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The director of "Coraline" has suggested it is for brave children of any age. That's putting it mildly. This is nightmare fodder for children, however brave, under a certain age. I know kids are exposed to all sorts of horror films via video, but "Coraline" is disturbing not for gory images but for the story it tells. That's rare in itself: Lots of movies are good at severing limbs, but few at telling tales that can grab us down inside where it's dark and scary.

Even more rare is that Coraline Jones ( Dakota Fanning ) is not a nice little girl. She's unpleasant, complains, has an attitude and makes friends reluctantly. Nor does she meet sweet and colorful new pals in her adventure, which involves the substitution of her parents by ominous doubles with buttons sewn over their eyes. She is threatened with being trapped in their alternate world, which is reached by an alarming tunnel behind a painted-over doorway in her own.

Not that Coraline's own parents are all that great. They're busy, distracted, bickering and always hunched over their computers. They hardly hear her when she talks. That's why she recklessly enters the tunnel and finds her Other Mother and Other Father waiting with roast chicken and a forced cheerfulness. All she needs to stay there is to have buttons sewn into her own eye sockets.

"Coraline" is the new film by Henry Selick , who made "The Nightmare Before Christmas" (1993) and again combines his mastery of stop-motion and other animation with 3-D. The 3-D creates a gloomier image (take off the glasses and the screen is bright), but then this is a gloomy film with weird characters doing nasty things. I've heard of eating chocolate-covered insects, but not when they're alive.

The ideal audience for this film would be admirers of film art itself, assuming such people exist. Selick creates an entirely original look and feel, uses the freedom of animation to elongate his characters into skeletal spectres looming over poor Coraline. Her new friend, Wybie (Robert Bailey Jr.), is a young hunchback whose full name is Wyborn, and it doesn't take Coraline long to wonder why his parents named him that.

The Other Mother and Father (voices of Teri Hatcher and John Hodgman , who are also Father and Mother) essentially want to steal Coraline from her real but distracted parents and turn her into some kind of a Stepford daughter. Their house, which looks like Coraline's own, has two old ladies ( Jennifer Saunders and Dawn French ) in the basement, boarders who seem in retirement from subtly hinted careers in the adult-entertainment industry. The upstairs boarder is Mr. Bobinsky ( Ian McShane ), a sometime vaudevillian who has a troupe of trained mice. One of the rooms of the house has insects bigger than Coraline who act as living furniture.

It's more or less impossible for me, anyway, to be scared by 3-D animation. The process always seems to be signaling, "I'm a process!" I think it's harder to get involved in a story when the process doesn't become invisible. I hear from parents who say, "My kids didn't even notice the 3-D!" In that case, why have it in the first place?

Kids who will be scared by the story may not all be happy to attend, 3-D or not. I suspect a lot of lovers of the film will include admirers of Neil Gaiman , whose Hugo Award-winning novel inspired Selick's screenplay. Gaiman is a titan of graphic novels, and there's a nice irony that one of his written books has been adapted as animation.

I admire the film mostly because it is good to look at. Selick is as unconventional in his imagery as Gaiman is in his writing, and this is a movie for people who know and care about drawing, caricature, grotesquerie and the far shores of storytelling. In short, you might care little about a fantasy, little indeed about this story, and still admire the artistry of it all, including an insidious score by Bruno Coulais, which doesn't pound at us like many horror scores, but gets under our psychic fingernails.

Credit is due to those who backed this film. I'm tired of wall-to-wall cuteness like " Kung Fu Panda ," and wonder if Selick's approach would be suited to films for grown-ups adapted from material like stories by August Derleth or Stephen King .

And perhaps I didn't make it clear that it's fine with me that Coraline is an unpleasant little girl. It would be cruelty to send Pippi Longstocking down that tunnel, but Coraline deserves it. Maybe she'll learn a lesson.

Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism.

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Film credits.

Coraline (2009)

100 minutes

Dakota Fanning as Coraline

Teri Hatcher as Mother/Other Mother

John Hodgman as Father/Other Father

Ian McShane as Mr. Bobinsky

Robert Bailey Jr. as Wybie

Jennifer Saunders as Miss Spink

Dawn French as Miss Forcible

Keith David as Cat

Written and directed by

Henry Selick

Based on the graphic novel

Neil Gaiman

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Movie Review | 'Coraline'

Cornered in a Parallel World

By A.O. Scott

Feb. 5, 2009

There are many scenes and images in “Coraline” that are likely to scare children. This is not a warning but rather a recommendation, since the cultivation of fright can be one of the great pleasures of youthful moviegoing. As long as it doesn’t go too far toward violence or mortal dread, a film that elicits a tingle of unease or a tremor of spookiness can be a tonic to sensibilities dulled by wholesome, anodyne, school-approved entertainments.

Books, these days, often do a better job than movies of parceling out juvenile terror. There is plenty of grisly screen horror out there for teenagers, of course, but younger children are more amply served by fiction from the likes of R. L. Stine, Roald Dahl and Neil Gaiman, on whose fast-moving, suspenseful novel “Coraline” is based. The film, an exquisitely realized 3-D stop-motion animated feature directed and written by Henry Selick (“The Nightmare Before Christmas,” “James and the Giant Peach”) has a slower pace and a more contemplative tone than the novel. It is certainly exciting, but rather than race through ever noisier set pieces toward a hectic climax in the manner of so much animation aimed at kids, “Coraline” lingers in an atmosphere that is creepy, wonderfully strange and full of feeling.

Its look and mood may remind adult viewers at various times of the dreamscapes of Tim Burton (with whom Mr. Selick worked on “Nightmare”), Guillermo del Toro and David Lynch. Like those filmmakers Mr. Selick is interested in childhood not as a condition of sentimentalized, passive innocence but rather as an active, seething state of receptivity in which consciousness itself is a site of wondrous, at times unbearable drama.

The governing emotion, at the beginning, is loneliness. A smart, brave girl named Coraline Jones, voiced by Dakota Fanning, has recently moved from Michigan to an apartment in a big pink Victorian house somewhere in Oregon. She is at an age when the inadequacy of her parents starts to become apparent, and Coraline’s stressed-out, self-absorbed mom and dad (Teri Hatcher and John Hodgman), who write about gardening, barely look up from their computer screens when she’s in the room. And so, like many a children’s book heroine before her, Coraline sets out to explore her curious surroundings, interweaving the odd details of everyday reality with the bright threads of imagination. She is accompanied from time to time by a local boy (Robert Bailey Jr.) and a talking cat (Keith David).

Like the best fantasy writers Mr. Gaiman does not draw too firm a boundary between the actual and the magical, allowing the two realms to shadow and influence each other. Mr. Selick, for his part, is so wantonly inventive and so psychologically astute that even Coraline’s dull domestic reality is tinted with enchantment. Her neighbors are a collection of eccentrics whose physical peculiarities match their quirks of character. Upstairs there is a Russian circus artist with the rasping voice of Ian McShane, while below a pair of aging burlesque performers twitter and chirp in the giddy tones of Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders, queens of British TV comedy.

A secret door in the wall, which opens only at night, leads Coraline to a parallel world that at first seems to fulfill her sad heart’s every desire. The versions of her parents who live there a queen-bee “other mother” and her agreeable mate are warm and attentive, and the pink house is a wild wonderland where gardens bloom in moonlight and every visit discloses new amusements. The oddball neighbors are there, in altered form, to enthrall Coraline with nightly spectacles a dream vaudeville that will transfix the movie’s audience as well.

The 3-D aspects of “Coraline” are unusually subtle. Now and then stuff is flung off the screen into your face, but the point is not to make you duck or shriek. Instead Mr. Selick uses the technology to make his world deeper and more intriguing. And of course the stop-motion technique he uses, based on sculptured figures rather than drawn images, is already a kind of three-dimensional animation. The glasses you put on are thus not a gimmick but an aid to seeing what’s already there.

And what is there, on the screen, is almost too much to absorb in one sitting: costumed mice and Scottish terriers; glowing blossoms and giant insects. The “other” world Coraline explores is fascinating, but also unsettling. Everyone there has buttons for eyes, like homemade dolls, and if she wants to stick around, Coraline will have to become like them.

This simple, horrifying operation foreshadowed in the haunting opening title sequence unlocks a cellarful of psychological implications. It would be too simple to say that the door in the wall leads directly to the unconscious. Mr. Selick is hardly a doctrinaire Freudian, but he does grasp the intimate connection between fairy tales and the murky, occult power of longing, existential confusion and misplaced desire. “Coraline” explores the predatory implications of parental love that other mother is a monster of misplaced maternal instinct but is grounded in the pluck and common sense of its heroine, who is resilient, ingenious and magically real.

“Coraline” is rated PG (Parental guidance suggested). There are many scenes and images that are likely to scare young children.

Opens on Friday nationwide.

Directed by Henry Selick; written by Mr. Selick, based on the book by Neil Gaiman; director of photography, Pete Kozachik; edited by Christopher Murrie and Ronald Sanders; music by Bruno Coulais; production designer, Mr. Selick; produced by Mr. Selick, Bill Mechanic, Claire Jennings and Mary Sandell; released by Focus Features. Running time: 1 hour 40 minutes.

WITH THE VOICES OF: Dakota Fanning (Coraline Jones), Teri Hatcher (Mother/Other Mother), Jennifer Saunders (Miss Spink), Dawn French (Miss Forcible), Keith David (Cat), John Hodgman (Father/Other Father), Robert Bailey Jr. (Wybie Lovat) and Ian McShane (Mr. Bobinsky).

