Coraline

Returning to theaters for the film's 15th Anniversary, I had much the same reaction to Coraline that I had the first time I saw it in a theater. The dark tale of a young girl (Dakota Fanning) discovering a secret world of "others" who resemble her family and friends but with buttons for eyes is a vivid and creative use of stop-motion. However, the first-half of the film of Coraline exploring the magical world, and comparing her drab reality to it, has always left me a bit cold. For me, the film only picks up when the more sinister elements of the "Other Mother" (Teri Hatcher) are exposed and Coraline goes into survival mode.

Just because parts of the film don't work for me doesn't mean I think Coraline is a bad film, far from it. However, if I have to get halfway through before the film really captures my interest on more than a cursory or technical level, it isn't likely isn't one I would return to anytime soon. Watching this on TV, I would likely wander off on the first or second commercial break and probably not return. 

Coraline is great filmmaking, but, in my opinion, it isn't great storytelling as the film struggles to get me emotionally invested in Coraline as a character. Is her journey through the small door to the other realm interesting from a visually rendered point-of-view? Does the set up to her real life, and disinterested parents, help sell the later scenes? Sure, but if I'm not invested in that journey the film fails to hit home like it should. And there's really no need for what is essentially set up to take half the film.

Despite my emotional disconnect with the film, which I haven't returned to in 15 years before viewing it again, Coraline is still a novel piece of filmmaking, and, when the tension and horror aspects are finally turned up during the film's second-half, an enjoyable tale. When it stops dipping its toes into the water and embraces the nightmare fuel it ultimately wants to be for young audiences, it succeeds. That final 5o minutes works as it should, I just wish it didn't take half the film to get there.

• Title: Coraline
• IMDb: link