Teri Hatcher Movie:

		List Price: $39.98		Label: Universal Salesrank: 806 Released: July 21, 2009
		Our Price: $17.00
		Used Price: $16.09
		MPAA Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested) Media: Blu-ray

Editorial Review:
Universal Pictures Coraline (Blu-ray/DVD Combo + Digital Copy w/3D and 3D Glasses) [Blu-ray] A dark and creepy filmabout family relationships directed by Henry Selick of Nightmare Before Christmas and James and theGiant Peach fame, Coraline is based on the haunting book Coraline by Neil Gaiman. The first stop-motion feature shot in stereoscopic 3-D, Coraline features big-headed, stick-bodied animated characters with huge eyes and demonic grins set against menacing backgrounds and an undercurrent of spooky music. Coraline is a teenager who has just moved to an old house in the middle of nowhere with her writer parents and she is bored, bored, bored. Her only companions are an annoyingly talkative boy Wybie (short for Why Born), some eccentric neighbors from the theater and circus, and a strange, button-eyed doll with a marked resemblance to Coraline which Wybie found in an old trunk of his grandmother's. When Coraline finds an old door hidden behind an armoire and papered over with wallpaper, she convinces her mother to unlock it, only to find a wall of bricks. When Coraline revisits the door later that night, the bricks magically disappear and she discovers a strange pathway to another world where everything is just what she wishes for. In stark contrast to the real world where Coraline's parents just don't have time for her, her "Other Mother" and "Other Father" in this alternate world arethe perfect loving, attentive parents who anticipate her every need and desire. Initially comfortedand quite happy in this new world, suspicion thatthings may not be quite as they seem grows insideCoraline and her disquiet is furthered by the mute "Other Wybie" and a strange-talking cat that seems to move between both worlds. Eventually, Coraline discovers some dark secrets about her "other parents" and the seemingly perfect "other world," but it may be too late for her to escape back to thereal world.

Description of Coraline (Blu-ray/DVD Combo + Digital Copy w/ 3D) [Blu-ray]:
A dark and creepy film about family relationships directed by Henry Selick of Nightmare Before Christmas and James and the Giant Peach fame, Coraline is based on the haunting book Coraline by Neil Gaiman. The first stop-motion feature shot in stereoscopic 3-D, Coraline features big-headed, stick-bodied animated characters with huge eyes and demonic grins set against menacing backgrounds and an undercurrent of spooky music. Coraline is a teenager who has just moved to an old house in the middle of nowhere with her writer parents and she is bored, bored, bored. Her only companions are an annoyingly talkative boy Wybie (short for Why Born), some eccentric neighbors from the theater and circus, and a strange, button-eyed doll with a marked resemblance to Coraline which Wybie found in an old trunk of his grandmother's. When Coraline finds an old door hidden behind an armoire and papered over with wallpaper, she convinces her mother to unlock it, only to find a wall of bricks. When Coraline revisits the door later that night, the bricks magically disappear and she discovers a strange pathway to another world where everything is just what she wishes for. In stark contrast to the real world where Coraline's parents just don't have time for her, her "Other Mother" and "Other Father" in this alternate world are the perfect loving, attentive parents who anticipate her every need and desire. Initially comforted and quite happy in this new world, suspicion that things may not be quite as they seem grows inside Coraline and her disquiet is furthered by the mute "Other Wybie" and a strange-talking cat that seems to move between both worlds. Eventually, Coraline discovers some dark secrets about her "other parents" and the seemingly perfect "other world," but it may be too late for her to escape back to the real world. Teri Hatcher is especially effective in her dual (voice) role as Mom and "Other Mom" and Dakota Fanning also gives a great performance as Coraline. Coraline is a disturbing, intriguing film that both captivates and frightens. (Ages 11 and older) --Tami Horiuchi

Stills from Coraline (Click for larger image)

Coraline (Blu-ray/DVD Combo + Digital Copy w/ 3D) [Blu-ray] Reviews:
Absolutely Stunning!
2009-11-07 - I'm not a die-hard movie critic, but I do enjoy movies immensely. I'm 18 years old, and I LOVE Coraline. The theme is dark and wonderfully done, weaving both Neil Geiman's book and Henry Selick's genius. I won't leave any spoilers, although I would recommend parents view this before letting their younger children watch it, especially if they frighten easily. There are some pretty intense scenes at the end!