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A Better Home And Garden, But For Those Buttons

David Edelstein

In The Mist Of It: Coraline and her exasperating new friend Wybie navigate her gloom-shrouded new neighborhood. LAIKA Inc./Focus Features hide caption

In The Mist Of It: Coraline and her exasperating new friend Wybie navigate her gloom-shrouded new neighborhood.

Director: Henry Selick
Genre: Animated Fantasy
Running Time: 101 minutes

Rated PG for scary situations and suggestive language.

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'I'm Way Too Old For Dolls'

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Source: LAIKA Inc.

'I'm Your Other Mother'

'I'm Wybie'

'Welcome Home'

What's Wrong With This Picture? Coraline's Other Mother smiles prettily, but there's something off-putting about those eyes. LAIKA Inc./Focus Features hide caption

What's Wrong With This Picture? Coraline's Other Mother smiles prettily, but there's something off-putting about those eyes.

Psst! Coraline and Mr. Bobinsky — her blue, 8-foot-tall circus-performer neighbor — share a secret. LAIKA Inc./Focus Features hide caption

Psst! Coraline and Mr. Bobinsky — her blue, 8-foot-tall circus-performer neighbor — share a secret.

Frame by frame, Henry Selick's adaptation of Neil Gaiman's Coraline is entrancing; it's among the most exquisite animated feature films ever made in this country.

The book is a nightmare variation on the old somewhere-over-the-rainbow fantasy: A little girl named Coraline moves to a rambling country house, where she has no friends and her busy parents brush her off. She longs for someplace better.

Then she finds a tunnel in a wall that leads to a parallel universe, where she has a nearly identical mother and father, except they dote on her. Goodies appear at her command, mice serenade her, flower gardens rearrange themselves in the shape of her face.

But there are hints of darker forces. Her Other Parents have black buttons in place of eyes, and when Coraline begins to chafe under their attention, her Other Mother's so-called love becomes possessive — even demonic. Gradually, we discern the warning at the heart of this great fairy tale: Sometimes, the people who love us with the most intensity do so for reasons that have nothing to do with us, but out of their own twisted needs. Coraline is a be-careful-what-you-wish-for story, and a testimonial to self-reliance.

To tell this tale on film, Selick employs old-fashioned stop-motion animation — that's where you put puppets on miniature sets and move them a teeny bit, shoot a few frames, and move them again. The puppets have wide, smooth faces on stick legs and necks; their jerkiness is barely perceptible, but enough to make the movie feel lovingly handmade.

Selick worked with the Japanese illustrator Tadahiro Uesugi, and they've come up with a look that's part Tim Burton, part Pinocchio, part Japanese wood block. But that doesn't do the film justice; it has a palette all its own.

The movie is in 3-D at about half of its theaters, and you should see it at one of those: You'll feel as if you're floating through this dollhouse world along with the wide-eyed heroine. The ravishing score, by Bruno Coulais, moves almost imperceptibly from childlike enchantment to thunderstormy, Night on Bald Mountain dread.

I wish I could leave it at that, but unlike Gaiman, Selick isn't a brilliant storyteller. For reasons I can't figure out, he gums up a lot of what the book got right — among them the laws of the universe. Coraline can now go to sleep in one world and wake up in another, which makes the tunnel seem less vital. He creates a male peer for Coraline, a nerd called Wybie who undercuts the bell-jar isolation she suffers in the book, and who plays way too big a role in the climax — which ought to be Coraline's triumph. (Did the studio want a boy character for commercial reasons?)

The real mom and dad, voiced by Teri Hatcher and John Hodgman, aren't just quietly neglectful here; they're appallingly mean and insensitive. In one scene, as Coraline pleads for attention, her mom snaps that she's too busy, tossing her a package that contains a doll Wybie left for her. It looks like Coraline, only with black-button eyes.

The problem with a real mom who's that unpleasant is that Coraline's goal — to get back to her real home after she's trapped in the other world — doesn't have the emotional oomph it does in Gaiman's book.

But the movie's visuals are so rich that in the end, the flaws don't matter: The images have the emotional oomph.

In the alternate world, nothing is what it appears to be. Facades pixelate and dissolve; figures don't move of their own accord — they're animated and controlled by the monstrous Other Mother.

Director Selick might be more invested in creating phantasmagorical set pieces than in spinning a coherent yarn, but in a strange way that works for the movie. Coraline, after all, is fighting within the film to hold her own against an animator; that she holds her own against her virtuoso director is icing on the cake.

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Coraline — film review.

Not only is Henry Selick's charming "Coraline" a terrific children's story, adapted from a novel by Neil Gaiman, but this is the first stop-motion feature ever made in 3-D.

By Kirk Honeycutt , The Associated Press February 2, 2009 12:00am

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Just when it appeared adult themes, in films such as “Mary and Max” and “$9.99,” were going to run away with stop-motion animation, up pops Henry Selick (“The Nightmare Before Christmas”). Not only is his charming “Coraline” a terrific children’s story, adapted from a novel by Neil Gaiman, but this is the first stop-motion feature ever made in 3-D. If Focus Features can bring in mainstream audiences with its marketing, “Coraline” could become a solid family hit.

Gaiman’s fanciful tale takes on the classical “grass is always greener” theme within the context of an old and mysterious house. Coraline Jones (voiced by Dakota Fanning) is an 11-year-old newly moved into the Pink Palace with her busy parents (Teri Hatcher and John Hodgman). Unfortunately, no one seems to have any time for her. Even the moving boxes remain unpacked, and the family’s sparse furniture barely inhabits the rooms.

