Coraline

Neil Gaiman's book, an attempt at doing a good old fashioned scary story for children, comes to film via the medium of stop motion animation. There are a few changes to the book to bring it up to film length and make it work as a movie, but they were done with the writers blessing. Which he says on the making of documentary. Coraline is a teenage girl whose parents have just moved to an old house in a remote area. Both of them are totally preoccupied with their work, which leaves her plenty of time to roam around the house and the area outside looking for something to do. In the process she meets a variety of eccentric individuals who are now her neighbours. And finds a passage into another world. A world not unliks the one she knows. But everyone and everything there seems to be much nicer and much more fun. If you can overlook the fact that they have buttons for eyes. But when Coraline discovers that her mother in this new world has plans for her, the old phrase about being careful what you want because you just might get it becomes very true indeed. As mentioned it tries to be a traditional scary story, and in that respect it succeeds superbly. Because there very frightening monsters for coraline to face and a real sense of jeopardy as she does so. All told by a master storyteller who succeeds in creating a character you can root for and situations that will keep you gripped. And in addition this is a work from a talented director who succeeds at bringing it to the screen, making it work as a movie, and giving you a visual treat to go with it. There's also a very talented voice cast who all bring their characters to life. Quality storytelling and superb animation make this a treat for those of all ages who love a good story. Although parents be aware that this is a pg rather than u certificate as there are scary moments that whilst some children may love others, especially the very young, may find a bit too much. The dvd has language tracks in english hungarian and dutch And subtitles in english arabic danish dutch hungarian icelandic norwegian and swedish There's a commentary from the director and the composer of the film's musical score. Eight minutes worth of deleted scenes. All are good but dont serve the story that much and were cut for pacing reasons. You can only watch these all at once rather than one at a time and as each has an introduction from the director it does get a bit repetitive. There's a thirty six minute long making of the movie documentary. This can be watched all at once or in smaller sections of roughly six to eight minutes each. Covering all aspects from voice acting to puppet making and puppet costumes and how stop motion animation works this is very interesting viewing and well worth a look. The second disc in this two disc edition has a 3D version of the movie and the box contains several pairs of 3D glasses to go with it. I'd refer you to the other reviews here that talk about the quality of the 3D because they know far more about the subject than me and my eyesight isn't great so I'm probably not the best person to evaluate it. But all in all a great bit of film making and a dvd well worth getting. The only extra thing in the two disc version is the 3D copy though so if you can live without that you'd be okay with the single disc edition.

Where to start? Coraline is a film about a girl who discovers a new world after moving into a new house, and later regrets ever finding it. The film is mysterious throughout: You're not sure where she's going to end up or what is going to happen. The characters are all well resembled and easy to relate to, such as the part where Coraline is telling her mum about her poison ivy rash, whilst her mum replies with the sort of sound someone would make when they're not really listening to you. Each character plays a big part in the film, all with different personalities. The film has a moral which is 'appreciate what you have, because when it's gone, you'll wish that you still had it' This is resembled with the relationship between Coraline and her parents. Now for the negative (would have given it 4.5 stars but it wasn't possible). Although this was my favourite film before Frozen, there were some parts which I believe could have been improved. One example is how appropriate the film was to fit PG. At one point, Coraline walks down some stairs and stands there with a tool in her hand. Then, one of the strange characters jumps down from a high balcony, landing with their legs spread apart and the point of the tool nearly touching the part between their legs. This was not necessary. Nor was the part where the 2 old ladies (which turn out to be young ladies, but anyway) perform a mermaid theme play. One of the sisters is not too bad, with seashells worn like Ariel and a mermaid tail. However, the second sister is hardly wearing anything at all, which was definitely not appropriate. The only other thing I could think of is that from some people's perspective, this film could seem depressing, dark and scary. I actually have to agree, and with this said, it is definitely not one for those under the age of about 8 or 9, or if you/your child is sensitive, or easily scared. There are many dark and scary parts in the film, especially when the fake mum's button eyes are ripped off by the cat. Although I do not at all find this scary, others might, and therefore dislike this film. My overall advice: If you like fantasy, adventure and most of all mystery, and not easily scared then this the perfect film for you. If you are the complete opposite to this and like funny, bright films (I like all sorts of films, but I was just using these examples as a reference) then please, do not watch this film!

