"How can you walk away from something and then come towards it?" "Walk around the world."

Year: 2009

Director: Henry Selick

Writers: Henry Selick, Neil Gaiman (book)

Coraline and her parents have moved to a new house. She feels bored, until she finds a small secret door which leads to Other World, where Other Mother is welcoming her with open arms. But soon something starts to feel off...

I've heard so much about Coraline. Most of what I've heard was how scary Coraline was considering it's "for children", an animation. So I finally decided to watch it. I had some expectations, and I'm pretty sure this movie met most of those expectations. 

The animation was so marvellous. This kind of animation is cute, but it also has the possibility to become very, very creepy, which is good if it's a movie like this one. All the movement is so smooth and the characters don't look too much alike (which is something Disney could learn from). The music was also both beautiful and creepy, depending when and what kind of music. 

The story is kind of typical, it was kind of like some distorted Alice in Wonderland. The idea of someone going into another world has been used a lot, but most of the time it's always left kind of vague - was it true or was it just a dream? Well, in Coraline it was pretty clear that everything was true and actually happening, not just a little girl's imagination. Even though the basic idea isn't too original, Neil Gaiman has added some details that made the story completely new, original and exciting.

The only one of my expectations that this movie didn't meet was how scary this would be. I wasn't expecting anything like horror movies for adults, but I was still waiting for something more. But no, this movie wasn't scary as much as it was... creepy and disturbing. You don't get scared so suddenly you scream a little, no, you just feel so disturbed and crept out by whatever is going on. And Other Mother? Totally creepy. 

But I haven't read the book. I have a feeling that everything wasn't told in the movie. I'm pretty sure I read somewhere how much scarier Other Mother was in the book. I definitely need to see that.

Coraline is wonderfully made, visually pleasing yet creepy movie. I recommend it to everyone, even those who don't like horror movies. Maybe this can be your way to start going towards horror movies.

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

8 / 10