Review: Coraline
Full disclosure, I am not a confident watcher of scary movies. I will scream at jump scares, and often have to leave the room. I would argue that this wimpiness is not due to some genetic weakness. Instead, I blame it all on one movie: “Coraline.”
I first watched “Coraline,” a 2009 film about a young girl who discovers a parallel world through a door in her new home, when I was ten years old. The dangerous thing about “Coraline” is that it appears innocent; it is a PG stop-motion animated film. Unfortunately for young me, the movie is anything but innocent. I could not finish watching it, and confess that I only got through about the first half of the movie before bailing.
When I went back to watch it on Netflix, I was apprehensive. “Coraline” has haunted me for years, and I hoped that I could finish the movie. The opening scene is not encouraging; a spidery metal hand sews a dingy doll, and my heart sunk knowing that I would have to endure another hour and a half of terror.
Luckily for me, “Coraline” was not as scary as I remembered. I managed to watch the whole thing, and even laughed a few times at Coraline’s eccentric neighbors. However, I was still thoroughly shaken at the end. The film’s animation style creates a gloomy and unsettling mood, and details such as the parallel world’s button eyes and the Other Mother’s terrifying, spider-like physique are truly spooky.
I would highly recommend “Coraline” to both people who have not seen it and people who may have only seen it as a younger child. Its intricate and meaningful storyline coupled with truly scary elements earns it four and a half anchors, with one half anchor deducted for being too scary.