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Wandering her rambling old house in her boring new town, an 11-year-old Coraline discovers a hidden door to a strangely idealized version of her life. In order to stay in the fantasy, she must make a frighteningly real sacrifice.
When Coraline moves to an old house, she feels bored and neglected by her parents. She finds a hidden door with a bricked up passage. During the night, she crosses the passage and finds a parallel world where everybody has buttons instead of eyes, with caring parents and all her dreams coming true. When the Other Mother invites Coraline to stay in her world forever, the girl refuses and finds that the alternate reality where she is trapped is only a trick to lure her. — Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Coraline moves to a new home where she feels bored and alone. She finds a bricked up passage in the wall, but during the night it opens up. She discovers a world that seems to be an alternate version of her life with only one slight difference- everything is better. And everyone has buttons for eyes. Coraline's "other mother" invites her to stay forever if she lets her sew buttons, and Coraline begins to realize that this alternate universe is a trick to lure her in so her Other Mother can essentially "eat up her soul." She has to rescue her parents from the Other Mother and make it home safely, relying on her tricks- and the help of a sassy talking cat, naturally. — savrudy
A 11 year-old girl named Coraline just moved to her new house in the summer and thought that her house will be so boring. At midnight, Coraline found a door leading to a world that's better. Soon, Her family and neighbors started to act very creepy, even The Other Mother. Coraline must stop the Other Mother and save her real parents.
A young girl walks through a secret door in her new home and discovers an alternate version of her life. On the surface, this parallel reality is eerily similar to her real life - only much better. But when her adventure turns dangerous, and her counterfeit parents (including Other Mother) try to keep her forever, Coraline must count on her resourcefulness, determination, and bravery to get back home - and save her family. — Megan
As the credits appear, a pair of metallic hands with spindly fingers summons a doll from the dark abyss outside a window. The hands dismantle the doll, which is wearing a pink dress and has curly brown hair, and reassemble it into a new doll with blue hair, a yellow raincoat, and galoshes. Then they send it back into the void. Coraline Jones (voice: Dakota Fanning ), a girl of 11 or so, moves with her parents, Mel and Charlie (voices: Teri Hatcher and John Hodgman ), from their house in Michigan to their new home at the Pink Palace Apartments in Oregon. It is a rather dilapidated pink Victorian house divided into three flats, surrounded by forest and shaded by an almost constantly overcast sky. While her parents assist the movers, Coraline goes exploring, taking a stick and using it as a dowsing rod. She lets it guide her along a trail beyond the house until she arrives at the top of the hill. A black cat emerges from the woods and studies her on its perch. Coraline asks if it knows where the old well is before she is startled by an air horn. A bicyclist wearing a skull-painted helmet appears and circles Coraline. After she knocks him off his bike, he removes his helmet and introduces himself as Wybie -- short for Wyborne -- Lovat (voice: Robert Bailey Jr. ), grandson of the owner of the Pink Palace. He shows Coraline the location of the old well, right under her feet, and admits surprise that his grandmother would allow a family with a kid to move in; not even he is allowed near the Pink Palace, though he says he's not supposed to explain why. He pets the cat and explains that he cares for it despite the fact that it's feral before he hears his grandmother calling to him. He mounts his bike and informs Coraline that the stick she's holding is actually poison oak. Back at the house, as it starts to rain, Coraline attempts to gain the attention of her parents who are busy writing pieces for a gardening catalog (which Coraline finds absurdly ironic since her parents dislike handling dirt). Her mother gives Coraline a doll that looks just like her, telling her that it was left on their porch. Attached to the doll is a note from Wybie explaining that he found it in his grandmother's trunk and thought she would like it since it looks like her. Coraline takes the doll and goes to see her father who tells her to explore the house and write down what she sees ... as long as she will let him work. Doll in hand, Coraline takes note of everything in their flat, including a painting of a sullen-looking boy in blue clothes above the fireplace. Finishing her notes, she discovers that her doll, which she'd left on a nearby table in the drawing room, has mysteriously moved beneath a mattress leaning against the wall. Coraline moves the mattress to find the outline of a small door behind the wallpaper. Noticing a keyhole and no other way to open it, Coraline begs her mother to help her. They find a black skeleton key in a kitchen drawer with a button end and find that it fits the keyhole perfectly. However, when they open the door, they see nothing but a solid brick wall. Irritated, Coraline's mother tells her to let her finish her work. That evening, Coraline is sent to bed early after complaining about the grimy-looking dinner her father prepared. In the middle of the night, she is awoken by a squeaking sound and looks down to see a mouse in her room. She follows it out of her room and downstairs to the drawing room where it disappears behind the small door in the wall which has been cracked open. Coraline opens the door and discovers that a wide and colorful passage has opened up. She crawls through it and emerges out the other end to find herself in the drawing room again, however, this one is brighter and even the painting of the boy above the fireplace looks cheerful. She smells something from the kitchen and wanders over to find her mother cooking. When her mother turns to greet her, Coraline sees that she has black buttons for eyes. Coraline's shock subsides when her 'mother' explains that she's her Other Mother and that everyone has one. She tells Coraline to collect her Other Father in his study before dinner. Coraline obliges and finds her Other Father, looking lively and fun, playing piano with a pair of puppet hands protruding from it. He sings a song for Coraline, bringing a smile to her face, before they all sit down to dinner. The Other World food is delightful and served with plenty of flair. Coraline can hardly contain her excitement at finding that her Other parents are more fun than her real ones, showing their enjoyment for mud and explaining that it's a natural remedy for poison oak. When Other Mother offers to play a game, Coraline expresses concern that she'd better go back home and to bed. Other Mother takes Coraline up to her 'other' room, which is strewn with colored streamers and toys that speak, including a picture on her nightstand with her two best friends from Michigan (voices: Harry Selick and Marina Budovsky ). Her Other Mother rubs mud on the poison oak on her hands before putting Coraline to bed. Coraline quickly falls asleep. She wakes up the next morning to find herself back in her old room. She is disappointed but sees that the poison oak has disappeared from her hands. When she tries to open the small door again, she finds that it's bricked up as before. She tries to tell her parents all about her adventures the previous night, but they dismiss it as a vivid dream. Her mother suggests she tell her dream to the actresses living downstairs, although she calls them ding-bats. Out on the porch, Coraline trips over a pile of mail addressed to a Mr. Bobinsky; the man who lives upstairs. She goes to his door but is prevented entry by the eccentric Bobinsky (voice: Ian McShane ), a tall and acrobatic Russian man with a blue complexion; possibly due to his role in the Chernobyl cleanup which is indicated by the medal worn on his shirt. He accepts the packages which contain foul-smelling cheese. He tells Coraline (whom he misnames 'Caroline') that he is training circus mice and hopes the cheese will alleviate their apparent musical difficulties. Before Coraline leaves, he leaps down from his balcony to issue a warning from his mice: "They say, 'do not go through little door'." Halfway accepting her experiences as nothing but a dream, Coraline dismisses the message and heads to the lower flat to visit Miss Spink and Miss Forcible (voices: Jennifer Saunders and Dawn French ), two retired burlesque actresses who clearly have not gotten over their past days. Coraline is offered tea as the actresses reminisce and tend to their many Scottie dogs, some of which are dead and stuffed on shelves on the wall, dressed in angel outfits. Miss Spink reads Coraline's tea leaves and predicts that she is in danger, seeing a gnarled hand in the leaves, while Miss Forcible sees a giraffe from her perspective. Coraline goes outside, where a thick fog has covered the ground. She discovers Wybie spying on her with a three-turret lens, although he insists he's hunting for banana slugs. The cat rests on Wybie's shoulders as he skulks around, inspiring Coraline to call him a 'wuss-puss' which insults the cat, though Wybie says he just doesn't like getting his feet wet. The two share laughs as Coraline takes pictures of Wybie holding a slug before he admits that he's never been inside the Pink Palace because his grandmother thinks it's dangerous. He says that his grandmother had a twin sister and, while they lived there as children, she disappeared. His grandmother seems to think she was stolen, but Coraline offers that maybe she just ran away. She asks Wybie about the doll's resemblance to her, but Wybie says that he found it as is and that it must be as old as the house. Coraline is skeptical: why would it look just like her? That night, Coraline leaves out bits of cheese in her bedroom and goes to sleep, hoping for another visit from the mice. Sure enough, she's woken later by their squeaking and follows them through the open portal. She finds her Other Mother cooking in the kitchen, using the very cheese Coraline laid out. She tells Coraline to fetch her Other Father, who is in the garden. Coraline finds him planting colorful, fluorescent flowers and snapdragons, using a tractor shaped like a praying mantis. Other Father takes Coraline for a ride on the mantis as it sprouts propellors and flies them above the gardens. Overhead, Coraline sees that the entire garden has been fashioned into her likeness. After another bountiful dinner, Other Mother opens the front door to introduce Other Wybie. She explains that she made this one so that he doesn't talk because she thought Coraline would like it. Coraline is pleased with her silent friend and they go to Mr. Bobinsky's flat together for a surprise. Inside, pedal-controlled cannons shoot cotton candy and popcorn machines line the walls. A circus tent is erected in the center of the apartment and Coraline and Other Wybie go in to see Bobinsky's mice put on a musical show, bouncing on circus balls. At the finale, Other Bobinsky appears, looking dapper in a ringmaster's coat and hat, and thanks them for their applause. Coraline is later led to bed, happily satisfied with the night's events, and falls asleep with Other Mother, Other Father, and Other Wybie sitting beside her. The next morning, Coraline grunts as she finds herself in her own bed once more. Her mother takes her into town the next day to shop for school clothes. They drop off her father at the train station so that he can deliver the latest edition of the catalog to the editor. At the store, Coraline approaches her mother with a pair of colorful gloves which Mel refuses to buy, looking instead at drab and grey uniform pieces. Coraline shuns her mother on the ride home, especially when Mel reveals that she locked the small door after finding rat excrement near it. Seeing that the fridge is nearly devoid of food, Mel offers to buy some groceries and asks Coraline to accompany her. Coraline refuses and Mel leaves, looking slightly saddened. Taking opportunity of her solitude, Coraline takes the skeleton key from its perch and investigates the small door, finding the passage surprisingly open. She eagerly crawls through as the feral cat watches her disapprovingly from outside. In Other World, Coraline finds the house seemingly empty, though the kitchen table is laden with treats and different foods along with a gift box containing a new outfit for her to wear. A note next to it from Other Mother explains that Other Spink and Other Forcible have something to show Coraline after lunch. Outside, Coraline comes upon the cat and remarks that he must be a copy but is missing the trademark button eyes. She is shocked when the cat speaks (voice: Keith David ). He tells Coraline that he is the real world cat and has the ability to transverse the barriers between worlds, despite Other Mother's attempts to keep him out; she hates cats. He admits it's a type of game they play before warning Coraline of Other Mother's true intentions. He claims Other Wybie told him of the dangers and, when Coraline doesn't believe him, tells her that cats have superior senses. He then detects something in the distance and runs off. Coraline continues to Spink and Forcible's apartment which has been turned into a large auditorium occupied by hundreds of Scottie dogs. She finds Other Wybie in the front row and sits beside him as the show starts. The Spink and Forcible that we know, albeit with painted button eyes, perform individual skits in rather unflattering outfits before their competition for the spotlight brings the stage props crashing down. The curtain closes and the second act starts; Spink and Forcible appear on either end of the stage, standing on diving boards while a bucket of water is pushed to center stage. Then, they literally jump out of their skins as their older facades unzip and their youthful, skinny selves effortlessly swing on trapeze wires. They include Coraline in the act, swinging her around the auditorium and catching her as they land on the bucket, to much applause and barking. Coraline returns to Other Mother's apartment, raving about the