Rating: (PG)
Recommendation: 10 out of 10 button eyes
Genre:  Children’s Dark Fantasy
Length: 100 minutes

STARRING
Dakota Fanning as Coraline Jones
Teri Hatcher as Other Mother and Mel Jones
Robert Bailey Jr. as Wybie Lovat

DIRECTOR
Henry Selick

Let’s begin with a small stuffed doll. Her hair is dark blue. She has small freckles dotted all over her face. Her raincoat is bright yellow. Her eyes are glossy black buttons. A metal hand, her creator, throws her into the wind. This is just the beginning of the story of Coraline.

The dark fantasy children’s film, Coraline, sets its adventure in Oregon. Yet, the movie states that Coraline is originally from Michigan. The main characters involved in this unique lesson-learning movie include: Coraline, Wybie, Other Mother, and Other Wybie. In this exciting film Coraline’s family moves into a new home. She discovers weird people and a secret door in her home. One night she decides to go through the door. In her adventures of meeting the Other versions of her family and friends, she learns to be thankful for what she has.
Parents beware. Although the movie is called a children’s, you may not see your child loving it. Some children, like the ones in my family, may be completely interested in the movie, but others will cry and run to their bedrooms. Coraline is a dark fantasy so beware that there are some ‘creepy’ graphics that your children may not enjoy.

If you liked The Nightmare Before Christmas, you might also like the movie, Coraline. These two movies relate because of their dark fantasy and animation similarities.  They both take the idea of a children’s movie and give it little twist. These are the kind of movies that teenagers would most likely watch.

One of my favorite aspects of the film is the way they made it: stop-motion clay. That’s how they did it. That’s how they made the magic. The eyes, the people, and even the food were made with stop-motion clay. 
In all, the film’s quality is quite clear. It’s a wonderful, lesson-teaching, and creative dark fantasy for all the ‘weird’ kids out there. Actually the author of the book, Neil Gaiman, wrote the story for misunderstood children, the kids who liked their dark fantasy. Coraline is worth your time. You will want to know the characters, you will be taught by the theme, and the creativity is what makes the film absolutely worthwhile.