First of all I'm 22, and male. And I loved this film. It was quite eerie, and the dark undertones were brilliantly conveyed. I think the film itself is absolutely fabulous. My review though is going to be mainly orientated around the blu-ray quality/etc. The blu ray picture is akin to other recent animations like Wall-E... Absolutely fantastic and five star. The 3-D feature though, as has been discussed a few times before, is a bit of a different story. The quality in the 3-D from the original blu ray is amazingly retained - to me it looked as stunning (of course there are colouration issues from the r/g but so far as the actual resolution, etc, it looked as good). However, the 3-D was quite gimmicky. It worked really well in some parts of the film - it gave an amazing added depth perception which was quite cool to see, but in quite a lot of the film (~50/50 in my opinion) its very miss - giving the same appearance as it appeared in 2d blu-ray. I think the way the 3-D has been brought in could have been incorporated to a much better method - though with technology at where it is at now - e.g. waiting to move onto either polarizing glasses or differential TV sets - it might not be entirely important. As a side note - I got this product today after pre-ordering off Amazon like a month ago. Hugely impressed - 2 days before the official release date. All in all I'd strongly recommend this - after picking up my PS3 and 1080p tv I'm really starting to get into genres of films I wouldn't have considered before, for video quality alone, and along the way I'm enjoying the films too. I'd throw Wall-E, Coraline, things like Pan's Labyrinth up there. ----Update: *********** I re-watched Coraline in 3D the same night, and the quality was bundles better than what I observed in the day. The 3D is absolutely stunning quality, and you don't depreciate any of the blu-ray quality when watching it in 3-D, absolutely brilliantly worth it. Watch out for the gravy train scene and the performing mice circus.

Coraline was an enjoyable watch. It's a very quirky and creepy film - even I found the whole sewing of buttons into the eyes a bit cringeworthy. But I think that's why the film succeeds as it harks back to real old fashioned fairy stories where some truly horrible things were meant to happen to the characters. In our cotton wool society it was refreshing to see what's essentially a children's film with a bit of an edge to it. The cast of characters are also pretty wacky and range from the hugely breasted April Spink and her sister to the lanky limbed circus performer Alexander Bobinski through to the odd but harmless Wybie (Wybie short for 'why born' a name given by his grandmother!). The plot revolves around the discovery of a strange parallel world peopled by analogues of Coraline's recent acquaintances who all have buttons instead of eyes. It's a simple but remarkably effective way of generating a subtle kind of menace and unease. These button eyed people seem to give Coraline the attentions she craves as her real parents are both far too busy with their careers to spend any real time with her. Coraline visits this parallel world every night and becomes more and more enamoured with it until she realises what's expected of her if she actually wants to stay permanently. As the characters reveal their true intentions Coraline realises that actually the real world may be a better place after all and she sets about escaping and helping some of other poor unfortunates who've been previously trapped with the help of the cat which, whilst in the parallel universe, can talk. The bluray offers both the 2d and 3d versions and comes with a 4 pairs of 3d specs. The 3d effect is pretty good by and large. Being the red and green glasses true colour representation suffers but until I can afford thousands for a new 3-d TV I'd be happy to stick with this! The picture quality is also excellent as you'd imagine from a modern film so no complaints there. All in all a worthy addition to your bluray collection - especially at this price. It's a film that will appeal to kids and adults.

Worth the rent.

Coraline is a dark, beautiful, and strangely comforting story about curiosity and courage. The stop motion animation is stunning every detail feels alive and the eerie atmosphere perfectly balances wonder and unease. It’s a film that reminds you how easily “perfect” can turn frightening, and how bravery often means facing what scares you most. A timeless, spooky masterpiece!!!! Loveeeee even in 2025

Great film. Not suitable for children under 12

Ok