show while Other Wybie stays behind looking sullen. As Other Mother ushers Coraline inside, she motions to Other Wybie to smile. She takes Coraline into the dining room and tells her that, if she wants to, she can stay forever but needs to perform one little thing. She places a box in front of Coraline who opens it to see two black buttons with sewing thread and a needle. Other Mother cheerfully tells Coraline that buttons are available in any color but Coraline vehemently refuses to sew buttons into her eyes. She requests to go to bed early to think things over and goes to her room where she stuffs her talking toys away and hides the picture of her button-eyed friends. She lies in bed and prays to go to sleep. When she wakes, she jumps out of bed, only to find that she's still in Other World. She goes downstairs and finds Other Father morosely playing the piano with his puppet hands. Coraline demands to see Other Mother because she wants to go home, but Other Father tells her they mustn't talk when 'mother's' not around. When Coraline says that she's going to look for Other Wybie, Other Father tells her there's no point; "Wybie pulled a looooong face and 'mother' didn't like it," his own face elongating horribly as he says so before he is silenced by the puppet hands. Coraline runs outside and begins to walk away from the house. The cat approaches her and they walk together as the Other World begins to deteriorate into nothing. The cat tells Coraline that the Other Mother only created what she knew Coraline would like and soon they find themselves walking straight back towards the house. "Small world," Coraline comments. The cat reveals that the Other Mother wants her, possibly for something to love ... or to eat. Suddenly, he lunges into a bush and comes out with a circus mouse in his mouth. As his jaws clamp down, the mouse transforms into an ugly sandbag rat. "I don't like rats at the best of times, but this one was sounding an alarm," the cat says before moving on. Coraline walks back into the house and enters the drawing room where the small door has been blocked by a beetle-shaped bureau. The other furniture comes to life, looking like insects, and seats Coraline in front of Other Mother, eating coco beetles. Coraline demands to be allowed to go home but Other Mother grows angry and tells Coraline to apologize as she counts to three. While she counts, her body begins to transform, growing grotesquely tall and elongated. (Eventually she is shown to be a spider.) At the count of three, the disfigured Other Mother grabs Coraline and throws her through a mirror into a dank room with a single bed. She tells Coraline she may come out when she 'learns to be a loving daughter.' Sensing someone in the room with her, Coraline turns to see three ghostly children, two girls and a boy (voices: Hannah Kaiser , Aankha Neal , and George Selick ), who tell her to be quiet, for the Beldam might be listening. (Beldam means ugly old woman, but it has connotations of witchcraft and recalls characters from literature and folklore: the title character of John Keats's poem "La Belle Dame Sans Merci", in which a knight is enthralled by a fairy; and the witch who entices and captures Hansel and Gretel.) The ghosts reveal that they don't remember their names, but remember how the Beldam used dolls in their image to spy on them and see what made them unhappy. They tell how she lured them into Other World, giving them games and treats, telling them that she loved them. Wanting more, the children allowed the Beldam to sew the buttons into their eyes, but she ate up their lives and cast their souls aside, locking them inside the mirror. They say that their eyes were stolen and hidden and ask that, if Coraline escapes, she set their souls free by finding their eyes. Coraline says that she'll try before she's pulled through the mirror by Other Wybie, whose mouth has been sewn into a wide grin. Coraline pulls the thread out before Other Wybie brings her to the small door. He opens it and shoves her through. When she asks him to come with her, he pulls off one of his gloves, revealing that he's nothing inside but sand. He then shuts the door as the Beldam calls for Coraline. She crawls back to the real world and calls out for her real parents. However, she finds no one home. The groceries that her mother had gone out to get lie on the kitchen table, moldy and covered in flies. When a knock sounds at the door, Coraline eagerly opens it only to see the real Wybie, who tells her that he needs the doll back. His grandmother is angry because the doll once belonged to her missing sister, but Coraline tells him that the doll once looked like the three ghost children. She realizes that the third child, the girl with the braids and ribbons, was Grandma Lovat's missing sister. She brings Wybie upstairs to give him the doll, explaining everything along the way. Coraline describes to an incredulous Wybie how the doll is meant to spy on everything that's wrong with a child's life before the Other Mother gives false promises to trap them. When she can't find the doll, Wybie runs from the house screaming that Coraline is crazy. She throws her shoes at him and runs outside to see her parents' car, but no one is there. A phone call to her father brings no answers either. Coraline visits Spink and Forcible as Spink is sewing an angel outfit on her dog Angus, claiming that he hasn't been feeling well lately. When Coraline worries about her missing parents, Spink and Forcible break a ball of hard taffy candy to reveal a small triangular seeing stone with a hole in it. They give it to Coraline, saying that it's useful for bad or lost things (they can't agree on which one specifically). Coraline then returns home and creates likenesses of her parents out of pillows in their bed before crying herself to sleep. She wakes up in the middle of the night to see the cat sitting on her chest, looking at her closely. She asks him if he knows where her parents are. He pulls Coraline's doll out from under the bed but, instead of looking like her, the doll is two-faced, resembling each of her parents. In the hallway mirror, Coraline sees an image of her parents shivering in the cold and writing 'help us' on the frosted glass. She goes downstairs and lights a fire on the hearth, throwing the doll into the flames to curl up and burn. Knowing her parents can't return on their own, she resolves to rescue them and dons her favorite army hat, a vest, and puts the triangle stone, some tools, and the skeleton key in her pockets. As she and the cat go through the small door, the cat pipes up and tells her to challenge the Other Mother to a game; she never refuses games. Though the Beldam won't play fair, this gives Coraline the best chance. When Coraline emerges, she hears her mother calling to her and finds her in the drawing room. She goes to hug her mother, but the figure transforms into the Beldam. She takes the skeleton key from Coraline and, after locking the small door, swallows it. Other Father, reduced to a squat, blubbering mess, puts Coraline into a chair before he is dragged away by the furniture after the Beldam inquires about tending to the garden. The Beldam then takes Coraline into the kitchen to serve her breakfast, asking her again to stay. Coraline proposes a game: if she is able to find her real parents and the eyes of the ghost children, the Beldam must let them all go. If Coraline is unsuccessful, she will stay and let the Beldam sew the buttons into her eyes. Coraline then demands a clue, which the Beldam relents to give: "In each of three wonders I've made just for you, a ghost's eye is lost in plain sight." Coraline's search begins in the garden, where some hummingbird plants attempt to steal the triangular stone. Finding this curious, Coraline looks through the hole in the stone to see that the world appears grey, except for one colorful ball of light: the first eye. It is disguised as the shift knob on the praying mantis tractor. Other Father starts the tractor and chases Coraline with it. He apologizes, claiming that 'mother' is making him do it. As the mantis chases Coraline across the garden pond's bridge, it collapses, sending the tractor and Other Father into the water. Before he submerges, Other Father grabs the eye and hands it over to Coraline. With the eye in hand, the entire garden dies and turns to stone. Meanwhile the moon overhead is beginning to eclipse -- a time limit on Coraline's search. She makes her way to Spink and Forcible's place, which has deteriorated. The Scottie dogs now reside on the ceiling, looking more like bats, and the actresses have cocooned themselves in a taffy-like wrapper on the stage. Coraline sees one of them holding the second eye as a pearl ring and reaches into the wrapper to get it. However, she wakes the actresses, their tangled bodies resembling taffy, and they shriek and grab at her. Coraline shines her flashlight at the dogbats overhead, agitating them and inciting them to fly down at her. She ducks in time for the dogs to collide with the actresses and Coraline gains control of the eye. The auditorium turns to grey stone and Spink and Forcible disintegrate with the dogs. Next, Coraline goes to Other Bobinsky's apartment where she sees, dangling from a pole on the balcony, the empty clothes of Other Wybie. She shouts to the Beldam that she's not scared before entering the apartment. Bobinsky emerges from the shadows, reduced to only his ringmaster coat and hat, asking why Coraline would want to leave a perfect world. She answers that he couldn't understand since he's merely a copy of the real Bobinsky. Using the stone, she finds the third eye inside Other Bobinsky's hat. She removes his hat to retrieve it but his clothes fall away to reveal the circus rats within. The head rat shrieks at her and attempts to flee with the eye in its mouth. The others try to sabotage Coraline and, as a last resort, she throws the triangular seeing stone at the head rat as it exits the doggy door of Bobinsky's apartment. She misses. She chases the rat onto the balcony which begins to fall apart and collapses. Coraline falls to the ground below and begins to cry when she realizes that she's lost the rat, and the game. The eclipse of the moon completes, revealing the shadow to be that of a button. The cat then appears with the rat in its mouth and relinquishes the last eye. Coraline thanks him and then, together, they go back inside to find her real parents, the paint on the walls thinning and peeling off. She meets the Beldam in the drawing room, darker and filled with webbing. The Beldam herself has been reduced to her true form; a large, spidery figure with spindly fingers and cracked, white skin. She sneers at the cat and holds up the triangular stone before throwing it into the fire. Without her tool, Coraline is forced to use her wit to guess the location of her parents. She announces that her parents are behind the small door in the wall. The Beldam coughs up the key and as she goes to open the door, Coraline sees her parents miniaturized and trapped within a snowglobe on the mantle. With the door open, the Beldam turns to Coraline, chuckling and saying that she's now trapped in Other World forever. "No I'm not!" Coraline shouts, throwing the cat at the Beldam, grabbing the snowglobe and stuffing it in her pocket. The cat scratches out the Beldam's button eyes and the room falls apart, leaving nothing but a low net of webbing. The cat howls and runs through the small door as Coraline struggles to avoid falling into the center of the net. As she climbs, the vibrations are felt by the sightless Beldam who climbs after her. Coraline manages to get through the small door just in time as the Beldam shrieks and wails that she will die without her. Coraline slams the small door shut in the real world and locks it. Coraline's parents 'come home' and she runs over to embrace them, though they scold her for breaking the snowglobe and cutting her knee. Despite the snow melting off their shoulders, they have no recollection of what happened and announce that they're going out to eat that night in celebration of the published catalog. After discussing invitations for a garden party, Coraline's parents put her to bed. Her mother leaves a box on her bed; it contains the pair of colorful gloves she'd wanted. Coraline goes to sleep, happy to be home at last. She wakes in the middle of the night to see the cat outside her window. Though he is visibly upset with her, she apologizes for throwing him at the Beldam and he snuggles up beside her in bed as she places the three ghost children's eyes under her pillow. She dreams that they are finally free spirits and they thank her but warn her that the Beldam lives and will never stop looking for her. Coraline awakes to find that the eyes are broken beneath her pillow but realizes that the skeleton key is what the Beldam is after and she must hide it. She dresses and leaves, resolving to dump the key inside the well at the top of the hill. However, the Beldam's spindly hand, having escaped through the door, follows her. When it discovers her intent, it attacks her and attempts to take the key back. Coraline struggles with it until Wybie appears to help, riding his bike and blowing his air horn. He grabs at the key but the hand trips him up and he falls into the well, dangling as he holds onto some roots. Before the hand can stab at him, Coraline wraps it in her shawl which it quickly rips through. Before it can pounce again, Wybie, having gotten himself out of the well, drops a large rock on it, breaking it. He and Coraline wrap the hand and rock together in the shawl and tie it with the key string before dropping it into the well. Wybie apologizes for not believing Coraline and shows her a picture of his grandmother as a child...with her twin sister holding an identical doll. He then hears his grandmother calling for him again and Coraline tells him to bring her to the garden party the next day where they will tell her everything together. At the party, everyone gathers to help plant flowers in the garden and Coraline distributes cold drinks. Wybie escorts his grandmother to the party and Coraline offers her a drink, saying that she has so much to tell her. Just beyond the house, the cat sits on the sign post in front of the Pink Palace. He stretches and walks along the beam, passing the tip of the post and vanishing from sight.

