Coraline (2009)
A Halloween Movie Review
Happy Halloween everyone! Just as I said, here’s my review of an animated classic, Coraline. Enjoy.
Spoilers:
We start of with well enough the opening credits interspersed with a creepy song playing and our main villain making a doll to look like our titular character. Keep this in mind, for now. After the credits, we find out it’s moving day and a family has moved in to their new home. Which is where we find our heroine, Coraline Jones. She’s an adventurous, bored girl probably in her tweens and whilst her life isn’t bad, her parents are workaholics and have little time for her. She explores the grounds near her home, trying to find a well where she meets a black cat and the apartment’s grandson Wybie or Wyborne. And the stick she’s using as a rod is poison oak, so that sucks.
Later, whilst exploring the house, she discovers a secret door, but it’s blocked off, later that night mice lead her to the door, which she opens and what do you know, it’s a beautiful and majestic tunnel. She follows it only to end up in a mirror version of her home but less depressing than the original. She goes to the kitchen, smelling something good only to find a woman cooking. This woman introduces herself as Coraline’s “other mother” and she sends Coraline off to tell “other father” that dinner is ready. So, she goes and where both Coraline’s original parents are depressed workaholics, the “other” versions are happy, upbeat, and “other father” has hands to help play the piano. He sings a song literally about Coraline.
The dinner was amazing to little Coraline and afterwards she is taken to bed where everything is alive even the photo of her friends she left behind in Michigan. (Weird how that that happens) Her other mother places some mud that’s supposed to heal her poison oak and after she falls asleep, only to wake up in her actual room but her poison oak is healed. After retelling the “dream” to her parents she goes outside to return her upstairs neighbor’s mail and he’s a Russian circus conductor, he runs a “jumping mouse circus” The Amazing Bobinsky is his name and he mistakenly calls her Caroline. As she leaves, he gives her a message from his mice. “Do not go through the little door.”
She retrieves a hat from a suitcase and heads down stairs to more neighbors. Miss Spink and Miriam. They have lots of dogs and stuff the ones that passed. One reads Coraline’s tea leaves and tells her she’s in terrible danger, the other lady disagrees and they to call her Caroline. Soon, Coraline leaves and runs into Wybie who is looking for slugs with the cat. Later that night, Coraline once again travels to her “other home” where her other mother tells her to fetch her “father” in the garden. It’s amazing and the best part it’s made to look like her. After dinner-breakfast Coraline heads to other Bobinsky’s for a mice circus with her friend. The other Wybie who other mother had stitched so he wouldn’t talk. (Yikes) They arrive and have an excellent time at other Bobinsky’s circus. And we transition to Coraline in bed where she once again wakes up in her real room.
Later that day, Coraline and her mother go shopping for school uniforms and Coraline wants to get some colorful gloves so she can have something that will standout with her boring school uniform but her mom says no. Which leads to Coraline commenting, “My other mother would get them.” (Harsh Coraline harsh) When they get home her mother goes food shopping and Coraline for the first time unlocks the secret door and exclaims, “I knew it was real.” She crawls through but something spots her crawling through, the cat. When she arrives, she finds a note and lunch from other mother saying the other miss Spink and Miriam have something special for her. So, after eating lunch and putting on her new outfit from other mother she heads downstairs but runs into the cat and other cat, but the real cat, but there’s one thing different about him. He talks (and he’s voiced by Keith David aka Captain Anderson which is always a win) He explains how he comes and goes as he pleases and the other mother tries to keep him out. She hates cats. (Now, I’m a dog lover, but I don’t hate cats damn this other mother sounds like one bleep)
Captain Anderson from the Mass Effect Trilogy
Coraline eventually makes it downstairs to find an auditorium full of dogs and other Wybie. The other ladies put on an interesting show where they start competing and there’s a mishap on stage but they still have one final act. They prepare to do acrobatics and as they begin jumping they unzip their bodies revealing to young beautiful women with buttons in their eyes. They pick up Coraline and all of a sudden she’s a part of the act. They “drop” her and she begins falling but they pop out of the barrel and perfectly catch leading to an applause from the dogs. Later, Coraline is told by her other parents that she can stay here, but there’s one little thing she needs to do, have buttons sowed in her eyes. Coraline’s understandably upset and she heads to bed where all the things in her rooms including her “other Michigan friends” berate her for not wanting the buttons. She puts them in a chest and tries to go to sleep. She wakes up but she’s still here and everything is different, like the energy of the place is fading and needs to be refreshed. Coraline runs out of the house in a desperate attempt to flee where she finds the cat. But as they walk the enter the empty part of the mirror world where other mother didn’t create anything and the cat explains to Coraline why other mother wants Coraline. He states she might want something to love that isn’t her or something to eat. They wind up back out the house. The cat spots and crushes one of the “circus mice” who tries to warn other mother and once dead he transforms into a hideous rat.
