Coraline (2009)
Directed by: Henry Selick
Coraline is just like any other ordinary child her age who is full of imagination. The world is at your feet and any normally mundane moment is an opportunity to explore and create an adventure! Coraline and her parents recently moved to Pink Palace Apartments. Eager she's ready to explore and see what awaits just outside her new home! Her parents seem callous towards Coraline. They are buried deep under deadlines and fail to really be there for her. While exploring outside Coraline runs into her neighbor "Wybie" or Wyborne. Much like Coraline he also spends his time outside exploring and keeping busy. Coraline doesn't take to kindly to him and finds him annoying. Wybie surprises Coraline with a mysterious doll earlier that afternoon which eerily bares an uncanny resemblance to her! YIKES!! Rather amused Coraline thinks nothing of it and continues with her day. While completing a trivial task her father gave her, she discovers a hidden door in her home. Where could this lead to? Why is it there?.
While in dream land she is lead away by a mouse to the very door! The door leads her to another world which strikingly looks much like her world but infinitely better! The colors are brighter, her parents or Other parents are much more concerned for her. Her Other Mother cures her rash she got earlier that day from using a branch of poison oak as a dowsing rod. The food looks more appetizing. The Other world just feels and looks infinitely better than the one she finds herself in when she wakes up from dream land. The story continues to elapse and slowly you start to understand the natural draw to the Other World. Are things really like it seems for Coraline? Is this really a happy world or is their something menacing that we all are overlooking much like Coraline? Tune into this story to see how it all pans out.
Visually engaging with a completely bewitching plot! No matter how many times I have seen this film it's still as great as the first time I saw it. I unfortunately, haven't read the book by the same name. I'm not sure how close it is to it. There are some themes I noticed while re-watching this film. There's the obvious of "Be careful what you wish for" . There's also the major parallels between her reality and the Other reality. The reality she finds herself in presently is filled with grey and fog which I feel is symbolic that the world around her is dull and rather monotonous The other world however, is more lively. The colors and hues paint a different world full of life. It almost plays on your senses. The food looks more tantalizing and the never ending care she lacks from her real parents seem answered by her Other parents. They are more attentive and they seem to be more concerned for her well being in drastic difference from her real parents. Yes, even her neighbors are more exciting in the Other world. There's something Coraline can't place and her suspicions are on point. There is something wrong with "too perfect" something incredibly wrong. There's also the idea that the buttons are a bargaining chip and symbolize your soul. In exchange with getting everything you want you have to sew buttons on your eyes to belong in the other world. Almost like surrendering your gateway between your world and the life you knew for the world on the other side.
There's also some things my nephews picked up on that I seemed to have lost from previous re-watches. One of my nephews who is actually Coraline's age took the Other Father's song for Coraline as a warning to her. I didn't really see it that way but from looking at the lyrics I can see how he would relate that to a warning. Seeing as the Other Father was more concerned for her genuinely than her Other Mother. My other nephew saw a similar parallel between Georgie Denbrough and Coraline. They both wear similar raincoats. They both are lured away by a spiderlike creature. Coraline's is the Other Mother and Georgie's of course is Pennywise. Although, Georgie's fate is sad at least Coraline escapes. There's that lure that preys on your senses although obviously one escapes while the other doesn't. It's interesting once I could piece it together. I also took away that some elements in the story played on the escapism found in "Alice in Wonderland'. Much like the white rabbit we have a mouse that lures Coraline away to a different parallel. Coraline is pretty witty despite her earlier naive thinking.
Overall, I thought the plot was very well done. It was engaging and does present itself like a horror movie without all the blood and guts. There's something incredibly wrong with getting everything you want without a price. The price is giving up your sense of being human to belong to a world that's an escape to the boring contrast of the world in reality. The characters were interesting. The elements of the film played on suspense. Check this one out if you like a story reading like a fairy tale with a dark twist.
9/10
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