Every time I watch anything of the stop-motion animation variety I tend to get immediately swept up in the magic of it. The time, precision and not to mention the patience it must take to get the thing done is nothing short of extraordinary. Yet when the end product is as magical and as breathtaking as Coraline, the filmmakers must give themselves a collective pat on the back.
Coraline is, without a doubt, one of the finest animated films of the last decade, beaten only by WALL.e. It’s a family film that is young enough for kids but does not patronise adults, manages to be hellishly frightening but not traumatising and, at the end of the day, tells a very simple story very, very well. Everything about it is nigh on perfect. The animation is stunning as is the voice acting (Dakota Fanning as Coraline and Teri Hatcher as the Mother and the Other Mother respectively are the standouts). I even noticed how well written it was, taking the simple theme of parental neglect and spinning a marvellous fantasy yarn out of it.
It’s a testament to the quality of the film that I immediately craved a re-watch come the end. Coraline is a masterpiece: fact. Despite being in my mid-twenties I still feel a wave of joy at watching stop-motion animation and still wonder how the hell they do half of it sometimes.
The Other Mother frightened the life out of me though. There’s something inherently wrong about wishing to replace a young girls eyes with buttons.
5/5
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