Coraline

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)

This is an animation that you just don't see very often anymore. I'm especially glad that Henry Selick chose this particular book by Neil Gaiman to adapt into a stop-motion animated puppet film. Coraline looks amazing in this animation and I'm glad that there are still people who appreciate and put effort into stop motion animation. The result is definitely worth it. Additionally, the horror-themed animation is even better. And this fairytale has a strong horror element. (24/12/2013)

It’s been a while since I last watched an animated film, and I was quite pleasantly surprised by this one. It wasn't exactly a masterpiece worth a five-star rating, but the animation was great. I really enjoyed the dark, almost horror-like atmosphere, which was strongest in the last third, but it had seeped out here and there even earlier. To be honest, the atmosphere could have been even darker. I wonder what the film would look like if it had been directed by Tim Burton. I'm sure it would be right up his alley. Either way, the story kept me entertained, and it did give me a chill from time to time. If you want to give your kids a good scare, make a little fake door in the wall, have your kids watch this film, and have a lot of fun while consoling them from their nightmares. Coraline definitely ranks among the better animated films, and I'm not opposed to rewatching it sometime. I'm glad to see that filmmakers are still making nightmare fodder for kids. / Lesson learned: It can always get a little worse. (16/10/2022)

Selick’s Caroline, sorry, Coraline lacks one thing. And that is the “button phobia" which, unlike in the book, never sets in. Maybe it’s because I don’t share Selick’s vision as a whole. It’s not nearly dark enough. There’s nobody quite like Dave McKean. This Coraline is an excellent animated movie, but nothing more. But the potential for more was here. (15/06/2009)