Depending on your definition of spoilers…this may have some.
A dozen or more times per year, a movie is released to the theater that is labeled, “THE MUST SEE FAMILY MOVIE OF THE YEAR” This month, it was Coraline. 2009 has just have started so I cannot properly judge the year, but I safely dub this film the best family movie of the past twelve months.
What you wanted from this movie, you received. The visual treats were better than I had anticipated. The story was deeper than your average Disney flick, but not so complex that my seven year old could not follow along. For a kid’s flick, it was certainly scary at parts. Not since Monster House had I wondered about the parents of the toddlers in the audience being kept up half the night because of nightmares. The movie was in 3D in the theater I went to. I did not feel it needed to be, but it did have a few justifying moments where things reached out to kill me.
I do wish that the marketing bigwigs who produced the commercials for this movie would take a hint from Pixar and create a commercial that did not spell out the plot so in detail. I knew what was going to happen, the whole time. Though it was unfolded in a unique way, next time, give me less in advance. Also, the ending was disappointing. The movie’s wrapped up, the villian is dead…BUT SHE”S NOT REALLY DEAD!!! Yawn. Let’s kill the witch the right way the first time already.
I feel the need to rate all family movies twice, once based on the genre, and once based on all films. Coraline receives an 8 for a children’s film, and 6 1/2 for a film in general. Please do this again or us parents are going to be stuck with more Tinkerbell sequels.
The Pilver 
I have mixed emotions about going to see this flick. On the one hand: Neil Gaiman = Genius. On the other hand: 3D = Gimmicky (in my opinion). Oh, and squirmy kids generally ruin all things for me…movies included.
Don’t get me wrong! I will see this movie. I just may not shell out $9 + the cost of concessions to do it. Maybe I’ll go to a matinee. Oh wait! More kids at the matinee. Ok, maybe I’ll shell out the $9…but I’ll pack my own popcorn. 🙂
It looks super cute, but I will wait for Netflix. I miss a lot of great movies that should be seen in the theater because I have a low tolerance for everyone else in the room. I am a shush-er and I’ve been known to say “you’ve GOT to be kidding me” in a loud voice when people’s cells phones go off. Rob gets embarassed…
Good Review. I also saw this film and feel the same way about it. I think it would have been better if they got Tim Burton to work on this one too. Kudos.
Stephanie- Yes. There were lots of kids when I went, HOWEVER, my own son (who normally says a few words during movies) was on the edge of his seat, literally and quiet the entire time. But you best bet would be to o to a 9pm or later show.
Amy- If you have a decent sized TV set, do the at home thing. But the animation was soo good it needs to be seen BIG.
oh my gosh
who cares about little kinds in theatres?
point is, movie was amazing.
henry selick really rocked this one.
(:
little kids*
All of these comments do not justify the brilliance of Coraline. It is easily in my top 5 animated films of all time and one of my favourite films period. The stop-motion visuals are absolutely gorgeous and superb, giving the film a strange feeling regular hand drawn of CGI animation could never bring. The amazing score by French composer Bruno Coulais is suited perfecty for Coraline, and the voice acting ( particularly the Cat ) is quite good. While not the most action packed of films ( and it doesn’t need to be ) Coraline is different and sometimes actually makes you wan’t the movie to stay slow to allow you to inhale the beautiful animation and interesting atmosphere. Henry Selick as directer like with James and the Giant Peach, and The Nightmare Before Christmas ( YES that was NOT directed by Tim Burton ) is awesome at his unique craft. The movie captures the spirit of Gaiman’s book, and destroys it.