Movie review - Coraline

Coraline is the story of a young girl who moves into her new home, a 100+ year old house, with her journalist/writer parents and feels neglected as they struggle to reach deadline. After being told to explore the house and get our of their hair, Coraline finds a small door that after dark, turns into a portal to a parallel universe where everything is better and her 'Other' Mother lavishes attention on her...except everyone has buttons for eyes. But a mangy black cat knows the truth, and when the Other Mother wants to change Coraline's eyes to buttons, she has to battle to reach her 'real' home.

I was advised to watch this movie by Laulita who raved about how awesome it was. I'm not sure if it was awesome, but it was certainly different! The things I particularly liked was the voice acting with Dakota (oldest child in the world) Fanning as Coraline and Teri Hatcher as both versions of her Mother, and the visual which really are quite interesting, almost garish in the other world. The only drawback was that I knew Coraline has some scenes in 3D and I could tell which parts they were. I'm sure they would have been cool if I watched it in that format but it still looked good!

Based on a story by Neil Gaiman, this is a kiddie horror movie with some genuinely tense and kinda scary bits when the truth behind the Other World is revealed. My main problem was a fairly slow first half (I may have dozed off....), the wackiness to show the greatness of the Other World seems a little *too wacky* and forced, and the nastiness of the Real parents particularly the Mother seem a little cruelty for cruelty's sake rather than due to being busy and not giving her attention. Things get better in the second half when Coraline has several tasks to complete to escape the Other World, but it kinda rushes to a conclusion without complete justification of the events preceding it. Why is the Other Mother malevolent? Why did she create this whole world to trap children. Maybe I need to read the book to fill in the gaps.

Different, I'm just not sure if it's as fantastic as I was told it would be. Points for the excellent and visuals and voice acting, but the whole thing is let down by a weak story. Maybe I needed to see it in 3D for the visuals to override the plot.
6-6.5/10