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Common sense media reviewers.

Cool but creepy animated fantasy too scary for young kids.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Lives aren't supposed to be perfect -- imperfectio

Coraline's parents show humility and learn importa

The two main characters, Coraline and her mother,

The movie has a very dark, creepy tone overall, an

Two characters with large breasts wear tiny costum

Infrequent use of words like "crap" and "oh my God

Coraline's mother thinks Mr. Bobinksy drinks too m

Positive Messages

Lives aren't supposed to be perfect -- imperfection can be wonderful. It's important to spend quality time with loved ones. Themes include self-control, gratitude, and compassion.

Positive Role Models

Coraline's parents show humility and learn important lessons from their daughter. Coraline herself is brave and resourceful, despite being impatient at times. The Other Mother wants Coraline to behave a certain way and pursues her goals at any cost. Intergenerational friendships are formed.

Diverse Representations

The two main characters, Coraline and her mother, are complex women who are neither completely good nor bad. The animated characters are mostly White, as are the characters' voice actors including Dakota Fanning (Coraline), Teri Hatcher (Mother/Other Mother), and Ian McShane (Bobinsky). Keith David, who's Black, voices the Cat. Coraline's neighbors include two aging actresses who are told they're past their prime but refuse to stop believing in their talent.

Did we miss something on diversity? Suggest an update.

Violence & Scariness

The movie has a very dark, creepy tone overall, and the Other Mother sometimes takes on a frightening appearance. It's implied that she has killed at least three children. Her minions try to catch Coraline and the Cat, but they don't succeed. Brief strangling. A character loses a hand, which then attacks Coraline.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

Two characters with large breasts wear tiny costumes for a performance (one in a reference to Botticelli's famous Birth of Venus painting).

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

Infrequent use of words like "crap" and "oh my God." Insults include "jerkwad," "idiot," "evil witch," and "stupid."

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

Coraline's mother thinks Mr. Bobinksy drinks too much.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that Coraline is a stop-motion animated film based on a book by Neil Gaiman . The movie is quite dark, and the "other" world that Coraline ( Dakota Fanning ) discovers turns into a frightening, dangerous place where she could very well die (and other ghost children already have). Scary situations include extremely creepy characters and acts that seem very violent but don't have graphic consequences, like when Coraline throws a cat at someone. Language is mostly insults (like "jerkwad" and "idiot"), and sexuality is limited to two scantily dressed actresses in one scene. It's suggested that one of the characters drinks too much, but nothing is shown. Characters demonstrate self-control, compassion, and gratitude. The movie deals with mature themes -- being careful what you wish for, thinking the grass is always greener, seeking a perfect life, and being disappointed in your parents -- that are best suited for tweens and up. The cast lacks racial diversity, with animated characters and voice actors mostly White, but main characters Coraline and her mother ( Teri Hatcher ) are complex women who are neither completely good nor bad. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

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Parents say (327)
Kids say (803)

Based on 327 parent reviews

Consider your kid's personality

Weird world, what's the story.

CORALINE Jones (voiced by Dakota Fanning ) is an only child who's unhappy about moving to a new house with her seemingly self-absorbed parents ( Teri Hatcher and John Hodgman ), who are too busy working to spend any time with her. The other inhabitants of their building are an eccentric crew: Russian mouse-circus ringmaster Mr. Bobinksy ( Ian McShane ) and bickering actresses Miss Spink and Miss Forcible ( Jennifer Saunders and Dawn French ). When Coraline opens a small hidden door in her apartment, she discovers a secret passageway to a parallel other world where everything -- her parents, her house, her neighbors, her magical garden -- seems much better ... or is it?

Is It Any Good?

Director Henry Selick, a stop-motion master best known for The Nightmare Before Christmas , creates a magical, colorful nether-world that's also dark and disturbing. At first, in addition to offering Coraline attentive "Other" parents, the alternate universe boasts a dazzling garden and a fantastic circus and theater acts, courtesy of the Other neighbors. Coraline, along with the audience, gets swept into the magic -- but there's an unnerving edge to all of the perfection. Everyone has buttons for eyes, except for Coraline and a mysterious talking cat ( Keith David ) that warns Coraline that her Other Mother isn't as warm and loving as she seems.

The 3-D effects ( Coraline is Hollywood's first 3-D stop-motion film) are cool without being overwhelming, and the story is a two-pronged cautionary tale -- for parents and kids not to take each other for granted, and for people not to dwell on whether the grass is greener, because it could all be a huge, horrifying charade. Coraline ultimately learns that sometimes imperfect, messy lives aren't always as bad as they seem. Considering how formulaic so many family movies are, Coraline is a refreshing and inventive film. While too intense for some kids, it's a memorable treat for families with thrill-seeking tweens and up.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about Coraline 's theme of wishing for a different, "perfect" life. Do you ever feel like Coraline? What about her parents made her initially prefer the Other Mother and Father?

How do Coraline and her parents change over the course of the movie?

Do you think this movie is meant for little kids, or is it too scary ?

How do the characters in Coraline demonstrate self-control , gratitude , and compassion ? Why are these important character strengths ?

Movie Details

In theaters : February 6, 2009
On DVD or streaming : July 21, 2009
Cast : Dakota Fanning , John Hodgman , Teri Hatcher
Director : Henry Selick
Inclusion Information : Female actors
Studio : Focus Features
Genre : Fantasy
Topics : Magic and Fantasy , Book Characters , Great Girl Role Models
Character Strengths : Compassion , Gratitude , Self-control
Run time : 100 minutes
MPAA rating : PG
MPAA explanation : thematic elements, scary images, some language and suggestive humor
Last updated : April 23, 2024

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Coraline (2009). A Motif Analysis by Tia M. Adkins

Director, Henry Selick, routinely utilizes stop motion to seamlessly relay critical themes and motifs while supporting his cinematic content. Selick demonstrates his influence and artistic control via stark color contrasts, similar themes, and dark cinematic concepts across each of his films, including James and the Giant Peach (1996) and The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993), among others. The director adopts a similar strategy in his 2009 film Coraline , based on Neil Gaiman’s book of the same name. Through an array of visual motifs, director of Coraline , Selick, delivers a cautionary tale encouraging viewers to relinquish envy and find contentment in their lives.

Early on in the film, Selick presents viewers with props that evolve into visual motifs throughout the movie. The first notable motif the director introduces is the Coraline doll. Wybie, the only other child that resides in the neighborhood, gives it to Coraline, claiming that he merely found it. Selick makes evident the peculiar nature of the claim and the doll itself by making the doll identical to Coraline – except for the buttons where its eyes should be. The motif is representative of what the Other Mother intends Coraline to become – silent and conforming. Many scenes feature shots of the doll in various locations spying on Coraline as she explores in the foreground. Between the irrefutable resemblance it has to Coraline and how it practically lurks in the background, the doll maintains something of an eerie presence. Though the doll may initially present itself as unremarkable, in reality, it serves as yet another tool of the Other Mother’s making, one used to manipulate Coraline.

Another visual motif prevalent in the film is the key. Selick introduces the key into the story world’s framework and ensures that it circulates throughout the film to draw attention to its importance. The key serves as a gateway to the other world and escapism for Coraline, just as it was for the Other Mother’s previous victims. Though Selick meets success by deviating from the tropes and conventions often found in horror films, he also adheres to some of them. Polanski, for instance, explores similar contexts in his films. “Filmmaker, Roman Polanski, has established himself as a master of horror film through his highly influential and highly controversial ‘Apartment Trilogy'” (Davies 18). In Polanski’s films, the protagonists’ horrors occur within their home.

Similarly, the nightmarish incidences that Coraline experiences occur almost entirely in her home, whether it be the home located in her world or the other world. Although there is only one key, the Other Mother ensures it is always within Coraline’s grasp so that Coraline may easily enter the world, thus making her vulnerable. Coraline’s vulnerability routinely leaves her susceptible to death at the hands of the Other Mother. At the film’s conclusion, amidst Coraline’s desperate attempt to reclaim and dispose of the key, Selick indicates that the key’s destruction is the only way to defeat the Other Mother and prevent her from escaping her world or claiming more victims.

Arguably, one of the most pertinent visual motifs evident in Coraline are the buttons. Coraline does not get the opportunity to frequent the other world for long before the Other Mother attempts to strike a deal. Coraline must get the buttons sewn in her eyes in exchange for the treats and attention the Other Mother offers her – a proposal Coraline quickly turns down. Via the button motif, the director indicates that what one wants often comes at a price. The main characters that have a notable influence in Coraline’s life each have a doppelgänger – all of which have buttons for eyes, much like the Coraline doll. The buttons are the first significant indication of deception that Selick introduces in the film. Often, eyes are deemed the windows, so to speak, to the soul, as they reveal one’s emotional state, despite their adopted façade. Given that the Other Mother, like her minions, has buttons instead of eyes, Coraline and viewers are left susceptible to deception throughout the film’s duration.

Director of Coraline , Henry Selick, strategically introduces a series of motifs throughout the film. Although the motifs serve various purposes, the director predominately depicts them to inform the cinematic content. Selick’s visual motifs reflect the danger that accompanies envy. In doing so, Coraline serves as a cautionary tale that encourages its intended audience, children, to beware of strangers, forfeit their envy, and extend gratitude to the positive relationships and luxuries in their lives.

