From the author of Stardust and the Sandman comic series comes Coraline, a story about an imaginative young girl. She is upset with the boring life she has and resorts to exploration and imagination to keep her occupied. After finding a door in her living room that leads to another world, her life changes dramatically.
Coraline’s story
On the other side of the door Coraline finds another house, strangely similar to her own, only better. She meets her other mother and father there that only want to do things to please Coraline, and her other neighbors are no longer dull, but mildly fascinating. The strange difference though is they all have black button eyes and seem a bit too generous at times.
Coraline’s other world
In a world where her parents seemed too occupied for her, this new house filled with abundant praise and wonderfully cooked food seems too good to be true. And it is. After Coraline finds out that her other mother wants to keep her and sew buttons on her eyes, it is obvious there was a catch to her generosity.
Coraline, not for the weak at heart
Coraline is not a normal children’s book. It is very eerie and filled with the most peculiar and frightening imaginative elements. Not saying the book is not child-friendly. It has many components similar to fairy tales like Hansel and Gretel and The Wizard of Oz.
Neil Gaiman’s child-friendly themes
Coraline is also a nice text for children due to its presented morals. Coraline teaches kids acceptance for what they have, to respect their parents, because they could always have it much worse. And to make these aspects appealing for children, the story is also sprinkled with talking cats, dogs who love chocolate, ghosts, and a spider woman.
Coraline: The major motion picture
With the release of the stop-animation film in 2009 by Director Henry Selick (The Nightmare Before Christmas), Neil Gaiman’s imaginative tale of Coraline (voiced by Dakota Fanning) was able to be put on the big screen. The movie did have its differences to the book, including the most noticeable addition of Wybie, the talkative grandson of Coraline’s landlady, but for the most part, did the book justice.
Coraline’s stunning stop-action environment
The visual atmosphere of the film is absolutely compelling, rising above and beyond Gaiman’s book. The positive atmosphere of the other world is stunningly beautiful. The colors and complexity are marvelous. Then on the other side of the spectrum, the dark, creepy scenes are that much darker and that much creepier. It’s very possible that the film could induce vivid nightmares. What would you expect from the man who worked on projects with the infamous Tim Burton?
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