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Coraline

2009

Henry Selick

Animation, Voice: Dakota Fanning

7.1

52,017

Animation. Fantasy. Horror Based on Neil Gaiman's short children's novel of the same name, Coraline is a young bored girl who discovers that bricked-up wall behind a door in her flat leads to another world, with another mother, and another father. It all begins when the young girl walks through a secret door in her new home and discovers an alternate version of her life. On the surface, this parallel reality is eerily similar to her real life - only much better. ... [+]

	Media	Author	Review
		Kenneth Turan Los Angeles Times	"The first contemporary film in which the 3-D experience feels intrinsic to the story instead of a Godforsaken gimmick, 'Coraline' is a remarkable feat of imagination, a magical tale with a genuinely sinister edge."
		Helen O'Hara Empire	"Terrifying and beautiful, believable and fantastical, this is one of the best children’s films in years and Selick’s finest — better even than The Nightmare Before Christmas. (...) Rating: ★★★★★ (out of 5)"
		Rene Rodriguez Miami Herald	"Gentle and funny and whimsical, and even in its darkest moments, Selick never forgets who his target audience is. Still, some young children might have a nightmare or two after seeing it."
		Claudia Puig USA Today	"It's gorgeous to watch in all its dazzling stop-motion animation splendor, but the wizardry of Coraline is more to be admired than enthusiastically embraced. (...) Rating: ★★½ (out of 4)"
		Elizabeth Weitzman New York Daily News	"'Coraline' is absolutely worth seeing, for older children and adults alike"
		Marjorie Baumgarten Austin Chronicle	"Stays remarkably true to a kid's-eye perspective and dormant fears."
		Justin Chang Variety	"This eccentric and deliriously inventive fantasy finds stop-motion auteur Henry Selick scaling new heights of ghoulish whimsy"
		Michael Sragow Baltimore Sun	"The combination of 3-D photography and puppet-animation - centered on actual figures designed by hand and manipulated frame by frame - creates a world that's dense, active and fluid: a sensory Jacuzzi."
		Peter Travers Rolling Stone	"It's not just the 3-D glasses that add an extra dimension to the horror and hilarity of Coraline. (...) Selick and Gaiman will take you — and Coraline — for a certified wild ride (...) Rating: ★★★ (out of 4)"
		A. O. Scott The New York Times	"It is certainly exciting, but rather than race through ever noisier set pieces toward a hectic climax (...) 'Coraline' lingers in an atmosphere that is creepy, wonderfully strange and full of feeling."
		Lisa Schwarzbaum Entertainment Weekly	"This thrilling stop-motion animated adventure is a high point in Selick's career of creating handcrafted wonderlands of beauty blended with deep, disconcerting creepiness."
		Roger Ebert rogerebert.com	"Lots of movies are good at severing limbs, but few at telling tales that can grab us down inside where it's dark and scary (…) Rating: ★★★ (out of 4)"
		Sandie Angulo Chen Common Sense Media	"Considering how formulaic so many family movies are, 'Coraline' is a refreshing and inventive film"
		Peter Bradshaw The Guardian	"Some scary fun (…) Rating: ★★★ (out of 5)"

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