Henry Selick’s 2009 animated supernatural fantasy Coraline is now rereleased for its 15th anniversary; it is based on a novella by Neil Gaiman, the author now the subject of sexual assault allegations. This stop-motion film looks as amiably creepy as it did when I saw it first – though, as with The Nightmare Before Christmas, another of Selick’s movies, which was produced by Tim Burton, the chills are mixed with adventure, exotic strangeness and comedy, certainly a recipe that has entranced audiences. As before, though, I wondered if this story might have been more frightening if it had been filmed in conventional live-action with regular human beings showing us their eerie smiling faces with buttons for eyes. But straight-up scariness may not be the point.
Coraline (whose name sounds like a twist on “Caroline”) is voiced by Dakota Fanning and comes with her hard-working mom and dad to a strange old house in remote Oregon where the adults plan on working on the gardening catalogue they’re writing. Coraline encounters an odd kid in the house’s grounds called Wyborn (a twist on “why-born?”), voiced by Robert Bailey Jr, and also meets the neighbours: two weird old ladies (Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders) who once had a saucy act in a circus show, and a performing mouse trainer, Mr Bobinsky (voiced by Ian McShane), whose funky accent surely influenced Steve Carell’s Gru in Despicable Me.
But most importantly, Coraline discovers a secret portal in the house, which leads her to a parallel version of her world, only it’s one in which her parents are adoringly attentive towards her, and lavish her with the love she’s not getting elsewhere. Her house is more attractive and better furnished in this version of reality and Coraline is seriously impressed by it. Hurt and upset by her real parents’ neglect, Coraline feels that staying with her “other” parents might not be so bad. The only problem is that her new mom and dad have got buttons for eyes, and their initial charm soon wears off as she realises the terrifying ocular sacrifice they expect her to make to stay there. It’s a nifty little tale of jeopardy and the eternally fascinating idea of breaking away from your parents: part frightening, part liberating.
