Coraline
HEADLINE: ** Imaginative, But Spooky **
TITLE: CORALINE
Quality: * * * Acceptability: -1
SUBTITLES:
WARNING CODES:
Language: L
Violence: VV
Sex: S
Nudity: N
RATING: PG
RELEASE: February 6, 2009
TIME: 100 minutes
STARRING: The Voices of Dakota Fanning, Teri Hatcher, Jennifer Saunders, Dawn French, Keith David, John Hodgman, Robert Baily Jr., and Ian McShane
DIRECTOR: Henry Selick
PRODUCERS: Bill Mechanic, Claire Jennings, Henry Selick, and Mary Sandell
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: None
WRITER: Henry Selick
BASED ON THE NOVEL BY: Neil Gaiman
DISTRIBUTOR: Focus Features/Universal Pictures/General Electric
CONTENT: (Pa, B, C, O, L, VV, S, N, MM) Light mixed pagan worldview with light moral/redemptive premise and some lighter occult elements such as child heroine uses divining stick to locate hidden well but is interrupted and two women read tea leaves for heroine but can't agree on what the leaves say, which implicitly sort of mocks such occult practices; no obscenities, three light exclamatory profanities and one exclamation that sounds like Gaaaw!; strong, sometimes scary and menacing, violence or hints of violence such as sorceress wants to force child heroine to remove her eyes and sew buttons onto the sockets, sorceress imprisons people, sorceress chases heroine two or more times, magical flowers and bugs attack heroine, sorceress threatens to keep heroine's parents imprisoned for life, and scary spider creature chases heroine; two elderly actresses put on a suggestive stage act and there may have been a suggestive theatrical poster of some sort in one brief shot; actresses are dressed in skimpy, somewhat revealing and/or suggestive costumes and poses; no alcohol; no smoking; and, child heroine doesn't have a really healthy relationship with her parents, who are preoccupied with their work and neglect her welfare, plus movie implies that people who go to Heaven get wings but the movie never explicitly calls such people angels.
GENRE: Fantasy
INTENDED AUDIENCE: Older children to adults
Please address your comments to:
James Schamus, President
Focus Features
A Division of Universal Pictures and General Electric
65 Bleecker St., 2nd Floor
New York, NY 10012
Phone: (212) 539-4000; Fax: (212) 539-4099
Website: www.focusfeatures.com
SUMMARY: CORALINE is a spooky but very imaginative stop-motion animated fantasy about a girl who must defeat an evil sorceress who has imprisoned her parents in another world. Despite a redemptive story structure, CORALINE seems too spooky and edgy for many older children, even though they may be attracted to the fact that the brave, spunky heroine is 11-years-old.
IN BRIEF:
CORALINE is a stop-motion animated picture directed by Henry Selick, who did THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS and JAMES AND THE GIANT PEACH. In the story, based on Neil Gaiman's popular book, an 11-year-old girl named Coraline must defeat an evil sorceress who has imprisoned three other children and her parents. Posing as her "Other Mother," the sorceress has lured Coraline into her world, which seems nice but really isn't. In defeating the villain, Coraline gets help from a wise talking cat, the story's most interesting character.
Like NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS, CORALINE is visually stunning but very spooky. Thus, parents need to exercise caution for their older children about it. Also, the story leaves some unanswered questions and includes main characters that are not as appealing as they should be. Also, the final battle with Other Mother is not as imaginative as the rest of the movie. That said, the story's structure is somewhat redemptive. For example, the heroine enters a demonic realm to defeat its evil, seductive ruler and rescue the people who are enslaved by this oppressor holding them in chains. Viewed that way, CORALINE is slightly more interesting and uplifting.
