Imagine a perfect day at Disneyworld without the endless lines and aching feet.CORALINE is an equally pleasurable experience at a fraction of the cost.
But pleasure isn't the only thing that these two have in common. Both Uncle Walt's Magic Kingdom and this film have the power to transform ever the most serious and sober adult into a wide-eyed kid again.
Words like enchanting, magical, delightful, and exciting seem somehow inadequate to describe the experience of watching the story unfold.
The effect would be no less spellbinding if CORALINE were devoid of speech, and relied solely on images and music to recount its tale because the film is a visual masterpiece, lush with colour, movement and imagination.
What makes CORALINE even more amazing is that it's been achieved not with computer generated trickery but old fashioned stop motion animation. This is a process dating back to the earliest days of cinema whereby clay models are posed, photographed, ever-so-slightly repositioned and photographed again with the process repeated thousands of times to give the impression of movement. "The Nightmare Before Christmas" is the best known example of this technique.
Although it's Tim Burton's name that's most closely associated with "Nightmare" it was actually directed by Henry Selick, and he's also the man responsible for writing, producing and directing CORALINE.
Stop motion technology has clearly advanced since 1993 because there's none of the jerkiness traditionally associated with the process. There's such fluidity to the movement of the characters and inanimate objects that it's hard to believe they're not computer generated. There's a depth and solidity to them which even animators as talented as Pixar ("Wall e, "Toy Story" etc) can't reproduce. The cast of CORALINE are most definitely puppets even though there's not a string in sight.
CORALINE (voiced by Dakota Fanning) is a young girl left to her own devices by her busy parents when they move to an apartment inside a rambling old house in rural Oregon. She discovers an alternate version of her life in a mirror image world concealed behind a hidden door in the house. In this parallel reality she is lavished with love and affection by her "other" parents, and life is bright and colourful.
The only slightly disturbing difference is that everyone has buttons for eyes. But that's a minor consideration, easily overlooked, compared to CORALINE's joy at being the centre of her own universe.
What keeps us gripped as viewers is the subtle way in which the dark side of her perfect world is gradually revealed. Selick has created a story which is genuinely scary yet never goes beyond what is appropriate to a PG rated movie. It's also a story laced with plenty of humour. The other apartments in CORALINE's new home are peopled by a mix of bizarre characters who are laugh out loud funny.
British comediennes Jennifer Saunders ("Absolutely Fabulous") and Dawn French provide the voices of Miss Spink and Miss Forcible, a pair of theatrical grotesques living with their multiple stuffed Scottie dogs in the basement, while Ian McShane ("Deadwood") gives life to Mr Bobinsky, the circus ringmaster who trains mice in his attic apartment.
Fantastical, funny, frightening, and phenomenally creative, CORALINE is life affirming family entertainment and thoroughly deserves permanent shelf space in your dvd collection. Buy it!