Author Biography

Tia M. Adkins is an aspiring screenwriter actively pursuing her undergraduate degree in film studies at the University of North Carolina Wilmington. She’s an impassioned storyteller, fitness fanatic, and corny jokes enthusiast. When she’s not reading, writing, or watching her favorite movies and TV shows, she’s expanding her ever-growing Funko POP! Figure collection.

Davies, Rob. “Female Paranoia: The Psychological Horror of Roman Polanski.” Film Matters , vol. 5, no. 2, 2014, pp. 18–23.

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1. Coraline has two settings, one in the real world and one in the “other” world—the world where the beldam exists.

How are Coraline’s experiences in the real world and in the other world alike and different? ( topic sentence )
Compare Coraline’s life in the real world with her life in the other world. Describe the advantages and disadvantages of each world.
In your concluding sentences, explain why Coraline did not stay in the other world on her first visit.

2. The cat compares the other mother’s world to a spider’s web.

In what ways is the other mother similar to a spider? ( topic sentence )

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Coraline Jones and her mother and father have just moved to a new town. Their new flat is part of a larger house which has been parceled up into individual units. The house’s other tenants include Miss Spink and Miss Forcible , two aging former actresses who own several Highland terriers, and an individual Coraline knows only as the crazy old man upstairs —a man who claims to be training a “mouse circus” to play tiny instruments. Coraline’s parents are often busy working in their studies, and, since it’s the end of the summer, Coraline is left to her own devices much of the time. One afternoon, exploring the yard, Coraline meets a black cat who runs away when she tries to pet it; another afternoon, stuck inside during a rainstorm, Coraline becomes curious about a large wooden door in the corner of the drawing room. Coraline’s mother opens the door with a black key to show her that it opens up onto a brick wall and explains that the door goes nowhere. As Coraline falls asleep that night, she hears a scuttling noise outside her door. She gets out of bed and follows the noise through the house toward the drawing room—when she flicks on the light, she sees that the door is open. Coraline returns to bed and tries to fall asleep, but she is disturbed by a nightmare about a chorus of rats singing a threatening song. The next day, the rain has given way to a thick mist. Coraline visits with her neighbors, since exploring is too hard in the fog. The man upstairs says that his mice have a message for Coraline: “Don’t go through the door.” At Miss Spink and Miss Forcible’s, Miss Spink reads Coraline’s tea leaves and warns her that she is in danger. She gives Coraline a pebble with a hole in it to carry as a talisman.

The next day, Coraline is bored and antsy when her mother heads out for groceries. Coraline uses the black key to open the door and finds that the brick wall has become a hallway. She walks through the hall and finds herself in another version of her home. In the kitchen there is a woman who looks like Coraline’s mother—but the “ other mother ” has black buttons for eyes. The other mother is happy to see Coraline and says she’s been waiting for her a long time. Coraline’s “ other father ” joins them for dinner and serves a sumptuous meal which stands in stark contrast to the fancy, nasty “recipes” Coraline’s real father often serves. After dinner, Coraline’s other parents urge her to go play in her bedroom. Coraline finds a pack of rats living under her bed—they sing her another ominous song. Perturbed, Coraline leaves her room and tells her other parents she’s going for a walk. Outside, Coraline encounters the same black cat from the “real” world—here, it’s able to talk to her, and its voice sounds like the voice at the back of her head. Coraline asks the cat about where she is, what she’s doing there, and who her other parents really are, but the cat doesn’t give Coraline any answers and instead darts off into the woods. Coraline decides to go visit the other Miss Spink and the other Miss Forcible . In this world, the two of them are beautiful young women who perform a never-ending show that combines Shakespearean soliloquy and circus acts to a rapt audience of talking terriers. Coraline leaves the performance and returns to her own flat, where her other parents tell her they’d like for her to stay with them forever. All she has to do, they tell her, is let them remove her eyes and replace them with buttons. Coraline refuses. Her other mother begrudgingly agrees to let Coraline return to her own world.

Back at home, Coraline locks the door tight behind her—but discovers that her mother still hasn’t returned home from the store and her father is nowhere to be found. Coraline visits with Misses Spink and Forcible, makes herself dinner, and gets into bed, where she cries herself to sleep. She’s awoken in the middle of the night by the cat batting her face with its paws. She asks the cat to take her to her parents, and the cat leads her to the hall mirror—Coraline sees her parents standing inside. They fog up the glass and write “HELP US.” Coraline dresses in slippers and a robe and uses the key to open the door once more. As she and the cat walk down the hall, Coraline tells the cat a story about a time when she and her father were chased by wasps. Her father got badly stung—but knew he had to go back for his glasses, which he’d dropped near their nest. True bravery, Coraline says, is going back into a scary situation even knowing how scary it is. At the other end of the hallway, Coraline finds her other mother waiting with open arms. Coraline asks where her parents are, and the other mother tells Coraline that they have abandoned her. Coraline refuses to believe the other mother’s lies. The other mother has one of her rats retrieve the black key, and Coraline asks why there isn’t a matching one in this world. The other father states that there’s only one key. The other mother, enraged, tells the other father to hush up and orders Coraline to bed. Coraline, afraid to sleep in her other room, asks the cat what the other mother wants with her. The cat supposes the other mother wants “something to love” or perhaps just “something to eat.” Coraline asks the cat how she can escape—the cat says that “creatures” like the other mother love games and suggests Coraline challenge her to one.

In the morning, Coraline goes into the kitchen to find her other father waiting for her. His face has become vague and doughy, and when Coraline asks him questions about the other mother, he refuses—or is unable—to answer. Coraline tries to explore the grounds around the house but finds that the farther she walks, the less there is. Coraline returns to the house and encounters the other mother. She asks what the other mother has done with her parents. The other mother, frustrated with Coraline’s impudence, pulls her down the hall, opens the mirror, and throws Coraline into a cupboard. Inside the dark of the cupboard, Coraline hears voices and feels shapes around her. She soon realizes that there are three children in the cupboard with her. The children explain that the other mother—whom they refer to as “the beldam,” another word for witch—lured them all here as she lured Coraline. Some of the children seem to have been trapped for centuries, and have become shells of their former selves. The other children beg Coraline to find their souls, which are scattered through the other mother’s world, and rescue them. As Coraline falls asleep, one of the children entreats her to “look through the stone.”

The next morning, the other mother releases Coraline from the cupboard and makes her a sumptuous breakfast. Coraline reluctantly eats. After breakfast, she challenges the other mother to a game. If Coraline wins the “finding-things” game and locates the souls of the three children—as well as her parents—the other mother must let them all leave; if Coraline loses, she’ll stay forever and let the other mother put buttons on her eyes. The other mother gleefully agrees to the challenge. Coraline goes to her bedroom and searches it top-to-bottom but is unable to find anything resembling a soul. Coraline then remembers the lost children’s advice—she lifts Miss Spink’s stone to her eye and looks through the hole. The stone renders the world black-and-white save for a small marble which glows bright red—Coraline realizes that the lost children’s souls are trapped in marbles. After securing the marble, Coraline heads to Miss Spink and Miss Forcible’s flat to search for the second. The theater inside looks as if it has been abandoned for centuries. All of the dogs have transformed into hairless, bat-like creatures, and Misses Spink and Forcible have turned into a waxy, double-headed thing suspended in an egg-like sac. Coraline spots a soul inside the sac, retrieves it, and escapes the theater as the creature wakes and the bat-dogs descend upon her. Outside, the other mother offers Coraline a key to the empty flat around the corner. Coraline takes it, though she knows the other mother might be leading her into a trap. In the empty flat, Coraline encounters a reeking, grub-like creature that she realizes is the other father. The grub apologizes for what Coraline is going through—but admits it can’t defy the other mother, and then attacks Coraline. She narrowly escapes its clutches. Next, Coraline heads to the flat belonging to the other crazy old man upstairs . Inside, she finds the other crazy old man in his bedroom and realizes that he is made entirely of rats. After spotting a marble in the paws of the largest rat, she lunges at it, but the rats flee the apartment, tripping Coraline as she chases them down the stairs. Coraline fears all is lost—but soon the cat brings her the decapitated giant rat, the third and final soul still in its paws. As Coraline looks around, she sees that the world has become covered in mist and the house has lost its shape. The cat becomes nervous and states that the other mother, angry that Coraline has found all three souls, has sealed off all the ways in and out of her world. Coraline picks up the frightened cat and carries it inside. She encounters the other mother in the parlor and notices a snow globe with two figures inside it on the mantelpiece—Coraline realizes it must contain her parents, as there is no slow globe on the mantelpiece in her own home. Coraline tricks the other mother into opening the hall door—then throws the cat at her face, seizes the globe from the mantel, and runs down the hall. She attempts to shut the door behind her, but hears something fall to the ground with a sickening thump as she does. Coraline runs home through the hall, locking the door from the other side before falling asleep, exhausted, on the sofa in the drawing room.

