Coraline (2009)

An adventurous girl finds another world that is a strangely idealized version of her frustrating home, but it has sinister secrets.

Director:

Henry Selick

Writers:

Henry Selick (screenplay), Neil Gaiman (book)

Stars:

Dakota Fanning, Teri Hatcher, John Hodgman

Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 9 wins & 34 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Dakota Fanning	...	Coraline Jones (voice)
Teri Hatcher	...	Mel Jones / Other Mother / Beldam (voice)
Jennifer Saunders	...	Miss April Spink / Other Spink (voice)
Dawn French	...	Miss Miriam Forcible / Other Forcible (voice)
Keith David	...	The Cat (voice)
John Hodgman	...	Charlie Jones / Other Father (voice)
Robert Bailey Jr.	...	Wyborne 'Wybie' Lovat (voice)
Ian McShane	...	Mr. Sergei Alexander Bobinsky / Other Bobinsky (voice)
Aankha Neal	...	Sweet Ghost Girl (voice)
George Selick	...	Ghost Boy (voice)
Hannah Kaiser	...	Tall Ghost Girl (voice)
Harry Selick	...	Photo Friend (voice)
Marina Budovsky	...	Photo Friend (voice)
Emerson Tenney	...	Magic Dragonfly (voice) (as Emerson Hatcher)
Jerome Ranft	...	Mover (voice)

Storyline

When Coraline moves to an old house, she feels bored and neglected by her parents. She finds a hidden door with a bricked up passage. During the night, she crosses the passage and finds a parallel world where everybody has buttons instead of eyes, with caring parents and all her dreams coming true. When the Other Mother invites Coraline to stay in her world forever, the girl refuses and finds that the alternate reality where she is trapped is only a trick to lure her.

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Plot Keywords:

new home | dream | secret door | parallel worlds | eye | 

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Taglines:

Be careful what you wish for.

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Genres:

Animation | Fantasy | Mystery | Thriller

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Official Sites:

Official site [France] Official site [Japan]

Country:

USA

Language:

English Russian

Release Date:

6 February 2009 (Canada)

Also Known As:

Coraline y la puerta secreta

Filming Locations:

Portland, Oregon, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$60,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

£2,427,244 (UK) (8 May 2009)

Gross:

£7,244,992 (UK) (26 June 2009)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Focus Features, Laika Entertainment, Pandemonium

Technical Specs

Runtime:

100 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital

Color:

Black and White Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The band They Might Be Giants wrote 10 songs for the movie, but a change in tone from a musical to a darker production meant that all but one was cut; a scene in which Coraline's other father sings along with a piano features John Linnell's voice. The band has said they will release the other songs created for the movie in other projects, including albums.

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Goofs

During the last breakfast, Other Mother uses two pans. One has bacon and the other has an egg omelet. When Other Mother serves Coraline, both bacon and egg are in one pan.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Coraline Jones: [after hearing a creature while exploring the hills] Hello? Who's there?

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Crazy Credits

Partway through the credits, behind the scenes footage of the mice swirling around the portal is shown, giving a look at the process of animating in front of the blue screen.

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Connections

Referenced in Bad Movie Beatdown: Monkeybone (2009)

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Soundtracks

Nellie Jean
Performed by Kent Melton
Written by Kent Melton
Copyright (c) 2008 Kent Melton

User Reviews

An Instant Classic

Feisty eleven-year-old Coraline walks through a secret door and discovers a parallel reality. That reality is sort of similar to the life she already knows yet deeply unsettling in a number of ways. Coraline (voice of Dakota Fanning) begins a journey of adventure and self discovery when her parents (Teri Hatcher and John Hodgman) relocate the family to Oregon from Michigan. No one in this new space has time for her so she spends her time exploring her new neighborhood with an talkative local boy named Wybie Lovat (Robert Bailey Jr.). After discovering the odd neighbors all of whom are true characters, she is still bored somehow.

All of this immense undertaking is courtesy writer and director Henry Selick, director of Nightmare Before Christmas, and the well crafted adaptation of Neil Gaiman's international best-selling children's novel. To Selick's credit this is the first 3D stop motion ever made; stereoscopic 3D. Selick himself worked on the film for three years. The style is stunning and the story is an unwavering fairy-tale nightmare that has some genuinely scary moments. is a masterful movie and an exciting tale of mystery and imagination.

In the rotting nooks and crannies of Coraline's new home the real story begins and where she discovers a hidden doorway behind the wallpaper. Inside is her alternate space where there are doubles of her distracted parents now lavish loving attention on Coraline, the oddball neighbors are friendlier, and her pesky friend long longer speaks. Only her parents' eyes now black buttons give a clue that something isn't quite right.

Selick has created a world as much for adults as children as there are references dotted throughout that the young won't understand. The imagery, however, is very child like. Both talents live side by side and bodes well for Selick's previous work in Nightmare before Christmas, James and the Giant Peach and even Monkeybone. His work has always been fascinating. Gaiman is to be credited with the story for sure, but this is Selick through and through. This film is sure to become an instant classic and as well executed as this movie is it should be.