Coraline

What can I say, I loved it. It was the perfect amount of creative and creepy that you expect Neil Gaiman and it was given that extra sense of awe with the stop motion animation that has been dwindling from our cinemas since Pixar came on the scene. I read the story a few years back and thought it was a clever quick read and was the first story I ever read by Gaiman.

The story is about a young girl with blue hair named Coraline, The characters often confuse her name to be Caroline which does nothing except piss her off. Coraline and her work obsessed parents move into The Pink Palace Apartments in Oregon from Michigan where Coraline finds herself bored and lonely. So Coraline goes exploring for an old well when she meets the acquaintance of Wybie, a character who is not in the book and Coraline takes to calling Whywereyouborn instead, and a mangy black cat. She also meets the neighbors, Mr. Bobinsky, A Russian Circus Acrobat who is training jumping mice and a pair of old actresses Miss Spink and Miss Forcible.

Coraline finds that Wybie has left for her a package which turns out to be a doll that looks just like Coraline. Out of boredom and irritation of her parents they ask Coraline to the house and to coconut all of the windows and things that are blue. It is this exploration that leads her to the small wallpapered door in the living room. She begs until her mother unlocks it and they find that all that excitement was for a brick wall.

That night, Coraline follows a small mouse into the living room where is hops into the mysterious doorway that Coraline sees now is no longer a brick wall, but a soft tunnel leading to another small door. It is when she enters the tunnel that the real fun begins. Emerging on the other side, Coraline sees her world, only better. Her parents are attentive and loving, and would be exact copies if it weren’t for the ominous black buttons they have in place of their eyes.

Coraline is enticed by the gardens and the improvements made not only to her neighbors who are no longer washed up has-beens but to Wybie, who can no longer talk which seems to make Coraline very happy. However nothing is what it seems in this world, and even as Coraline is wooed, a devious plan is unveiled that might trap Coraline forever.

I had wanted to see this movie for long and finally had the chance. The story was well conceived and fun to watch. When the movie ended, I immediately wanted to watch it again. Warning, there is a song in the movie by They Might Be Giants that WILL get stuck in your head.