Coraline wakes to find that her parents are home. They seem to have no knowledge or memory of being entrapped in the other mother’s world. Coraline is relieved to have them back. She happily lets them work undisturbed throughout the afternoon, then eats the “recipe” her father cooks for dinner. That night, Coraline has a dream in which she and the three lost children enjoy a picnic in a meadow. The children thank Coraline for saving them—but warn her that “the beldam” is not done with her. Coraline awakens from the dream to hear a familiar scuttling in the hall. She gets up, follows the scuttling to the front door, and opens it to look outside. Coraline is horrified when the other mother’s hand—searching for the black key, no doubt—rushes between her legs and out into the yard. As the days go by, Coraline takes to carrying the black key around her neck. The hand attacks one of Miss Spink and Miss Forcible’s dogs, makes an appearance at Coraline’s bedroom window, and perturbs the crazy old man’s mouse circus. Coraline knows she needs to vanquish the other mother once and for all. She devises a plan to trap the hand in a deep well at the edge of the woods near her house. After setting up a fake tea party with some old dolls, Coraline lures the hand onto a thin paper tablecloth concealing the well—then drops both the hand and the key into its depths before covering it with heavy wooden boards. The cat, watching from a distance, winks at Coraline in approval. Coraline returns home, enjoys an evening with her parents, and falls asleep peacefully to the sounds of the mouse circus practicing their instruments. Coraline is starting a new year at a new school the next day—but knows nothing she’ll encounter there could possibly scare her anymore.

by Neil Gaiman

Coraline essay questions.

In what way is Coraline like the traditional child hero of a novel? In what way is she different?

Coraline has many similarities with other children heroes. She is imaginative, curious, and brave. However, Coraline turns the genre on its head by being a brave and adventurous female protagonist. The reader is prompted to recall other heroines throughout literary history, such as Pippi Longstocking and Lucy Pevensey from The Chronicles of Narnia. Coraline is bold and adventurous, and she does not allow people's judgments of her girlhood to limit the bounds of her exploration. Coraline acknowledges her fear, but she does not let her fear control her. Instead, she uses fear to motivate her to succeed.

Coraline is different from the way she is treated and considered by others. Her courage is mostly internal, and she does not receive much encouragement from the adults in her life.

Who are the ghost children, and why are they important in the novella?

After she is sent to the corridor as a means of punishment, Coraline encounters three distinct ghost children. The boy is outspoken and charismatic, while one of the girls is reserved and mature. The third girl, who seems to possess a fairy-like quality to her, is Coraline's favorite of the bunch. Interestingly, the three ghost children bear resemblance to Coraline herself. Coraline is both outspoken and mature, and she has an “otherworldly” and fantastic element as well. Perhaps these three ghost children are mere reflections of the different, but equally significant, parts of Coraline.

The "other mother" is often compared in the novel to a spider. Why is the significance of this comparison?

The "other mother" acts like a spider in the way she behaves towards others. Initially, she inspires intrigue in onlookers. She is attractive and beautiful, and people are drawn to her. Like a spider, the other mother capitalizes on this initial intrigue and traps those who develop an interest in her. Like a spider's web, the beldam has intricately woven another world that is impossible to escape from.

What is the role of the black cat in the novel?

In the other world, Coraline encounters a sassy black cat. Although black cats typically symbolize danger and misfortune, the black cat in Coraline is an ironic interpretation of this canonical character. As Coraline continues her journey in the other world, the black cat is a source of comfort. In addition, the cat is an ally and confidant as Coraline fights against oppressive forces. In this way, the cat is an essential character in the story.

In what ways is Coraline a relatable character?

Coraline’s emotions make her extremely relatable. Although she finds herself in fantastic situations, her feelings of fear and vulnerability make her human. While Coraline has always seemed mighty and strong, the audience is forced to remember that she is just a child who needs love from her caregivers; she is not yet ready to navigate the world alone. When Coraline begins to cry upon returning to her empty house, the reader is reminded of her helplessness and desperation. Coraline's relatability is essential to making her a realistic and dependable character.

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Coraline Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for Coraline is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

Main characters

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What is Coraline's biggest fear?

At the beginning of the story, Coraline feels secure in her comfortable existence. However, she is bored by her life and is constantly seeking stimulation or encouragement from either her environment or her loved ones. Once Coraline is put in an...

Describe two secondary characters of the story with at least six adjectives.

Coraline's Father: neglectful, self-absorbed, impatient

The Other Mister Bobo: persuasive, manipulative, frustrating

Study Guide for Coraline

Coraline study guide contains a biography of Neil Gaiman, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

About Coraline
Coraline Summary
Character List

Essays for Coraline

Coraline essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of Coraline by Neil Gaiman.

Manipulation and Appreciation in Coraline
Blake and Gaiman on Women’s Desires: A Dissection of Mrs. Armitage on Wheels and Coraline
Fantasy as a Form of Empowerment in 'Coraline' and 'Harry Potter'

Lesson Plan for Coraline

About the Author
Study Objectives
Common Core Standards
Introduction to Coraline
Relationship to Other Books
Bringing in Technology
Notes to the Teacher
Related Links
Coraline Bibliography

Wikipedia Entries for Coraline

Introduction
Adaptations

By Neil Gaiman

'Coraline' by Neil Gaiman follows the story of young Coraline Jones who moves into a new house. One day, she discovers a strange door in her house which opens up to a corridor that leads to a parallel universe.

Article written by Neesha Thunga K

B.A. in English Literature, and M.A. in English Language and Literature.

Coraline by Neil Gaiman is a short novella that focuses on 9-year-old Coraline Jones as she fights to restore her family from the clutches of the evil Other Mother. Stuck in a parallel universe with only her wits and courage to help her, Coraline is forced to undergo several terrifying adventures in her quest. She learns many valuable lessons along the way and grows into a quick-thinking and courageous girl who finds beauty and magic in everyday life.

In a nutshell…

Neil Gaiman’s ‘ Coraline ‘ is a captivating novella about 9-year-old Coraline Jones, who discovers a parallel universe. In this eerie otherworld, she encounters the Other Mother, a sinister entity who has kidnapped her parents. Armed with bravery and wit, Coraline embarks on a daring adventure to save her family and learns valuable lessons about courage and the importance of challenging oneself. Through her journey, Coraline grows into a resourceful and courageous girl, finding wonder in the ordinary and mastering the art of facing fears head-on.

‘Spoiler-Free’ Coraline Summary

Coraline Jones moves into a new apartment with her parents during school break. As a curious and adventurous 9-year-old girl, Coraline quickly becomes bored of her new surroundings even though she has some eccentric neighbors to keep her company.

One rainy day, Coraline becomes interested in a strange door that opens up to a brick wall. Mysteriously, the brick wall vanishes the next day and the door leads to an eerie corridor. Further into the corridor, Coraline chances upon a parallel universe that looks exactly like the one she just left behind. The universe even has an alternate family with the Other Mother and the Other Father, who look exactly like Coraline’s real parents.

When Coraline returns home from the parallel universe, she finds that her parents have gone missing. She decides to go back to the parallel universe and look for them. Coraline undertakes several brave adventures in the Other universe as she battles the evil Other Mother. She ends up discovering the incredible strength within herself through these adventures.

Caroline Summary

Spoiler alert: Important details of the novel are revealed below

Coraline Jones, a young 9-year-old girl, moves into a new apartment with her parents during school break. Coraline is a curious and inquisitive girl who loves exploring new surroundings. She has some eccentric neighbors living in the same building as her, including elderly actresses, Miss. Forcible and Miss Spink. These women live below Coraline’s flat with their many dogs and spend most of their time reminiscing their days from the stage. A “crazy old man,” Mr. Bobo, lives upstairs with a bunch of rats whom he claims to be training for the rat circus.

Coraline usually spends her time exploring and going on adventures by herself. However, an especially rainy day puts a halt to her activities. Ignored by her parents who are busy with work, Coraline sets off to explore a rarely-used drawing room – at the end of which lay a huge and mysterious door.

Upon asking her mother to open the door for her, Coraline discovers that the door opens onto a solid brick wall. This proves to be the beginning of a strange sequence of events that occur. That night, Coraline experiences some strange dreams of rats singing a song. The very next day, Mr. Bobo tells Coraline that his pet rats have warned her not to go through the brick wall. Miss. Forcible and Miss. Spink read Coraline’s tea leaves and predict her to be in grave danger. They provide her with a protective stone that she pockets and leaves, excited for some new adventures.

Coraline thinks no more of this prediction and wakes up the next day to find that her mother has gone grocery shopping. Bored once again, Coraline decides to open the door in the drawing-room once again. To her surprise, she finds that the door no longer opens onto a brick wall. It leads to a mysterious corridor instead.

Coraline goes down the corridor and ends up in a parallel universe that looks just like the one she left behind. The only difference is that things seemed somewhat better in this universe than her own. Her bedroom is painted in captivatingly bright colors and she has shiny and shimmering clothes to wear. Coraline even has an alternate family in the parallel universe consisting of the Other Mother and the Other Father. The Other Mother and the Other Father look just like her parents, with the only difference being that they were taller, thinner, and had buttons for eyes.

Coraline explores this universe and finds out that cats can talk here. She also visits an eternal play that is enacted by her two neighbors, Miss. Forcible and Miss. Spink. She also comes across the rat circus and crazy old man upstairs – who seem much more dangerous and sinister in this universe than in real life. Coraline is soon creeped out by the weirdness of the entire universe and decides to return to her own.

Upon returning, Coraline is unable to find her parents anywhere for 3 days. She finds out that the Other Mother has kidnapped her parents and decides to revisit the parallel universe once again. She is scared, but she decides to brave her fears to get her parents back.

Coraline returns to the parallel universe and begins to explore more. She quickly understands that the Other Mother (also known as the “beldam”) is the creator of the universe and that she has trapped several souls inside this world. She comes across some ghost children who advise her to run away from this universe. Coraline however, is determined to rescue her parents from the clutches of the sinister Other Mother. She also decides to free the souls of the ghost children in the process.

Coraline discovers that the Other Mother loves challenges and cleverly strikes up a bargain with her. She tells the Other Mother that she would stay behind in the alternate universe if she is unable to locate the souls of the ghost children or her parents. The Other Mother greedily agrees. After several adventures and mishaps, Coraline successfully locates the souls of the ghost children by making use of the protective stone in her pocket. Coraline finally discovers that her parents have been trapped in the snow globe on the mantelpiece. She is eager to rescue them and return home.

