Coraline

Theatrical Release Date: 2008 (USA - Limited) / 2009 02 06 (USA - 3D) / 2009 02 06 (USA)

UPC: 025192049651

Studio: Universal Studios

MPAA Rating: PG   Contains:[Scary Moments, Mild Language]

Summary: A young girl walks through a secret door and discovers a parallel reality that is eerily similar to the life she already knows, yet deeply unsettling in a number of ways, in director Henry Selick's animated adaptation of Neil Gaiman's international best-seller. Eleven-year-old Coraline Jones (voice of Dakota Fanning) is fearlessly courageous, and perhaps far too adventurous for her own good. Coraline and her parents (Teri Hatcher and John Hodgman) have recently relocated to Oregon from Michigan. Bored in her new home since her parents are distracted by work and she has yet to make any new friends, Coraline passes the time by exploring her new neighborhood with an annoying local boy named Wybie Lovat (Robert Bailey Jr.). But after paying a visit to her eccentric neighbors Miss Spink (Jennifer Saunders) and Miss Forcible (Dawn French), a pair of aging British actresses, and crossing paths with the outright weird Mr. Bobinsky (Ian McShane), the precocious young girl becomes convinced that her new surroundings are just as dull as she'd initially suspected. Shortly thereafter, Coraline discovers a hidden door in her new house, and decides to investigate. Venturing into the eerie passageway inside, Coraline emerges into an alternate version of her own reality. At first glance, this strange new world seems even better than the real thing; there her parents aren't distracted by work, and Coraline is always the center of attention. There's even a mysterious Cat (Keith David) that's fascinated by her every move. But when Coraline's button-eyed Other Mother (also Hatcher) attempts to make her stay permanent, the frightened young girl must summon her resourcefulness and bravery in order to find her way back home and save her real family. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Category: Fantasy

Awards: Best Animated Feature – Hollywood Foreign Press Association Best Edited Animated Feature – American Cinema Editors Guild Best Edited Animated Feature – American Cinema Editors Guild Best Animated Feature – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Animated Feature – British Academy of Film and Television Arts

Features: Feature commentary with director Henry Selick and composer Bruno Coulais

Coraline

Format: DVD

Release Date: 10/05/2010

Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 Theatre Wide-Screen

Audio: DD5.1 Dolby Digital 5.1

Runtime: 101 Minutes

Sides: 1

Number of Discs: 1

Language(s) English,French,Spanish

Subtitles: Spanish,French

Region: USA & territories, Canada

Chapters: Disc #1 -- Coraline
1. The Pink Palace (Main Titles) [8:12]
2. A Little Me [5:43]
3. Your Other Mother [4:30]
4. Incredible Dream [4:42]
5. The Amazing Bobinsky [3:35]
6. Spink & Forcible [5:48]
7. In the Garden [4:22]
8. Jumping Mouse Circus [3:41]
9. Unlocking the Door [3:40]
10. Dream Come True [6:29]
11. A Special Surprise [4:14]
12. Good Kitty [5:14]
13. It's All a Trap [5:35]
14. Only One Thing to Do [5:06]
15. Let's Play a Game [1:55]
16. Unwinding the Web [2:26]
17. Nobody Likes a Rat [2:04]
18. Staying Forever [3:52]
19. Over and Done [5:44]
20. End Title [7:36]

Tracie Cooper

Coraline begins with its heroine in a sorry predicament. Coraline Jones (voiced by Dakota Fanning) is new in town, and with the exception of her immediate family, everyone refers to her incorrectly as Caroline. However, as frustrating as that may be, she's long since resigned herself to living in a world that perpetually mispronounces her name. The real problem is that Coraline has explored virtually every inch of her new house and its surrounding property (her findings include a boarded-up well rumored to be bottomless, or at least really deep, and a stray black cat too smart for its own good), and she's now excruciatingly, mind-numbingly bored. Her life is safe but unexciting; her parents are kind but unavailable; and the closest thing she has to friends are her neighbors (two washed-up actresses and the would-be ringmaster of a circus staffed entirely by trained mice) and the landlord's grandson, whom Coraline treats with the disdain expected of a girl her age -- especially after he gives her a doll sewn in her image as if she were the kind of girl to play with dolls. Even the mysterious little door hidden behind old wallpaper is a letdown; at first glance, it leads to a bricked up wall Coraline's mother believes was erected in the house when it was divided into separate apartments.

Of course, the door isn't just a door, the cat isn't just a cat, and the doll isn't just a doll. They're all connected to an Other world almost exactly the same as Coraline's, with a few major exceptions: it's magic, much more dangerous, and ruled by a malevolent woman who first disguises herself as Coraline's "Other Mother" (voiced by Teri Hatcher), identical to her real mother save for having buttons instead of eyes. She lavishes Coraline with attention and adventure, but living in her wonderland comes at a steep price. Those familiar with Neil Gaiman's work, particularly his children's books, know that he writes a world as fantastic and charming as it is macabre and dangerous. An adaptation of Coraline was a worrisome prospect, because Coraline is only a children's book by the thinnest of margins, and toning down the creep factor would have done a great disservice to all involved. Thankfully, Coraline is appropriately dark, and like its inspiration, is only a children's movie by the thinnest of margins. Director Henry Selick's experiences directing The Nightmare Before Christmas and James and the Giant Peach have served Coraline well; the Other world is somewhere Jack Skellington and Roald Dahl would build their summer homes. It's hard to lose oneself in a film that is Coraline's combination of ingredients -- fictional, animated, and 3-D -- but that's exactly what happens. Coraline is equal parts fanciful, menacing, beautiful, and subversive. The result is an audience -- adult as well as children -- that doesn't feel at all silly rooting passionately for Coraline to listen to the talking cat and get out of bizarro land before it's too late. ~ Tracie Cooper, Rovi

Cast and Crew: Bruno Coulais  Composer (Music Score) 
Henry Selick  Director 
Henry Selick  Producer 
Henry Selick  Screenwriter 
Michael Zoumas  Executive Producer 
Claire Jennings  Producer 
Bill Mechanic  Producer 
Mary Sandell  Producer 
Dakota Fanning  Actor 
Teri Hatcher  Actor 
Jennifer Saunders  Actor 
Dawn French  Actor 
Keith David  Actor 
John Hodgman  Actor 
Robert Bailey Jr.  Actor 
Ian McShane  Actor 
Aankha Neal  Actor 
George Selick  Actor 
Hannah Kaiser  Actor 
Harry Selick  Actor 
Marina Budovsky  Actor 
Emerson Hatcher  Actor 
Jérôme Ranft  Actor 
Christopher Murrie  Actor 
Jeremy Ryder  Actor 
Carolyn Crawford  Actor 
Yona Prost  Actor 

Country: USA