Movie Review: Coraline

Remember the other day, when I mentioned "The Boy In The Striped Pajamas"?
Remember I said that Hollywood sometimes gets it right?

Well, Hollywood not only got it right with Coraline, they hit it out of the park!

Now, I could go in to all the things that make Coraline a great film...the usual stuff like design and story...you know, the things that you're used to hearing about when you see a movie review, but that's not really my focal point here....Oh and for the record, those things were great....really great.

Oh hell, let's do a little of that.....
The film was directed by Henry Selick, the same person who, along with Tim Burton, brought us "The Nightmare Before Christmas", which I thought was a complete piece of shit....OTHER than...the appearance of the movie.
Oh stop it! You KNOW that movie sucked.

This time out, Selick takes the novel by Neil Gaiman, and creates an amazing visual experience that follows through in every other way too.

So for those who don't know, Coraline follows the story of a young girl who recently moves into a very old house with her parents. Feeling neglected by parents who are very enveloped in their professional lives, Coraline begins exploring the old house and finds a tiny little door that seems to lead to nowhere other than the brick wall behind it.....in the day time.
At night, the wall leads to an alternate universe of her life...a life that now has very attentive parents who play with her, cook her amazing meals, and cater to her every need.
But these parents have buttons for eyes.
Creepy, right?

And THAT, it where Coraline really delivers.
And THAT, is what I want to address here.

See, I've ranted on here a million times...or maybe it was just in my head, that America has "pussified" it's youth.
We've been trained that anything that might "scare" our kiddies, is BAD.
We've been trained that if you disagree with the above idea..YOU are BAD!

Well, I've never really fit in with you people...so...once more into the breach, I suppose.

See, every family movie today has to have a buffoonish villain. If the villain itself isn't buffoonish, it CERTAINLY has a sidekick who is, right?
I mean, we MUST make it so the kids know that the bad guy is...well...bad, but he/she can't seem too scary or anything.
And in the end, they have to learn their lesson, and even become friends with the people they were trying to undo.

Now that I've pointed that silly bullshit out to you...See, that's what I do here...I take something that they've made you become accustomed to, and I show you where you're SO used to it now, that you don't even notice it anymore.

No, no, thank me another time, we have work to do here yet.

Where was I?
Oh yeah...
Remember when we were kids?
"The Wizard Of Oz" had that jacked up Witch, right?
Was she buffoonish?
Really?
Tell that to The Scarecrow who she lit the fuck on FIRE!
"How 'bout a little FIRE, Scarecrow?!?"
Yeah, how bout that shit, you weak in the knees prick?
That'll take the spring out of your step.

Or what about "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang"?
The villain was called THE FUCKIN' CHILD CATCHER! Ok...not the "fuckin'" part, I added that for dramatic effect....look, I have to do shit like that sometimes...otherwise you won't pay attention.
But regardless, he was creepy as shit, would lore kids with lollipops and then cage them up.
Was The Child Catcher buffoonish?
Not in the least!

Now, I won't lie to you, I had a reoccurring dream as a child that The Child Catcher would peer into my window like he does in the movie, and point at me...as if to let me know that "When you come out here, motherfucker...I got you...I got you."
You know what? Look at me, I turned out just fine!
Well...kinda.
Alright...nevermind all that.

But my WHOLE point is this...Coraline is a return to that style of family film.
There is nothing buffoonish about the villain. In fact, she's absolutely sinister.
Her intentions are awful...what she's done to previous children who have crawled through that hole is terrible, she never learns her lesson, and my kids loved every minute of it.
So did I.

You know what else Coraline did?
It made me realize that Pixar isn't as great as I thought it was.
Now before you start yelling shit at your screen, hear me out.
I've seen every Pixar film that's been released, and while they're brilliant for what they are, they're still that neutered version of "family faire" that we've been trained to accept in today's America.
Coraline made me realize exactly how much better Pixar *could* be.
See, that wasn't as bad as you first thought, was it?

Make sure you catch Coraline while it's still in theaters, because the 3D is rock solid too, as if this movie needed anything more added to it's resume.