* * * 1/2 (out of four)
Voices: Dakota Fanning, Teri Hatcher, Dawn French, Keith David
Director: Henry Selig
Distributor: Focus Features
Rating: PG for for thematic elements, scary images, some language and suggestive humor
Running time: 1 hour, 40 minutes
Opens today nationwide
This animated fantasy, based on a 2002 children's novel by Neil Gaiman and directed by Henry Selick (The Nightmare Before Christmas), is a visual marvel, but it's uneven in its story. The narrative lacks focus. Still, its exquisite images have an undeniable whimsical appeal.
The adventure saga, envisioned and shot in stereoscopic 3-D, centers on blue-tressed Coraline Jones (Dakota Fanning), a spunky tween. She has just moved with her mother and father (Teri Hatcher and John Hodgman) from Michigan to Oregon and feels lost. Her parents aren't much help, distracted as they are by their work and settling in to new surroundings. Coraline tries to explore those surroundings but finds more boredom than fun. The oddball neighbors don't offer much amusement. She can't quite warm up to the overbearing, aging British actresses (Jennifer Saunders and Dawn French).
Slightly more interesting is the outrageous Russian former gymnast (Ian McShane). She dismisses a boy named Wybie (Robert Bailey Jr.) as a stalker.
Eventually, Coraline does find excitement — more than she bargained for — when she discovers a hidden door in her family's drab apartment. It leads to a parallel universe.
In her real world, Coraline's snappish mother cleans while her father cooks unappetizing dishes. Neither seems to pay enough attention to their daughter. In the alternate world, Coraline's Other Mother is a fabulous cook. Coraline's room is a young girl's fantasy bedroom.
Coraline's Other Father takes her for rides on a wild contraption through a phantasmagoric garden that he planted just for her.
But Coraline soon finds her glorious dream becoming a gothic nightmare. The sugary-sweet Other Mother turns malevolent, and her Other Father proves ineffectual. Their home, once filled with flowers and tasty treats, becomes a creepy lair that ensnares innocent kids.
The 3-D is underused, but more often, the beauty of the animation resonates.
Coraline is a plucky heroine, and director Selig's imagination is indisputable. But the story falters in parts, and its dark tone could be off-putting for children.
http://chitika.com/publishers.php?refid=almosthuman99
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