Every child dreams about having an exciting life in a parallel universe as a pirate, princess or meeting talking animals in the wild. It is probably this common childhood fantasy that makes stop-motion feature Coraline enchanting and appealing to everyone regardless of age.
Eight years after his last project, director Henry Selick, of The Nightmare before Christmas fame, returns with a dark and suspenseful adaptation of Neil Gaiman's best-selling children's novel of the same name. It was regarded as a risk in the industry because, rather than using computer-generated animation as in hit movies like Shrek, it was photographed frame by frame in 3D.
The story begins with Coraline (voiced by Dakota Fanning) as the new kid in an uneventful town. With no friends and neglected by her busy parents, she looks for fun by exploring the neighbourhood but comes up empty-handed until she finds a bricked-up door in the building she lives in.
The secret passageway, Coraline later discovers, leads to a parallel universe where everything - even her parents, despite the fact they have buttons for eyes - is more perfect than the world she grew up in. But, as she begins to enjoy it, things start to happen which make her realise this parallel universe isn't as perfect as she'd first imagined.
Now Coraline has to find the determination and courage to walk away from her new dream life and find her way back to reality.
Although there are no jump-out-of-the-seat scary moments in the movie, the grim and gloomy ambience of Coraline's adventure is creepy and intense from start to finish, and will undoubtedly give you shivers of fear. Already being hailed by critics in the US as an instant classic, Coraline is a must-see.