie remains steeped in atmosphere, from a derelict theatre to a fog filled garden to the shoddy and broken down house itself. Then contrasting this is the Other World, which has a bright, vibrant garden, a circus, and a large theatre. But despite how bright and vibrant the Other World is, there’s always a lingering note of something sinister - everything seems just a little too perfect and sugar coated.
The characters in my opinion are also part of what makes this a fantastic movie. First of course is Coraline’s mother and father, and their Other counterparts. The real mother and father are dreary people, who dislike getting dirty but write about gardening. They seem especially mundane, perhaps to make the Other counterparts seem that much more vibrant. In the Other world, they are bright and cheery, and the father is even a whiz at playing the piano! My personal favorite character is Mr. B (short for Bobinski) - in both worlds he fills the role of the eccentric neighbor. In the real world he is considered an alcoholic (though this is up for debate) Russian ex-gymnast. The eccentricity come from the strange ways he exercises, plus his claims of training a mouse circus. In the Other world though, he has a fantastic circus set up inside of his room, complete with cotton candy and of course mice! And this of course doesn’t even include any of the other cast of characters - I wouldn’t want to spoil anything for you!
My only complaint is that the movie feels a little rushed. It’s a little less than two hours, which is probably good for a little kid’s attention span, but a movie as eerie as this is definitely meant for adult audiences too. I think if they spent a little more time showing the atmosphere they create it would improve the movie as a whole. However, I do understand how the creators would want to keep the movie relatively short - stop animation is incredibly difficult!
Overall I would consider this movie a must - see, and perhaps even a classic in the making. It’s great for the horror movie buff, but even better for someone who likes creepy but not scary. There’s no jump-out scream-wrenching horror, but there’s definitely an atmosphere which will cling to you for a while. It’s really a memorable movie!
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