Coraline
Director: Henry Selick
Year Released: 2009
Rating: 3.0
Pouty Coraline doesn't like her new house and doesn't like her own parents all that much, so out of boredom she searches around and discovers a tunnel to an alternative world where she is pampered and smothered by overly doting versions of her parents that turn into monsters. The inventiveness of Selick's stop-motion animation and computer imagery - plus the added use of 3D (which is how I saw this) - transcends the Alice in Wonderland-turned-macabre approach by novelist Neil Gaiman, only stumbling when it borrows from the language of the video game world and Coraline has to acquire three orbs and fight boss battles (which is a similar problem I had with The Incredibles): movies have a hard enough time just being themselves. Seems to have a nice message for the kids about appreciating what you have: sometimes parents (or step-parents) that are overly protective and coddling are actually having a negative impact.
