Selick, H. (Director). (Released July 21, 2009). Coraline. [Motion picture]. United States: Universal Studios.
· Plot Summary
Based on the book by the same name, Coraline is the story of a tween girl that has moved into a dilapidated house in a rural area with her parents, authors that write gardening books. With nothing else to do, she begins to roam the property surrounding the house, meeting a circus performer that lives upstairs, a pair of sisters who once worked on Vaudeville, and a boy around her own age named Why Born. Wybie, as he is called, finds an old doll in his grandmother's attic and gifts it to Coraline. Unknown to them, the doll once belonged to the grandmother's sister, who went mysteriously missing when they were children. When Coraline finds an equally mysterious door to another dimension in her living room, she comes face to face with the eery dopplegangers of her own parents, beings that called themselves "Other Mother" and "Other Father". Unlike Coraline's real parents, however, the Others possess buttons for eyes. They give Coraline everything she wants, and try to convince her to change her eyes as well, but it is left to a wily cat that haunts the gardens to save Coraline from the Other Mother and her scheme to imprison Coraline unto death, as she has several other children.
· Critical Evaluation
A true adaptation of the book by Neil Gaiman, an eery and fascinating film made all the more so by stop-motion photography. The vivid colors and whimsical scenes are in striking contrast to the dark natures of the characters.
· Reader’s Annotation
Good for those readers that enjoyed the original novel, though some tweens might have trouble with the content in this form.
· Booktalking Ideas
Neil Gaiman lovers event.
Horror for tweens and effects in the genre.
Concept of the Other in literature.
· Reading Level/Interest Age
Grades 4-9/Ages 9-14
· Why did you include this book in the titles you selected?
I read the novel when it first came out, and enjoyed it a lot more than I had anticipated. I was amazed it took as long as it did for the film version to come out, but was delighted with the use of stop-motion.
