To this day, I still have some friends that won’t watch Coraline. And honestly, I don’t blame them. Even though it’s technically described as a children’s movie and I first watched it in elementary school, the underlying themes of this movie are anything but childish. It contains sequences that are quite disturbing for someone of any age and I constantly find myself returning to the film during Halloween season. And every time that I rewatch it, I’m further convinced that Coraline is a near-perfect spooky movie that is truly timeless thanks to its animation style.
The movie Coraline is based on a book of the same name by author Neil Gaiman. It follows a young girl, unhappy with her life, who finds a hidden door in her new house. Through that door is a seemingly perfect world with everything she could possibly dream of, including a new set of parents, called her “other” parents. The only thing that seems off is the fact that everyone in the Other World has button eyes. But, as Coraline discovers throughout the film, there is much more to this world than meets the button-eye (haha, get it?) The world-building for this movie is amazing and cohesive, and stop-motion animation was a perfect choice. The director, Henry Selick, also directed The Nightmare Before Christmas, and he clearly mastered the art of using stop-motion animation to tell creepy stories. Certain scenes with the Other Mother near the finale send chills down my spine every time I watch them, and they definitely wouldn’t hit nearly as intense had it been a regular animated movie. The other great thing about stop-motion is that it’s (possibly) the only timeless form of animation. If you watch Meet the Robinsons today, which also came out around that time, you can still enjoy the film but it definitely feels dated. Coraline looks and feels like it could’ve come out yesterday, which is thanks to its art style and directing.
The other thing that really stands out about the movie is its music. There’s a recurring theme with a girl singing over a harp and it’s never really clear what she’s singing. Listen to “Exploration” from the soundtrack, and you’ll understand what I mean. Well, that’s because she’s not actually singing anything. The composers, Danny Elfman and Bruno Coulais, specifically chose sounds for the singers to sing on melodies that aren’t words. No matter who listens to it, it will sound like a familiar, yet unrecognizable language—kind of like how the Other World for Coraline is close to what she knows but feels slightly off. The effect is really well done and makes the soundtrack one of a kind.
There’s so much I could praise about this movie, it’s so unique and well-done. It’s creepy and slightly disturbing, but has a really great message in the end. If you haven’t had the pleasure of watching Coraline, I definitely recommend that it makes it on your list of must-watch Halloween flicks this fall. I promise you won’t be disappointed.
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