Time: Coraline

"They say even the proudest spirit
can be broke with love."
-Other Mother​

There comes a time when I watch a movie or TV show and think that I could rewatch this again and again and never get sick of it. And there's also a time when I watch something and feel that I desperately need to consult my psychologist and ask her what in the holy mother I watched. If you can guess which scenario was what happened to me when I watched this movie, 10 points to Gryffindor.

Also, please note that I decided to watch this at around 1AM, so there's also that.

Story:

The story for Coraline gives me a stark reminder of two books: Bridge to Terabithia and Alice in Wonderland. A bored girl ignored by her preoccupied parents decides to wander around and finds a secret entrance to a new world, but finds out that the world is not all sunshine and rainbows as she at first thought. It reminds me a lot more of Alice in Wonderland between the two because I feel that a majority of the characters in the Other World border on the absurdity rather than mystic as you would find in Bridge to Terabithia.

But what confuses me the most is how in the name of all that is holy did this get rated PG? Of course this series isn't so graphic that it warrants an R rating, but it certainly wouldn't be anything I would ever bring my kids to. Hell, I wouldn't bring an elder to this due to the risk of them possibly having a heart attack.

Acting:

Out of all of the cast for the movie, I would probably give the most mention to Teri Hatcher for her portrayal of Caroline's Mother/Other Mother, which sent more chills up my spine than anything from any Saw movie or Stephen King novel. That isn't to say Dakota Fanning's portrayal of Coraline isn't bad, but I felt that Hatcher did a much more stellar performance.

Art:

Now we get to possibly the reason I'm writing this review: the art. During the first half of the film, I sort of felt that the art was something inspired by Tim Burton, but not as intense. But by the second half, I was terribly wrong. The art for this movie was either on par with or above Tim Burton in terms of disturbing. Which is sort of but not very ironic seeing that Henry Selick directed The Nightmare Before Christmas.

As for animation, because of its stop-motion characteristics, I also felt it resembled something similar to movies such as Chicken Run and Wallace and Gromit.

Music:

The music for this movie was decent to an extent. During the majority of the film, I didn't really care for most of the tracks, but during the suspenseful portions of the film is where the tracks really had my eyes glued to the screen thinking "oh god, what in the hell am I watching?"

Verdict:

I'm not the biggest fan of Tim Burton or his associates, but I would still recommend this movie. However, I would strongly suggest you do two things before giving it a go:

1. Watch it during the day.
2. Get the number for a good therapist. You'll need it.