Coraline (Selick, 2009)

I believe a good number of people (despite their fear-induced inclinations) believe that Coraline would belong on an updated AFI list. This film is seamless. The animation is precise, arresting and above all chilling. This is a world that owns is bizarreness; and with a soundtrack that’s strangely playful and melancholy, its damn near impossible to remove your eyes from the screen. It’s a gem and thus should be given the proper accolades for the achievement it is.

Animation is an ever-changing beast, becoming more technically driven toward remarkably lifelike detail and design. The stuff being pumped out now is awesome, sincerely, yet most settle on style over substance, Corlina does not. A well-balanced mix of magical realism, horror, and adventure, Corlina doesn’t skimp on subtly and atmosphere; in the Other Mother’s kitchen the heat from the stove, warmth of incandescent lighting and soft haze of what must be the smell of the Other Mother’s good cooking, radiates off the screen. If you can’t already tell I’m a huge fan.

The skill for animation has always impressed me. These people are true artists, bringing inanimate objects into being with honest to goodness charm, charisma, and style, no less. It’s a talent I’ve long sought to possess, and maybe with a little effort and a little less procrastination and “researching”, who knows.

Choosing not to give up too much about the story we’ll just say, it’s the tale of a girl forced to change a world she never knew yet always wished existed. It’s fun, kinda nightmarish and creepy but in all the right ways, and what should be expected from the minds of Neil Gaiman and Henry Selick (Nightmare Before Christmas, 1993)? Two men blessed with the gift of making fear less scary and more, well enlightening.

Check out Coraline and put your bravery to the test.