However, Coraline soon realizes that the other mother never meant to live up to her side of the bargain. As soon as Coraline makes this discovery, she hatches a plan to escape from the Other Mother. She manages to flee the alternate universe along with her parents and the ghost children. She finally returns to her original house. Coraline’s parents seem to have no recollection of anything that has happened in the alternate universe, and Coraline is content with the way things turned out. However, she discovers to her dismay that the dangers have not passed.

That night, Coraline dreams of having a picnic with the ghost children whom she had earlier set free. The children inform Coraline that the Other Mother is extremely angry and that she would not rest until she has located the key that unlocks the door to the alternate universe.

True enough, the Other Mother detaches her hand and sends it through the corridor to look for the key. Coraline hatches a plan to outsmart the Other Mother. She pretends to have a picnic with her dolls right above an old well in front of her house. She places the key precariously in the middle of the picnic cloth. The Other Mother’s hand lunges for the key and falls into the well. Coraline then boards up the well with some planks and the Other Mother is finally defeated.

Coraline visits Mr. Bobo once again who passes on another message to Coraline from his rats, saying the danger has passed. Coraline is satisfied and goes to sleep. The next day is the first day of her school year and she wakes up excited for a new adventure once again.

What is the main point of Coraline ?

The main point of Coraline is to act as an inspiration for young children to face their fears. Although Coraline is afraid of several things in the parallel universe, she decides to be courageous in order to save the souls of the ghost children and her parents.

What do the button eyes mean in Coraline ?

The button eyes in Coraline are one of the main distinguishing factors between Coraline’s original world and the imitation world created by the evil Other Mother. These eyes indicate the evil nature of the other world. The Other Mother insists on Coraline having button eyes sewn into her face as a symbol of Coraline giving up her virtues and joining her in the other world.

What mental illness does Coraline have?

Coraline Jones, the nine-year-old protagonist of the short novella, Coraline does not explicitly have any mental illnesses that the author, Neil Gaiman has written about. However, several experts have speculated that Coraline may be suffering from a psychotic dissociative cluster. This conclusion can be drawn from the fact that Coraline experiences an alternate universe as well as holds fixed beliefs regarding this universe.

What is the main theme in Coraline ?

One of the main themes in the short novella, Coraline by Neil Gaiman is bravery. Despite the fact that Coraline is constantly frightened by the evil Other Mother and the sinister atmosphere of the parallel universe, she continues to fight against the Other Mother in order to rescue her parents from danger.

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About Neesha Thunga K

Neesha, born to a family of avid readers, has devoted several years to teaching English and writing for various organizations, making an impact on the literary community.

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COMMENTS

Coraline movie review & film summary (2009)
The director of "Coraline" has suggested it is for brave children of any age. That's putting it mildly. This is nightmare fodder for children, however brave, under a certain age. I know kids are exposed to all sorts of horror films via video, but "Coraline" is disturbing not for gory images but for the story it tells. That's rare in itself: Lots of movies are good at severing limbs, but few at ...
Coraline Summary
Coraline Summary. Coraline is a young girl who has just moved into a new apartment with her parents. As Coraline acclimates to her surroundings before the school year begins, she acquaints herself with her eccentric new neighbors. In the flat below Coraline's apartment, two older women named Miss Spink and Miss Forcible live with their dogs.
A Review Of The Film 'Coraline': [Essay Example], 473 words
A Review of The Film 'Coraline'. "Coraline" is a film based on an 11 year old girl who has multiple adventures to an alternate universe, she has to go through a small door in order to enter this new world. This film is rated PG, but it is more suitable for adults than for children, it displays more of a creepy vibe throughout the movie.
Cornered in a Parallel World
Directed by Henry Selick. Animation, Drama, Fantasy, Thriller. PG. 1h 40m. By A.O. Scott. Feb. 5, 2009. There are many scenes and images in "Coraline" that are likely to scare children. This ...
Coraline Summary and Study Guide
Neil Gaiman's Coraline is a 2002 middle-grade horror novel that follows the titular character through a strange world of wonder and fear. Coraline must use her wit, her bravery, and the help of her allies to survive and escape the strange world. Coraline is a New York Times Bestseller and the winner of the 2003 Hugo Award for Best Novella.Coraline was adapted to a stop-motion animation film ...
A Better Home And Garden, But For Those Buttons
Coraline is a be-careful-what-you-wish-for story, and a testimonial to self-reliance. To tell this tale on film, Selick employs old-fashioned stop-motion animation — that's where you put puppets ...
Coraline
Coraline — Film Review. Not only is Henry Selick's charming "Coraline" a terrific children's story, adapted from a novel by Neil Gaiman, but this is the first stop-motion feature ever made in 3-D.
Coraline (2009)
Summaries. Wandering her rambling old house in her boring new town, an 11-year-old Coraline discovers a hidden door to a strangely idealized version of her life. In order to stay in the fantasy, she must make a frighteningly real sacrifice. When Coraline moves to an old house, she feels bored and neglected by her parents.
PDF Coraline Study Notes
Coraline Study Notes. Directed by: Heny Selick. Certificate: PG. Running time: 100 mins. Suitable for: KS2/3 English/Literacy This resource is designed to work across upper KS2 and lower KS3. It could form the basis of a unit of work in either Key Stage or could act as a transition unit between the two. Synopsis.
"Coraline" Review
With images and words both sublime and surreal, "Coraline" is easily the highlight of early 2009 and will haunt your memory long after you've left the theatre. The Independent Critic offers movie reviews, interviews, film festival coverage, a short film archive and The Compassion Archive by award-winning activist and writer Richard Propes.
Coraline Study Guide
Coraline is a thematically rich work whose dark, uncanny plot has garnered comparisons to such wide-ranging titles as Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House, Angela Carter's short story "The Erl-King" from the collection The Bloody Chamber, and Sigmund Freud's writings on the concept of the uncanny, or the Unheimlich.
Coraline Movie Review
The movie has a very dark, creepy tone overall, an. Sex, Romance & Nudity. Two characters with large breasts wear tiny costum. Language. Infrequent use of words like "crap" and "oh my God. Products & Purchases Not present. Drinking, Drugs & Smoking. Coraline's mother thinks Mr. Bobinksy drinks too m. Parents Need to Know.
Coraline Film Analysis
Coraline is a dark fantasy horror animated film directed by Henry Selick and released in 2009. Selick is well known for directing "The Nightmare Before Christmas" (1993) and "Pete's Dragon" (1977). Coraline's initial distinguishing feature from other animated films is that it is a 3D stop motion animated film, which means that puppets and ...
Coraline (2009). A Motif Analysis by Tia M. Adkins
Reviewed By Jonathan Monovich →. Coraline (2009). A Motif Analysis by Tia M. Adkins. Director, Henry Selick, routinely utilizes stop motion to seamlessly relay critical themes and motifs while supporting his cinematic content. Selick demonstrates his influence and artistic control via stark color contrasts, similar themes, and dark cinematic ...
Depiction of Mental Issues in The Movie Coraline
The essay analyzes the 2009 stop-motion film "Coraline" and delves into its underlying psychological themes. It explores how the movie, despite being perceived as a children's film by some, actually contains dark and unsettling imagery with inner meanings. ... Titanic Movie Review: Acting and Emotions Essay. Watching a good movie is one of my ...
Coraline Essay Questions
Thanks for exploring this SuperSummary Study Guide of "Coraline" by Neil Gaiman. A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Coraline Themes and Analysis
Coraline by Neil Gaiman follows the story of a young 9-year-old girl named Coraline Jones, who comes across a parallel universe at the end of a mysterious corridor in her home.She meets an evil creature, the beldam, or the Other Mother, who traps her parents in the other world. Coraline uses her courage and wits to defeat the Other Mother and rescue her parents successfully.
Coraline Study Guide
The film was released in 2009 and was nominated for Best Animated Feature at the 82nd Academy Awards. The story has also been adapted for other mediums, including comic books and video games. ... About Coraline; Coraline Summary; Character List; Glossary; Themes; Read the Study Guide for Coraline… Essays for Coraline. Coraline essays are ...
Coraline Themes
Essays for Coraline. Coraline essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of Coraline by Neil Gaiman. Manipulation and Appreciation in Coraline ; Blake and Gaiman on Women's Desires: A Dissection of Mrs. Armitage on Wheels and Coraline
Coraline by Neil Gaiman Plot Summary
Coraline Summary. Coraline Jones and her mother and father have just moved to a new town. Their new flat is part of a larger house which has been parceled up into individual units. The house's other tenants include Miss Spink and Miss Forcible, two aging former actresses who own several Highland terriers, and an individual Coraline knows only ...
Movie Review : ' Coraline '
The movie, Coraline is an animated film that takes you to another universe in your mind. Adventure and suspense are major aspects of this movie. Though the targeted audience of the movie is geared towards young adults, it is also child friendly. The genre of the movie is fantasy/thriller; movies categorized by this genre are usually seasonal ...
Coraline Essay Questions
Coraline study guide contains a biography of Neil Gaiman, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis. Best summary PDF, themes, and quotes. More books than SparkNotes.
Coraline Summary by Neil Gaiman
Neil Gaiman's ' Coraline ' is a captivating novella about 9-year-old Coraline Jones, who discovers a parallel universe. In this eerie otherworld, she encounters the Other Mother, a sinister entity who has kidnapped her parents. Armed with bravery and wit, Coraline embarks on a daring adventure to save her family and learns valuable ...

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