Coraline is a 2009 American animated stop-motion 3-D fantasy film based on Neil Gaiman's 2002 novel of the same name. It was produced by Laika and distributed by Focus Features. Written and directed by Henry Selick, it was released widely in US theaters on February 6, 2009, after a world premiere at the Portland International Film Festival.
The film made $16.85 million during opening weekend, ranking third at the box office. As of September 2009, the film has grossed over $120 million worldwide.
Plot
As an alternate beginning, a window opens and a stuffed doll resembling an African-American girl (later revealed to be the Sweet Ghost Girl) is transformed, by a pair of spidery hands made of sewing needles transforms it into a white girl with blue hair, a yellow raincoat and yellow Wellington boots. The doll is then tossed back out of the window.
Meanwhile, Coraline Jones (Dakota Fanning) and her parents, Mel and Charlie Jones (Teri Hatcher and John Hodgman) leave their relatively comfortable lives in Pontiac, Michigan and move into the Pink Palace Apartments in Ashland, Oregon, which is a converted mansion that they share with retired actresses Miss Spink and Miss Forcible (Jennifer Saunders and Dawn French) and retired Russian circus performer Mr. Bobinsky (Ian McShane). Coraline's parents are busy working on a gardening catalog, which leaves them with little time for Coraline. She meets Wybourne "Wybie" Lovat (Robert Bailey Jr.), a talkative neighborhood boy and his nameless black cat (Keith David) while exploring her new home. Wybie has been told to avoid the house by his grandmother (who is the landlady of the Pink Palace), as her twin sister had disappeared there years ago as a child. The next day, Wybie gives Coraline a button-eyed doll that has an uncanny resemblance to her. She also finds a small locked door that had been wallpapered over, and when she insists her mother unlock it, she is surprised to find nothing but a brick wall.
That night, Coraline is awoken by the sound of mice, and follows their trail to the small door. Opening it, she finds a passageway instead of the brick wall, and crawls through it. On the opposite side, she finds herself in the "other world", which is inhabited by button eyed doppelgangers of her parents, the other mother and the other father. The "other parents" seem to be much warmer and attentive than Coraline's real parents, particularly her other mother, who does everything she can to impress Coraline. Coraline continues to return to the other world and is entertained by "other" versions of Wybie and the neighbors. But when she falls asleep, she finds herself back in her normal world. Coraline's attempts to compare her normal world with that of the other world raises tension between her and her mother, who slowly tries to be more affectionate to Coraline.
On her third visit to the other world, Coraline sees the black cat she saw earlier on. He warns her of the dangers of the other mother, but Coraline doesn't listen. Later, after a show performed for her by the other Miss Spink and Forcible, Coraline's other parents offer to let her stay there forever, but only if she agrees to allow them to sew buttons in her eyes. Scared, Coraline rejects the offer and tries to go to sleep, but finds she's unable to return to her normal world. When Coraline refuses to call the other mother her real mother, she becomes angry and transforms into a wretched witch, trapping Coraline in a mirror until she's "ready to be a loving daughter". In the mirror, Coraline meets the ghosts of three button eyed children, including that of Wybie's grandmother's sister, who explain the other mother or "the beldam" kidnaps children from the real world, sewing buttons over their eyes with the promise of a happier life, and slowly consumes their souls. They also explain that the rag dolls are actually the beldam's spies. Just as she promises to find the childrens' eyes to free their souls, she is rescued from the mirror by the other Wybie, who helps her back into her world.
Back home, Coraline finds her parents have disappeared. Coraline visits the real Miss Spink and Forcible, who give her a seeing stone made from old candy for protection. After seeing an image of her parents shivering in the mirror, she realizes they have been kidnapped by the other mother. After preparing herself for the mission ahead, Coraline returns to the other world, and demands that the beldam return her parents. Coraline then challenges the beldam to a game to find her parents and the eyes of the three children. If she loses, she will stay in the other mother's world and let her sew buttons on her eyes. If she wins, then everyone will be freed.
