In the fantastic universe
T
here are many scenes and images in the film directed and written by Henry Selick (“The Nightmare
“Coraline” that are likely to scare children. This is Before Christmas,” “James and the Giant Peach”) has a
of Coraline
not a warning but rather a recommendation, since slower pace and a more contemplative tone than the novel.
the cultivation of fright can be one of the great pleasures It is certainly exciting, but rather than race through ever
of youthful moviegoing. As long as it doesn’t go too far noisier set pieces toward a hectic climax in the manner of
toward violence or mortal dread, a film that elicits a so much animation aimed at kids, “Coraline” lingers in an
tingle of unease or a tremor of spookiness can be a tonic atmosphere that is creepy, wonderfully strange and full of
by/por: Victor Fleming photos courtesy of Focus Features
to sensibilities dulled by wholesome, anodyne, school- feeling.
approved entertainments. Its look and mood may remind adult viewers at various
Books, these days, often do a better job than movies of times of the dreamscapes of Tim Burton (with whom Mr.
parceling out juvenile terror. There is plenty of grisly screen Selick worked on “Nightmare”), Guillermo del Toro and
horror out there for teenagers, of course, but younger David Lynch. Like those filmmakers Mr. Selick is interested
children are more amply served by fiction from the likes in childhood not as a condition of sentimentalized,
of R. L. Stine, Roald Dahl and Neil Gaiman, on whose fast- passive innocence but rather as an active, seething state
moving, suspenseful novel “Coraline” is based. The film, of receptivity in which consciousness itself is a site of
an exquisitely realized 3-D stop-motion animated feature wondrous, at times unbearable drama.
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