Coraline (2009)

I remember reading the book, and finding it terrifying, and then watching the film, and finding it terrifying. This time, it was not quite as terrifying, but it still had that nice level of creepy horror going on. The animation and music really helped to further that aesthetic.

What stuck out to me this time, and i’m not sure whether this is an issue with the book as well or just the film, is that Coraline doesn’t really seem to do much. She wanders around, and in the climax of the film where she challenges the other mother to a game, she only completes one of the three tasks herself; afterwards, when she faces off with the other mother, the cat finds her parents, and the cat attacks the other mother. What is Coraline actually doing?

Perhaps in some ways that’s the point; whatever she tries to do, whether in the real world or in the other world, Coraline doesn’t really have any autonomy. She’s at the whims of the arbitrary rules of either set of parents, and her primary realisation is that she would rather stick with the parents she had to begin with.

Regardless, it’s not too long, and the visuals and audio are excellent, so it’s worth watching.