This movie is the first from the incredibly great Laika studio that - founded in 2005 had the ambitious and totally crazy idea to specialize in feature film length productions of stop-motion animation movies. They started with contract work but right from the get-go they announced their first movie: Coraline. It took them 4 years and $60 million dollars, but in the end in 2009 Coraline was released. I was intrigued right from the first time I heard about this movie, it looked absolutely fantastic and I love Neil Gaiman on who's children's book this movie is based on.

Still it should take me all the other movies from Laika untill I finally got to this movie. More by accident, and because my girlfriend liked the cover, I bought "The Boxtrolls" on Blu-ray, which was therefore my first movie from Laika. Then - and because I really liked Boxtrolls as a stop motion picture - we got ParaNorman, and it was good as well even though we did not like it as much as Boxtrolls. Then we watched Kubo and the Two Strings (also on Blu-ray), which was incredibly well done, and finally I manged to secure a first edition release of Coraline. Wanting a first edition (wich in Germany comes with a Lenticular O-Card) was actually the only reason that we've watched this movie so late after it's release, because it was already sold out and I had a really hard time searching for it.

But here we are, I could finally see the movie and unfortunately I have to say I wish I'd seen it earlier. After seeing Kubo you are somewhat set up for a disappointment. Still it is a really great movie. The plot is rather simple but non the less good, and the effects are great as well though if compared to Kubo you can see how over the years this company has perfected it's craft more and more. The sets are non the less really fantastic and the effects which are all hand crafted are absolutely worth your while. Here it's worth mentioning that if you actually own this on a physical medium you'll probably get a ton of extras that are absolutely interesting and stunning. A lot of the "magic" is given away, such as how the fire and the fog where done, how the actual dolls look like, and how they make it that these doll animations look so incredibly good, how animations effects of certain scenes where done, such as the "garden scene", and also who is behind the voices and what these actors think about the movie and how it is different to what else they've done.

And if you see these, I am sure you get a totally different appreciation for this craft and Laika as a film studio. What they do is insane. And it is even more insane when you take into consideration that today you could do everything they do with the help of a computer. But they don't use computers, they do everything by hand. The sets, the puppets, the effects. Everything. That's insane. That shows absolute dedication to the art. And that alone is worth at least watching it once, even if you don't like animation movies. It's worth it.

Having said that, I also really enjoyed the fact that they hired great actors for their voice acting, including the - in my opinion - best child actor out there: Dakota Fanning. But also Teri Hatcher is really great and she voices three "distinct" characters which she does great. Also worth mentioning: Keith David!

To sum up: It's an insanely expensive, extremely well done stop motion movie, probably one of the last of it's kind (with Laika being the only one doing "major" Hollywood releases recently and on this level of perfection), with great artwork, a really great dark fantasy story, and fantastic voice actors. Don't be like me: Watch it as soon as you can! :)

The whimsical paring of Henry Selick and Tim Burton serve up a real winner in "Coraline". The movie is a stop-motion wonder that is stunningly pretty, yet gloomy and sometimes frightening. This really isn't a movie for kids in the sense that kid's movies are categorized today. It's got some real scares, a true sense of danger, and a scary vibe that hearkens back to films like "The Wizard of Oz" and "The Nightmare Before Christmas".

The Coraline character is delightfully curious and totally likable. Her facial expressions and voice (Dakota Fanning) reflect a smart girl searching for the ideal family and finding that she has much to be thankful for back home. The evil "Other Mother" is a great villain and looks to be a great cook as well. I didn't expect to be hungry after watching.

This is not something that your average Attention-Deficit-Disorder stricken 10-year old is going to sit through. There is as much depth to this story as there is in most adult dramas. There are also some laughs provided by many of the quirky characters and Coraline is a sharp-witted, funny squirt herself. I was amazed by the animation the second time I watched it. I can't get over the little details. Just amazing.

I knew going in that "Coraline" would be a visual treat but what I got was a very nuanced story about appreciating the things you already have.

This movie is so good it's unbelievable.I am not a child watching this. I saw this as a 28 year old man for the first time. It's incredible. The characters are all weirdly vibrant and their "other" selves in the opposite world are equally so. This is a movie made of moments and there are so many just great moments. Coraline dealing with her parent's BS, dealing with being bored,the first time we see her smile in the other world listening to her song being sung by her "other" father, the real neighbors and their completely bullshit skills while the parallel neighbors have the real skills whilst being inhuman and unneighborly, her relationship with Whiby and how the other Whiby is such a perversion of what she wishes, the idea of the button eyes, the cat leading her past the end of the world, so fucking many moments that are stunning. Then to climax the film you have this Gaunter O'Dimm esque face off and it's just what fairy tales are made of.

This is not a normal movie visually either, I'm not a huge fan of stop motion but they adapt the cartoony qualities in just the right amount to make the impossible feel real and intimidating while also feeling whimsical. It really is hard to explain this movie's tone and that's because it's very complex and multifaceted. The art style for every character is supreme, especially the doll world and Spidermom being as intimidating as she is. The music was ok, I'm not complaining about it but the subtle chanting was fine and I love the "They Might Be Giants" guy singing Coraline's song but a lot of the rest is unfortunately generic.
This movie is actually amazing though, surprisingly so!

Oh and to top it all off... Coraline herself is an absolutely amazing character with incredible voice acting

Fantastic watch, will watch again, and do recommend.

I really wish more movies would follow this simple and great movie structure. Instead of a typical 3-act structure (not that it isn't technically there), the story is much closer to that of a video game.

You have a standard introductory act, but the rest of the movie is split into video game-esque "levels" that develop and unlock as Coraline makes new discoveries and completes different sections of the "map" / house.

There is a lot of messaging here as well, mostly concerning relationships between children and parents and how to navigate those in regard to real life events, but everything is "do not tell" levels of subtle so it's not in your face at all.

The Beldam itself is a magnificent creation of a "thing that bumps in the night" style of monster. While there is a lot left unexplained, there is plenty that is exampled about the Beldam and her world.

The movie also reminds me a lot of "The Wizard of Oz" in a few different ways so its good that there are family friendly movies of this quality that make vague callbacks to classic movies.

Neil Gaiman is so contemporarily vital, both in literature and cinema, because he more than anyone else (with the possible exception of Terry Gilliam) notes that children and adults alike are fascinated with what lies outside our observable and tangible realms of existence. He realized the reasons storytelling have been significantly important since the dawn of mankind, and devised, as the Brothers Grimm did, that fairy tales and children's stories had to be haunting and entertaining to be both memorable and timeless. This is a great film depicting the growing sense as a child approaches adolescence that their parents and their world aren't exactly as they seem, and that through their trials and tribulations (the 'rites of passage', if you will) they'll reach the 'happy medium' they need to in order to find true happiness in their lifetimes.

I definitely hope that all of Gaiman's books and graphic novels are made into movies (I most anticipate the 'Miracleman' graphic novels--both those by him and Alan Moore). Ones so well-written would truly be 'comic book movies' worth watching for me.