The art of 3-D entertainment has come a long way in the past few decades.  The last time I donned a pair of flimsy, paper-thin glasses for the thrill of 3-D was probably fifteen years ago while playing Dinosaur Adventure on my father’s desktop computer.  When I bought my ticket to Coraline 3-D, I was astonished when they handed me a pair of actual, rimmed, Wayfarer-style glasses. “We look like hipsters,” my friend noted. “And I am keeping mine.”

Coraline might be the kind of movie that “hipsters” will be drawn to, as well as any fan of science fiction, animation or fantasy genres.  It is different, quirky, imaginative  and visually exciting. The original book by Neil Gaiman (who also wrote the novel Stardust, which was translated into a movie) was well received both by the New York Times and by people with a penchant for fantasy and science fiction.  Henry Selick wrote the adapted screenplay and directed the film.  Selick, who directed The Nightmare Before Christmas, is often overlooked as the director of that film. With Coraline, he finally steps out of Tim Burton’s shadow.

The animation in Coraline is absolutely brilliant, especially in 3-D.  While there aren’t many moments that will cause you to jump back in your seat and hide from protruding objects, the moments that are in 3-D are particularly effective–a falling leaf, juggling rats, trapeze artists swinging in mid-air.  The 3-D option offers an entirely new way of seeing things, and the director often chooses to have the audience seeing through Coraline’s eyes.  The entire film is stop-animation, so everything in the movie (from the sweater Coraline wears to the garden flowers) was an actual object.  The attention to detail and impeccable artistry is evident in every scene of Coraline.

The story follows a young girl who has just been relocated to a new town with her uninterested parents and uninteresting life.  Coraline’s family rents an apartment in the Pink Palace Apartments, an old and somewhat sinister building with a reputation for being, amongst other things, eccentric.  Once Coraline discovers a secret door in her new home, she enters an alternate reality with an “Other Mother” and “Other Father,” and fantastical entertainment and excitement ensues.  But soon Coraline discovers that maybe this alternate reality is not all its cracked up to be, and she is forced to make a choice that will effect the rest of her life.

The film is surprisingly scary, especially in the latter half.  There is an air of mystery and creepiness from the very beginning, and the haunting suspense contributes to the inevitability of spookiness and fear that creeps into every crevice of the film.  In the same style as The Nightmare Before Christmas, Selick creates characters with exaggerated features and spidery limbs.  Maybe I’m just a wimp, but the climactic scene between Coraline and the “Other Mother” had my hair standing on end.

As the main character, Coraline is unabashedly fearless and headstrong. Her clever, active imagination makes her an excellent role model for children, even though I would hesitate to classify Coraline as a children’s movie.  While young children will probably enjoy the visual circus that Coraline provides, there are plenty of moments in the film that adults will appreciate but will go over children’s heads.  For example, a duo of female trapeze artists, who are way past their prime, perform in nothing but pasties and panties. Fans of animation, especially stop-animation, will be enthralled with the impeccable detail and craft of Selick’s work. 

While Coraline is visually stimulating, the film fails to fully grasp the raw emotion that has made the book such a success.  The dream-like, mythical aspects of the film and the execution of this stop-animation are its main strengths.  The film is certainly pretty to look at, but it lacks the depth of other animated movies that gave them staying power, like Monsters, Inc. or Finding Nemo.  Dakota Fanning voices Coraline, and oftentimes her choice of inflection comes off as a little over-the-top.  The end result is a desire to really empathize with Coraline, but a lack of anything real to hold on to.