The Coraline movie is real magic

The Coraline movie is here! Neil Gaiman’s glorious children’s book Coraline has been transformed into a suitably magical movie overseen by none other than Henry Selick, the man that directed the 1993 cult classic animated adventure ‘The Nightmare Before Christmas’. If any director was capable of bringing Gaiman’s odd yarn of Button-eyed people in a strange vision of our real world, it would be Selick. The visual aspect of the Coraline movie is a beautiful example of stop-motion animation, a moviemaking method that can really be magical when executed right.

Where the original Coraline novel was of the same weird and wonderful kind that we have all come to expect and crave from Neil Gaiman, the visual element of the Coraline movie took several viewers off guard with its use of beautiful colour and the style of animation. The Coraline movie is a wonderful thing to take in, and will enchant viewers young and old with its odd story and thoroughly entertaining cast of characters.

The vocal talent attached to the stop motion adventures of the Coraline movie is extremely special too. Dakota Fanning handles the title role of Coraline Jones herself, and the rest of the cast has a number of British television stars involved, including Ian McShane, Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders. Teri Hatcher gives the chilling voice of both versions of Coraline’s mum. The Coraline movie’s wisecracking feline friend is voiced by John Hodgman.

It is quite apt that such a weird story is adapted in such a way as to capture the feel of a dream. Stop-motion has that wonderful otherworldly quality to it that Computer generated effects are yet to possess. There is something wonderfully unnerving about stop motion, especially here in the Coraline movie. It may be the knowledge that the viewer is witnessing inanimate objects moving around on a giant screen, or it might just be that the finished sight of a stop-mo movie is so different to various other animated movies of the current era.

While the Coraline movie is nowhere near as filled with iconic images as The Nightmare Before Christmas, it is certainly not missing it’s visual treats. Just look out for the musical scenes, the strange metamorphoses of the characters, and yes, the scary buttons that people have sewn into their eyes in the alternate universe. Viewers that are yet to read the book are in for a real treat as they are introduced to the crazy world that Gaiman created, a world that is like ours, just better.

For people who have read the book (and it has been enjoyed by just as many grown-ups as youngsters), the Coraline Movie is about as a faithful movie version of the source material as it’s going to get. This is one children’s film that is going to become a much-loved classic for all the family. The Coraline movie is pure magic.