Coraline

2009 "Be careful what you wish for."
7.7| 1h40m| PG| en| More Info
Released: 05 February 2009 Released
Producted By: Pandemonium
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website: http://coraline.com/
Info

Wandering her rambling old house in her boring new town, 11-year-old Coraline discovers a hidden door to a strangely idealized version of her life. In order to stay in the fantasy, she must make a frighteningly real sacrifice.

Watch Online

Coraline (2009) is now streaming with subscription on Prime Video

Director

Henry Selick

Production Companies

Pandemonium

Coraline Videos and Images
View All
  • Top Credited Cast
  • |
  • Crew

Coraline Audience Reviews

Editorial Review
Exoticalot People are voting emotionally.
GarnettTeenage The film was still a fun one that will make you laugh and have you leaving the theater feeling like you just stole something valuable and got away with it.
filippaberry84 I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.
Ava-Grace Willis Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.
dun-assan I really enjoyed watching the movie, more so detecting the references to famous works like Van Gogh's Starry Night, Alice in Wonderland, and I think resident evil .. I'm not sure, it's either resident evil or an old horror movie. Nevertheless, I really loved it!
blumdeluxe "Coraline" tells the story of a young girl, who moves into an isolated old villa with her busy and non-caring parents, only to find out, that there is a better world awaiting her behind a secret door, where a different set of parents make all her wishes come true. As time passes by, however, this pittoresque picture begins to crack and the more sinister and dark side of her new parents begins to show. Will Coraline be able to escape into reality before it is too late?Before starting the movie I pretty much expected just another animated movie that would deliver an entertaining but not exactly outstanding plot. But soon I noticed that this film is remarkably different from most of the genre. Its tone is set way darker and some of the elements remind more of a horror movie than one for children. I really like that producers were brave enough to try something new and thus show that making films abroad the main paths is still possible. I wouldn't watch it with small children but otherwise I fully recommend it.All in all you can absolutely make nothing wrong with giving this movie a try. However, you should not expect a happy, colorful firework but a serious and sometimes frightening film.
foster-35506 Coraline is a 2009 stop-motion animation film that is written and directed by Henry Selick. Selick's name may sound familiar because his other more famous works include The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) and James and the Giant Peach (1996). With Coraline you get another great package deal by Selick, the main cast compromised of Dakota Fanning as Coraline, Coraline's mother being voiced by Teri Hatcher and father by John Hodgman and even some great supporting work by Ian McShane who voices a washed up but still eccentric and energized carnival entertainer who parades around some performing mice. Coraline herself is an outdoor, hands-on type of girl who just wants to embrace the new environment that her family has moved her to, however with the chores of settling in and finishing up on other laborious writing projects, the parents are not so envious of Coraline's desires and time.The theme of the film is to "focus on style or texture" (Petrie, Boggs, 2012, p. 20), as previously mentioned, Selick's other works point out his unique talents in creating dark, fantasy worlds that are just passable and manageable for the older kid groups. Telling a story similar to James and the Giant Peach you find yourself following a younger person who doesn't exactly like their current situations and seek out a little more, only to find themselves on a dangerous adventure filled with unimaginable beings or creatures. The artistry in Coraline is always present with large miniature sets on display and various camera work to mimic a live action film. Nearly every time Coraline leaves the house to go outside we are treated with the "the zoom lens" (Petrie, Boggs, 2012, p. 117) showing us just how magnificent the scale of the set and detailed modeling used. The choice of colors should be noted to in Coraline as they generally are gloomy and contain shades of off blue and purple, making us all feel uneasy as to what is happening or can occur throughout the experience.As you dig further into the story and this unnatural but seemingly better world, you learn along with Coraline that not everything is as it seems. Unraveling the disguises and illusions, you become fully sensitive to the style of film this is and appreciate the stop-motion effects. From bizarre transformations to impossible realities, the movie proves Selick to be right in how he can compete with a lighter storytelling method used by companies such as Disney and Pixar. So much so that the award-winning 2016 movie Kubo and the Two Strings takes direct influence from Selick's work, giving us all a Tim Burton Beetlejuice feeling that there is something to be made in the stop-motion fantasy worlds.A common item to decipher the normal world to the other world in our story of Coraline would be the replacement of the eyes with simple buttons, a "motif" if you will. (Petrie, Boggs, 2012, p. 27). These buttons symbolize a dark meaning of course as to lose one's sight would mean you cannot see and naturally would become lost over time in a place that you may have believed better than the world where you could see. The dark fantasy style that Selick has become known for is after all what this film embodies and is held to, a high recommendation for those who dare to explore.
walfordjb Before I begin my review, I would like to say that just because this is animated, it isn't exactly for little kids. Also I will be revealing some spoilers.Coraline is a masterpiece. Directed by Henry Selick (Nightmare Before Christmas) the film was released in 2009 to positive reviews and was a success. The film's animation is absolutely amazing. Seriously, there is so much attention to detail in this film, and it blew my mind! The character designs are very good as well.The story follows Coraline Jones, an extremely bratty girl who discovers a small door in her new home that leads to a parallel universe. The inhabitants have button eyes to top it off, and if that's not creepy enough, it turns out this amazing world is just a trap.This film is creepy. If you have young kids who are scared easily, please watch it before you show them. It's just a very creepy film, and can be very scary.Overall, I love Coraline and it will remain one of my favorites for a long time.