Coraline - Be Careful What You Wish For

In 1978, claymation legend Will Vinton founded Will Vinton Studios, an animation studio dedicated to the art form. In need of funding in the late '90s, Vinton found an investor in Phil Knight, the co-founder of Nike, who would introduce his son Travis Knight to the studio as an animator. In 2002, Knight would acquire the studio and in 2005, would resurrect Will Vinton Studios, as Laika, named after the dog famously launched into space as a Russian flight test.

Based on the dark fantasy novel by Neil Gaiman, Coraline was adapted into then-upcoming studio Laika’s first major film production in 2009, directed by Henry Selick of The Nightmare Before Christmas fame. While I did not see this film when it first hit theaters (it was at a time when I was more sensitive to scary imagery such as those seen in the trailers), I have since gone back to it and have ended up seeing it three times, the first of which was through an underwhelming 3D home video release. While Laika’s animations have definitely improved over the years as they learn/discover new stop-motion techniques, it’s sometimes nice to go back and see where it all began, and after 9 years the movie holds up surprisingly well.

After moving to a new home (Pink Palace Apartments, a flat shared by other patrons) in a new state so her parents could pursue a book on gardening, Coraline Jones (Dakota Fanning) isn’t happy with the way things are; her parents generally ignore her as they hastily finish putting their book together to sell to a publisher and she meets a new kid named Wybie (short for Wyborne or “why born”) (Robert Bailey Jr.), whom she quickly grows to dislike. While exploring the house on the first day, Coraline discovers a small door hidden behind some wallpaper in the living room and gets her mother to open it with a special key inside the house, only to discover it had been bricked up. That night, Coraline is compelled to try the door again, this time entering a world where everything about the Pink Palace is exactly the same. However, she soon meets her Other Mother (Teri Hatcher) and Father (John Hodgman, singing voice by John Linnell), simulacra of her parents (except with black buttons for eyes) who will give her just about anything she wants. Though Coraline continues going back to the Other World at night, something sinister lurks within its inviting atmosphere.

The story is written well and is pretty easy to follow, making for a stronger narrative as a result. I have not read the book on which the film is based, though I will say the movie works well on its own, making it accessible to a wider audience. I do know, however, that the character Wybie was created for the movie, primarily so Coraline could have someone to talk to and make things more visually interesting. Whether not Wybie is a good addition to the story depends entirely on opinions from those who have actually read the novel, though I personally didn’t mind his involvement in the plot.

Coraline (Dakota Fanning, center) with her Father (John Hodgman, left)
and Mother (Teri Hatcher, right) in the real world.

The voice acting is also good, sporting some good talent from then-15-year-old Dakota Fanning as the titular Coraline, as well as a solid performance from the popular Keith David. Teri Hatcher (Coraline’s Mother and Other Mother) and John Hodgman (Coraline’s Father and Other Father) get points for being able to make each of their respective characters’ counterparts feel different from each other, adding to the sense of immersion in the film’s world. John Linnell from They Might Be Giants shows off his vocal talents when the Other Father sings, doing so in such a way that the shift between his singing and Hodgman’s speaking lines is almost seamless.

For Laika’s first movie, the animation holds up really well, setting the stage for future movies to come and proving the capabilities of stop-motion with the right talent. That said, the animation gets a little noticeably jerky at times, particularly in some scenes in the Other World, though considering the type of movie it is, it’s hard to tell whether it was done intentionally for atmosphere or if it was done by accident as a result of it being Laika’s first feature-length production. Fans of The Nightmare Before Christmas may find the art style to be somewhat reminiscent of that, although I chalk this up to both movies being directed by Henry Selick.

Coraline remains a great example of what can be done with stop-motion. The story holds up well and is backed by some amazing voice talent and animation, the latter of which would only be improved upon in future Laika films. I would recommend this movie to fans of stop-motion and/or Neil Gaiman’s body of work, particularly fans of the Coraline novel that have not seen the adaptation yet and want to form their own opinion. If you watch Coraline and enjoy it, I would recommend giving Laika’s other movies so far (ParaNorman, The Boxtrolls and Kubo and the Two Strings, as of this writing) a shot as well.