Oh, and the 3D version is wonderful too, especially in Blu-Ray! I hate when movies are overtly 3D, to the point that watching them in 2D is very choppy and contains unnecessary scenes (Journey to the Center of the Earth, anyone?) But Coraline delivers a beautifully flowing movie and no scenes jumped out to me as being too overdone for the 3D effects. EVERYONE needs to watch this movie!

Delightful!
2009-11-06 - I'm a middle-aged, grandmother-type lady. Animation of any sort is not my usual cup of tea. Having said that, Coraline totally drew me in from the beginning frames. The movie is filled with interesting, imaginative characters that make the story a masterpiece. Coraline struggles with her family and is drawn into an "alternative" family who lives behind the wall. The family behind the wall is wonderful at the beginning: I most love the father figure as he sings at the piano, and the beautiful garden he has made for Coraline. But things are not always as good as they first appear and Coraline comes to realize the treasure she's got at home.



Good family movie, even for young ones
2009-11-04 - Got it at Target, didn't know much about it beforehand but it looked interesting. Watched it with the kids (almost 4 and almost 2) and they loved it. The next day the older one even wanted to watch it again. It's the perfect level of scariness for toddlers/preschoolers, but adults won't be scared. A little creepy at times, maybe, but nothing that will traumatize them, especially if you are right there watching it with them. We went to the coraline web site and our daughter loves the create-a-flower game. Seeing on the website some photos and videos of how it was made might make it more fun for your kids. The single disc version has virtually no extras (and as a collector I LOATHE dual-sided discs).

Whose The Audience For This Flick?
2009-10-31 - For starters the stop motion animation and 3-D effects are pretty darned good here. That's about it. My complaint with alot of 3-D movies is that they fashion the movies around the effects at the expense of the story. There's a story alright but the problem here is that when it's not confusing it's downright creepy. Who were they targetting for this flick? Little kids who might get the bejesus scared out of them? Disaffected adolescents who glory in unsavory imagery? Whatever! Ultimately "Coraline" is just a waste of time.

A Kid's Review - This is an awful, pointless story
2009-10-31 - I don't think that this movie should be in the family section of any movie store. We watched this movie as a family with my 8 and 10 year old sisters, and it seems like several VERY nasty parts and language (see other reviews) were just thrown in to make it PG. Most of the story was just stupid, confusing, scary extra scenes and characters that seemed like they had nothing to do with the plot at all. This movie has everything it should have to be rated PG-13: murder, violence, anger, stalkers, night time, full moons, ghosts, bad language, nasty scenes, eyeballs, sharp objects, etc - except for the fact that it isn't the "scary" most 13 year olds look for because it is animated.

The plot is this - a girl named Coraline is very angry at her parents because they don't pay much attention to her. She finds a door in the wall and goes through it where these doll-like people seem to be her other-mother and other-father. She thinks they are very nice and keeps going through the door despite warnings not to. Finally they turn evil, she gets locked in a cell-type thing, and then gets out. She goes back through the door and somehow starts reversing the "spell" I guess and somehow turns the walls and everything white. Then she meets a cat (I have no idea if any of this is relevant to the plot or not; it is incredibly hard to tell) and goes through the door back to her house. Back through the door the next day; has some sort of battle with killing and anger, then goes back to her real house. Then she goes through the door AGAIN and kills her other mother, somehow she gets her parents out of a snowglobe, and then she throws a bag down a well and has a happy garden party. You have NO IDEA how confusing this movie is! It has no point or moral, unless you think that it is good to kill people you don't like and that is what you'd like to teach your children!!

The 3-D animation was horrible even with our big 48 in? TV.

Coraline goes through the door at least five times, and it gets very repetitive. My entire family was actually jumping for joy when it was over! I would have paid the $1.99 we paid to rent it if I didn't have to watch it in the first place! All in all, this is sort of like a cross between Orphan (rated R) and The Wizard of Oz (rated G). Yeah, I wonder how they got PG from that...