(Image courtesy of IMDB.) “Coraline crawls into the Other World, unaware of what waits for her.”
Aaron Preziosi
Connector Editor
“Coraline,” the first film produced by stop-motion specialist studio Laika, returned to theaters on Oct. 31 and Nov. 1, marking 15 years since its initial release in 2009. While “Coraline” is Laika’s first film, it remains the most iconic thanks to its unique visual style and distinct characters. The film’s 15-year anniversary release features newly remastered stereoscopic 3D, which helps the meticulously handcrafted visuals pop even more.
The actual content of the film remained unchanged for the re-release. Coraline Jones arrives in a new town with her parents who seem to have no time for her. Absorbed in their work, they leave her to explore their new house as she sees fit, during which she encounters a mysterious locked door. Behind it she finds a brick wall, but as she wanders in the night she finds it has been replaced with a mysterious tunnel which leads her to an idyllic “other world.” There, she meets button-eyed doppelgängers of her parents who dote on her and see to her every whim. Coraline hates her father’s cooking, so her Other Family makes her all kinds of rich, lavish food. Her real parents hate mud and dirt, but when she expresses she wants to play in the mud and rain, her Other Parents express their love for mud and how they use it in everything. The lengths the Other Family goes to in order to love Coraline are borderline unsettling, but she falls right into their arms which leads to her becoming disillusioned with the real world. She begins to fight with her real mother and father and drives them away.
However, after being delighted and loved by the doppelgängers of the Other World, her Other Mother expresses to Coraline that she wants her to stay there forever and sew buttons onto her eyes. Coraline vehemently refuses, rightfully creeped out by the prospect. The Other Mother initially accepts Coraline’s decision but doesn’t stop pushing, becoming more and more insistent on the girl staying in the Other World. When Coraline tries to escape, the Other Mother becomes enraged and transforms into a tall, ghastly form, nearly as thin as a skeleton, and traps Coraline in a dark mirror. It is then that she learns from other children trapped in the mirror that the Other Mother is not what she seems; she is a malicious entity called the Beldam that feeds on the souls of children to live.
After being freed from the mirror by an unlikely friend, Coraline escapes to the real world. When she realizes her real parents have been taken by the Beldam, she comes up with a plan to challenge the Beldam, save her parents, and free the souls of the other children she encountered. This third act serves as an excellent parallel to the imagery of the rest of the film. Where the first act served to establish the distinction between the dreary, foggy real world and the vivid, idyllic Other World, the second begins to distort those vivid colors into ghastly shapes and horrifying implications, and the third lays the true nature of the Other World bare for the viewer to see in all its terrifying, gothic glory.
All in all, “Coraline” is a delight to watch even 15 years after its release. While it was intended for a younger audience, the themes of neglect and gratitude can resonate with all ages, and the visuals are absolutely stunning. Its theatrical rerun may be over, but “Coraline” can still be enjoyed on nearly every streaming platform.
Grade: A-
