Coraline (2009)

Coraline is a 2009 American 3D stop-motion dark fantasy horror film based on Neil Gaiman's 2002 novel of the same name. It was the first feature film produced by Laika and distributed by Focus Features. The film depicts an adventurous girl finding an idealized parallel world behind a secret door in her new home, unaware that the alternate world contains a dark and sinister secret. Written and directed by Henry Selick, the film was made with Gaiman's approval and co-operation. The titular character's name came from a typo in "Caroline". According to Gaiman, "I had typed the name Caroline, and it came out wrong. I looked at the word Coraline, and knew it was someone's name. I wanted to know what happened to her."

The film was released in United States theaters on February 6, 2009, after a world premiere at the Portland International Film Festival, and received positive reviews from critics. The film made $16.85 million during opening weekend, ranking third at the box office. At the end of its box office run, the film had grossed over $124 million worldwide. Coraline won Annie Awards for best music, character design, production design and received Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations for Best Animated Feature.

Plot
Coraline Jones and her parents move from Pontiac, Michigan, to their new home in Ashland, Oregon, the dilapidated Pink Palace Apartments. Her eccentric new neighbors include Mr. Bobinsky, Miss Spink, Miss Forcible, and Wyborne "Wybie" Lovat, the grandson of the landlady, whose twin sister mysteriously disappeared years ago. Coraline also meets a black cat.

Wybie gives Coraline a button-eyed ragdoll that resembles her. The doll then lures her to a small door in the living room, which is bricked up and can only be unlocked by a button key. That night, a mouse guides her through the door, where the bricks have been replaced by a corridor to the Other World, inhabited by button-eyed doppelgängers of people from her world. Coraline meets her Other Mother and Other Father, who are warmer and more attentive than her real parents, who are preoccupied editing a gardening catalog.

After dinner, she goes to sleep in her Other Bedroom, but awakes in her real bedroom. Despite cryptic warnings from her neighbors, Coraline visits the Other World three times, where she meets the Other Mr. Bobinsky, the Other Miss Spink and Miss Forcible, and the Other Wybie, who has been rendered mute. The cat is the same cat as in the real world, not a button-eyed doppelgänger, but is able to speak in the Other World.

The Other Mother invites Coraline to stay forever, but says a pair of buttons will have to be sewn over her eyes. Horrified, Coraline attempts to flee. However, she discovers that the Other Mother has blocked all the exits to the real world. The cat appears and reveals to her the sinister truth about the Other World and the Other Mother. The Other Mother suddenly grows taller and more grotesque and imprisons her behind a mirror. There, Coraline meets the ghosts of previous victims, including the long-lost twin sister of Wybie's grandmother. They reveal that the Other Mother, whom they refer to as the Beldam, created and sent button-eyed rag dolls that resembled them in order to spy on their lives. With the promise of a better life, she eventually lured them into the Other World, where she sewed buttons over their eyes and consumed their lives. To free their souls, their real eyes need to be found. Coraline promises to help.

Coraline is suddenly rescued from the mirror by the Other Wybie, whose mouth has been stitched into a permanent smile after the Beldam caught him looking upset. He helps her escape back to the real world, but Coraline discovers that her parents are missing. She eventually deduces that they have been kidnapped by the Beldam. The cat advises Coraline to propose a "game": if Coraline cannot find her parents and the ghosts' eyes, she will let buttons be sewn over her eyes, but if she can, they will all be set free. The Beldam reluctantly agrees.

One by one, Coraline finds the ghosts' eyes in the Other World, now turned nightmarish, from its deranged inhabitants. As she does, the surroundings around the Other Pink Palace Apartments gradually disintegrate until only the living room is left. She also discovers that the Other Wybie has been killed by the Other Mother. Inside, Coraline sees the Beldam in her arachnoid form. Warned that the Beldam will never let them go, she tricks her into unlocking the door. While the Beldam is distracted, Coraline finds her parents trapped in a snow globe, grabs it, and throws the cat at the Beldam's face. The struggling cat rips her button eyes out. Coraline escapes into the corridor and slams and locks the door shut on the Beldam's hand, severing it. Her parents reappear in the real world, with no memory of what happened. That night, the ghosts warn her to get rid of the button key to prevent the Beldam from accessing the real world. As Coraline prepares to drop it down the well, the severed hand attacks her and tries to drag her back to the Other World. Wybie smashes it with a rock, then throws the pieces and the key into the well and seals it shut.

The next day, Coraline and her parents, who have finally finished their catalog, host a garden party for the neighbors. Coraline also prepares to tell Mrs. Lovat the truth about her twin sister.

Voice Cast

 * Dakota Fanning as Coraline Jones, a curious 11-year-old girl with dark blue hair.
 * Robert Bailey Jr. as Wyborn "Wybie" Lovat, the geeky, nervous 11-year-old grandson of Coraline's landlady. Wybie is a character introduced for the film adaptation so that the viewer "wouldn't have a girl walking around, occasionally talking to herself".
 * Teri Hatcher as Mel Jones, Coraline's mother, and the Beldam / Other Mother, the ruler of the Other World.
 * Jennifer Saunders and Dawn French as April Spink and Miriam Forcible respectively, a pair of retired burlesque actresses.
 * John Hodgman as Charlie Jones, Coraline's father and the Other Father. John Linnell as Other Father's singing voice.
 * Ian McShane as Sergei Alexander Bobinsky, a former Chernobyl liquidator and one of Coraline's neighbors who owns a jumping mice circus. His nickname is "Mr B."
 * Keith David as the Cat, a sarcastic, mysterious, nameless black cat from Coraline's world who appears and disappears at will and has the ability to speak in the Other World.
 * Caroline Crawford as Mrs. Lovat, Wybie's grandmother and the owner of the Pink Palace Apartments.