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RATING:   
SINGAPORE: SINGAPORE: If you are expecting an "Alice in Wonderland"-esque fairytale, you are in for a creepy surprise. Gothic and quirky characters are the main highlight of this magical tale, where a world of imagination unfolds before you.
"Coraline" is an animated stop-motion 3D fantasy film based on Neil Gaiman's popular novel of the same name. It tells the story of 11-year-old Coraline Jones' (mis)adventures after she discovers a secret door in her new home.
The Jones family has uprooted themselves from sunny Michigan to settle in the perennially rainy and gloomy Oregon. Coraline, voiced by Dakota Fanning, has difficulty adjusting to her new environment and her new home at the Pink Palace Apartments, and her effort to get her parents' (voiced by Teri Hatcher and John Hodgman) attention tends to fall on deaf ears and ends up annoying them instead.
If you are an avid follower of tales like "Alice in Wonderland" or "The Chronicles of Narnia", it shouldn't take you too long to guess what happens when Coraline is left to her own devices - trouble.
While exploring her new home, Coraline stumbles upon a tiny door which leads to a tunnel. At the end of the passage is a house that looks exactly like the one she is living in and has everything that she yearns - attention and love.
Enter the Other Mother and Other Father, who look just like her real parents but are everything that they aren't - doting, loving and constantly lavishing her with attention. However, there's one disturbing feature - their eyes have been replaced by buttons.
Is this a dream come true for Coraline, or a nightmare in the making?
As Coraline soon discovers that there is more than meet the eye (pardon the pun), the movie finally gets into action after 30 minutes of drudgery.
Throw in a nameless cat (Keith Davids) who can only talk in the Other World; Wybie (Robert Bailey Junior), a strange, nervous-looking 11-year-old boy who has a love-hate relationship with Coraline; Mr Bobinsky (Ian McShane), a blue-skinned disproportionate gymnast, and a pair of retired burlesque actresses, Miss Spink and Miss Forcible (Jennifer Saunders and Dawn French respectively), the show literally bursts into life.
The introduction of these eccentric characters bears a close resemblance to another fantasy animation classic, "The Nightmare Before Christmas", which is also directed by Henry Selmick.
The visuals are impressive and the brilliant mix and use of colours bring out the contrast in Coraline's world. One moment, a lifeless garden explodes into full bloom under the midnight sky where roses and Venus Flytraps dance in synchronization.
In another scene, a professional-trained troupe that is made up entirely of rats performs in a miniature Cirque du Soleil circus act that might change your impression towards rodents.
Kudos to Selmick's team for the stunning visuals which boast a higher degree of realism. And when you consider that everything you see on screen was hand-made, with no computer-generated wizardry involved, it becomes even more impressive. This clearly reflects that if executed well, start-stop animation is indeed in a league of its own.
Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of the 3D animation which lacks punch. I could have put those 3D glasses away and still wouldn't miss much of the action.
The show was mainly let down by its 'start-stop' pace and storyline. The opening 30 minutes could be described as slow, unimaginative and dull, words you hardly associate with an animation flick.
While the slow start might serve to highlight Coraline's mundane environment, it is a tad too long to sustain one's interest. Thankfully, the movie picks up speed when Coraline makes her discovery and the intensity is carried through to the end of the show.
The storyline was also a case of hit and miss. While there's no doubt that the audience will enjoy Coraline's roller-coaster journey, it will barely leave a warm fuzzy feeling in you at the end of the show.
This is due to a lack of clarity on the existence of some of the main characters as well as the story plot. My main grouse was the lack of explanation on the purpose of the button eyes. Despite being the creepiest image in the movie - to me, at least - I can't grasp the point of having them.
Being a fantasy-mystery-adventure-thriller fairytale, Coraline would be a shoo-in for movie-goers who want to indulge in a world of imagination and possibilities, and the gothic characters and eerie storyline make this a must-see for Tim Burton fans.
A note of caution to parents who plan to reward their children with movie treat after their examinations: it is best to leave the little ones at home as "Coraline", with its dark content, mildly sexual graphics and haunting score, is more suitable for an older crowd.
Furthermore, there aren't any cutesy characters to bring a smile to the kids' faces and the likes of praying mantises and giant roaches are more likely to scare them.
If you are willing to overlook the patchy storyline, "Coraline" would be a refreshing treat from the typical cutesy and heart-warming animation flicks that we have grown accustomed to over the past years. - CNA/fa
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