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Coraline (2009)

★★★½ — Coraline (2009)

Henry Selick directed Coraline off the back of his reputation as the man behind The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) and James and the Giant Peach (1996), though he'd spent the intervening years in relative quiet. The film adapts Neil Gaiman's 2002 novella of the same name, a children's horror story that had already won the Hugo, Nebula, and Bram Stoker awards before Selick optioned it. Produced by LAIKA, the Oregon-based stop-motion studio making its feature debut, the production reportedly involved over 100 animators working across several years, with a $60 million budget that made it one of the most expensive stop-motion films ever attempted. Shot in stereoscopic 3D (a genuinely novel choice for an animated feature at the time, rather than a retrofitted one), the film was released in early 2009 to strong reviews and a healthy box office return, cementing LAIKA as a serious player in animation.

Look, I get why everyone loves this. It’s beautifully animated, the stop-motion is beyond stunning, the world-building is rich, and there’s a creepy elegance to it all that’s hard to deny. It’s a technical marvel and a visual feast from start to finish. But… it just didn’t land with me the way it did with so many others. The tone felt a little too eerie without quite earning the emotional payoff, and something about the pacing and character design kept me at arm’s length. I admire it more than I love it. That said, my daughter was mesmerized. For her, it was magical, thrilling, and empowering everything a kids' film should be. So while Coraline isn’t my personal jam, I can absolutely see its value, especially for younger viewers. An artistic triumph, just not my cup of tea.

Rating: ★★★½ | Year: 2009 | Watched: 2025-07-18

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