CoralineExcellent stop-motion animation based on Neil Gaiman's book. Dakota does her part in creating the great main character by acting her voice.
We don't usually review animations, because we focus on young actresses.
Coraline has one only as audio, with Dakota voice acting the name sake, but
she does it well, and the movie is overall really good.
This is not a kids' animation – it's too scary for children. Coraline is
based on a novel of the
same name by Neil Gaiman, whose work is often superficially for children,
but probably mostly read by adults. I consider his work among the very best
fiction out there, and this film adaptation lives up to those very high
standards. The modest score of 2.8 I've would be far higher if Dakota were
in the movie also visually.
Coraline and her father The protagonist Coraline is a proof that sometimes well-made animation
easily exceeds most human-acted characters in every respect except looking
like human. The computer-aided stop-motion conveys feelings outstandingly,
and Dakota's voice acting adds the final polish. Above all, the character
is outstandingly written as the plucky girl that Coraline is also in the
book.
The praise doesn't end here: the visual look is something I don't get tired
of looking at, very detailed and otherworldly. Finally, the story is a
great horror adventure, one that works on your mind. A slasher movie using
dolls wouldn't be so great anyway.
Coraline's "other mother" becoming evil Moving on to the plot, Coraline has just moved into an old house with her
parents, and is bored. Her parents want to be left alone to work, and she
goes off to explore the house. She finds a tunnel that leads into another
reality that is a duplicate of the regular one, except everything seems to
be more fun, including her "other parents." Only they have buttons for eyes
– and want to sew buttons into her eyes as well. It's a good story, but
personally I'm the most into all the other good bits of the film, of which
it's full.
As an aside, I'd like to take the opportunity to recommend also Dakota's
other excellent voice-acted movie Totoro. It's
visually not as impressive, but the imaginativeness is on the same
incredible level. And it also has Dakota's little sister Elle doing a
voice.
This is a mini-review. We mostly write full reviews only for the best or most inspiring movies. You're welcome to submit better or new reviews. |
Coraline |
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![[bio]](/images/common/biography.png "More about Dakota"){kind=small}
