Coraline

I was a bit worried when the film was slower to start and visibly tried to engage my imagination and some of my patience with its story, but after a few minutes the doubts were successfully erased and I became increasingly satisfied with the final form. Sure, it's no Miyazaki, it lacks Danny Elfman's catchy compositions and the story doesn't sound particularly likeable, but there's still the charm, the imaginative idea and the very original execution, which is always the most important thing in animation. The Oscar nomination, in my opinion, is well deserved and pretty much says it all. (16/10/2012)

I made myself watch it and I feel like it's matured a little bit. I don't always let Gaiman get to me. There's still the contrast between genuine horror and pleasingly button-grotesqueness, but it's still great regardless. The stop-motion animation is also incredibly rich and imaginative. So why not? (24/09/2009)

One of the most interesting animated films of recent times, which is mainly based on the quality book by Neil Gaiman, currently one of the most interesting creators of alternative worlds. Coraline can satisfy both children, except perhaps the smallest ones, as it contains dark motifs and scary scenes, as well as adults, as it has a very clever story with interesting characters and a significant message, it is filmed dynamically, with a sense for visual art, and it almost deserves five stars. Paradoxically, in my eyes, it is harmed by what current animated blockbuster productions are based on, i.e., typical computer graphics, which makes it lack a certain exclusivity characteristic of classic drawing and animation. Overall impression: 85%. (30/04/2010)

The film features an Alice theme, a script for a short at most, and Selick's eccentric fantasizing. After half an hour it simply doesn't do anything and comes ever closer to the desperate cry "Let something start happening, for God's sake!" Ironically, what I enjoyed the most was Dakota, who intones perfectly and literally "acts" in the vocal positions of a nasty brat, a scared little girl, and a brave girl. The rest of it was terrible and didn't even need the assistance of Tim Burton. (31/12/2009)

A very pleasant island of stop motion imperfection in a sophisticated flood of silicon superhumans. Beautiful animation further enhanced by the 3rd dimension, very poetic decadent drollery and a very nice atmosphere. It's unfortunate that the musical accompaniment does not captivate as much as Elfman's songs once did. Coraline is more infantile than Burton's work and it doesn't have the sharp verbal humor, but despite all the plush, it is able bite nicely. I had a great time. [85%] (29/05/2009)