Coraline, with the help of the seeing stone and the cat, is able to recover the three eyes. As she recovers the eyes, the other world starts to de-materialize before her. The beldam (now a monstrous spider-like wretch) throws the seeing stone into a fire, and then demands Coraline to reveal where her parents are. Knowing the beldam will never let her leave, Coraline tricks her into opening the little door. The cat then spots her parents inside a snowglobe and tells Coraline where they really are. Though the beldam attempts to trap her in a spider web, Coraline and the cat are able to escape, closing the door on and severing the beldam's hand. Coraline finds her parents are back, having successfully gotten their catalog published, with no memory of the incident. That night, the freed ghost children tell Coraline through a dream that her task is not done, and that the beldam will try to retrieve the key.
Coraline quickly gets the key and attempts to throw it down a well nearby. Just before she drops the key down the well, the hand arrives and attacks her. However, Wybie shows up at the last minute, they both manage to destroy the hand. Together, they drop the pieces of the hand and the key in the well, ending the beldam's threat. Wybie reveals that he came to believe Coraline's story after finding an old photograph of his grandmother and her sister holding a button-eyed doll. The next day, Coraline has a garden party with her neighbors to celebrate the success of the garden catalog and the defeating of the other mother. Wybie's grandmother joins them and Coraline begins to tell her everything that has happened. At the Pink Palace sign, we see the cat licking himself. He stands up and gives us a mysterious look, disappearing behind the sign, probably telling us that the magic isn't over.
Cast
- Dakota Fanning as Coraline Jones , the brave, clever, curious protagonist and a self-proclaimed 11-year-old explorer. She is aggravated by crazy grownups (as they all seem to be), not being taken seriously for her young age and outgoing demeanor, and people constantly mistaking her name for Caroline. Neil Gaiman describes her as "full of 'vim' and 'spunk' and all those wonderful old-fashioned words." She and Wybie have showed signs of having a slight "love-hate relationship". In the film, she has blue hair.
- Teri Hatcher as Mel Jones , Coraline's busy mother, and the more attentive Other Mother . Her real mother is a writer working on a gardening catalog. Her husband, Charlie, calls her "the boss", as she is the one who keeps her family in line. She loves her daughter, but is very busy and doesn't always give her the attention that Coraline thinks she needs. The other mother, the main antagonist, is the creator of the other world and its inhabitants, and, as Teri Hatcher describes her, the seemingly "perfect mom, because she's a perfect cook and has the perfect answer to every question, and later on she becomes quite monstrous". Her true form is a spider-like witch, with a bony face and hands fashioned from sewing needles. The three ghost children refer to her as "the beldam", an archaic word meaning "hag or witch".
- John Hodgman as Charlie Jones , Coraline's father, and the Other Father . John Hodgman described him as "the kind of guy who walks around a banana peel and falls into a manhole". Author Neil Gaiman describes him as a man who "does that thing that parents do when they embarrass their kids and somehow think they're being cool". The other father is a singer-pianist, as well as a gardener. He acts like the other mother's slave, showing a scared and traumatized attitude, and is later transformed into a melancholic, pathetic pumpkin-like creature and forced to be Coraline's first obstacle, presumably for giving Coraline too much information.
- Keith David as The Cat , a nameless black cat from Coraline's world, who appears and disappears at will (much like the Cheshire Cat), and has the ability to speak in the other world. He forms a bond with Coraline and acts as her guide and mentor throughout her journey, both in the real world and the other world. He hates rats and is often tended by Wybie, although Wybie claims he is a feral cat.
- Robert Bailey Jr. as Wyborne "Wybie" Lovat , the strange, nervous 11-year-old grandson of Coraline's landlady. Wybie is a character introduced for the film adaptation so that the viewer "wouldn't have a girl walking around, occasionally talking to herself." He wears a metallic skull mask with a three-piece turret lens, as well as a handmade motorized bicycle used to patrol the woods. He is known to be overly talkative and annoying. Coraline calls him a "psycho nerd," a "jerk wad," and "Why-Were-You-Born." His other world counterp
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