Coraline enters the house and tries to go back to the hidden door but everything lights up and the other mother is sitting on an insect couch and there’s insect furniture?” (Okay, someone’s got a fetish) Coraline wants to go home but other mother isn’t having it and after Coraline says, “You aren’t my mother” other mother transforms growing taller and more skeletal. And she throws Coraline into a magic mirror that traps her on the other side. Also, trapped with her are the spirits of three children. They explain how the other mother or “The Beldam” as they call her spied on their lives seeing they weren’t happy using little dolls that looked like them. (Told you it come back around) She lured them away, yet wanted more so they let her sow buttons into their eyes and eventually she locked them in this mirror and ate up their lives. Coraline is rescued by other Wybie who has a sowed smile on his face. Coraline fixes it, but he shushes her and rushes her to the secret door. She opens it and it’s all decayed and filled with cobwebs, the world really is weakening, but that just means the Beldam is even more dangerous and desperate. Other Wybie pushes Coraline in and she escapes back to her real home and locks the door, but somethings wrong it’s empty. Wybie shows up looking for the doll and Coraline tries to explain everything but he just calls her crazy and flees. Coraline goes to Miss Spink and Miriam and they give her something to help with bad things or to find lost things, they can’t agree. Later that night, Coraline goes to bed in her parents’ room and she makes up the pillows to look like her parents and cries herself to sleep.
The cat shows up that night and he leads her to a mirror. They’re trapped, she breaks the mirror, thinking she could rescue them, but the cat reveals the other mother made a dual puppet of her parents and took them. Coraline resolves herself to get them back and prepares to go back to the other house. She arrives and is met by the Beldam. One of her mice comes in as well with the key, which she uses to lock the door and then eats the key. (Gross) She leaves Coraline to go make breakfast. Coraline follows her and offers to play a game, “a finding things game” as she puts it. A game to find her real parents and the eyes of the ghost children. In each wonder for Coraline an eye is hidden, so Coraline heads to the garden which has seen better days. Things start attacking her, but she gets away. After almost losing her look through object she looks through it which reveals everything to be gray except for the eyes. It’s then, other father on his bug contraption is forced to attack her. But the small bridge can’t handle the weight and collapses, before he falls in he hands Coraline the eyes. Every freezes like it’s dead.
Next she heads to the other dancers. She heads inside the auditorium and on the ceiling on the dogs who have bat-wings. Then a giant candy wrapper appears with the eyes inside but so are the other ladies and once she takes the eye she’s attacked. But Coraline shines her flash lite at the Bat-dogs (hehe) when that doesn’t work she throws the flashlight which causes them to fly and she ducks at the last second. Causing the other ladies to let go and the dogs crash into them and they freeze dead.
Coraline heads up to other Bobinsky’s where she sees other Wybie all faded away and his clothes hanging like a flag. (Rest in Peace other Wybie) The other Bobinsky taunts her with her fears of being bored and neglected. He disintegrates into nothing and out of him comes the mice. They run off with the eyes and she tries to stop them by throwing the look-see object but both slip through her fingers and the balcony collapses and she falls to the ground dazed. She comes to and is distraught that she failed but the cat comes through for her and finds the eyes. Everything freezes and the moon is covered by a giant button. Everything begins to disintegrate forcing Coraline and the cat to rush inside. The house being to fall apart and the main living room where the secret door is has spiderwebs around it. Coraline confronts the Beldam who reveals the look-see, she tosses it into the fire but Coraline says they’re behind the secret door in order for it to be opened and so Coraline can grab the snowglobe where her parents are. She also throws the cat at the Beldam and he scratches her “eyes” out blinding her. But before Coraline can move towards he door the floor gives way leaving only a spiderweb. Coraline crawls up and gets to the door and pulls it shut with the help of the ghost children. She rushes towards her home makes it shuts and locks the door. Her parents come home with no memory of being taken. After saying goodnight to her parents the cat comes in and together they set free the ghost children. They appear to her while she sleeps and warn her that as long as the key exists the Beldam will find it. And that’s not all, when Coraline and the ghosts closed the door, one of the Beldam’s hands came off and followed her home. But Coraline has a plane she drop the key down the old well. But like I said the hand follows her and attacks her and begins dragging her back to the door, but Wybie shows up to save her and the hand is crushed. Coraline wraps the crushed hand and key in a blanket and throws it down the well. (The Beldam won’t find it because there is no well in the other world.
The next day, Coraline, her parents, and the neighbors are gardening when Wybie brings his grandmother over and the story ends with Coraline beginning to tell her tale.
The End
Wow. What a movie huh? Coraline is a classic for a reason. Our heroine is a good protagonist with likable traits but flaws as well. Her parents while being workaholics, still clearly love her, they just need an extra kick to remind them. The rest of the characters of good and funny too. My favorite being the cat because well, Keith David is a legend. Overall it’s an animated classic for a reason about a girl who takes her parents and life for granted and learns to appreciate them and the life she does have. Hope you enjoyed and have a Blessed and safe Halloween. 🎃🙏🏻