Welcome to Indie-Mation Club’s film for Week 13! A spooky number warrants a creepy movie, and few movies fit that tone better than Laika’s first feature film, Coraline, based on Neil Gaiman’s book of the same name.
Coraline has just moved to a new town, far from her friends, apparently for her parents’ work with gardening. The new house is large, pink, and old, with odd neighbors for Coraline to meet. It’s not long before Coraline discovers a small door that leads to a secret fourth apartment in the house; everything seems better on the other side of the tunnel, but nothing is really what it seems.
Stop-motion is proven as an excellent medium for creepy – The Nightmare Before Christmas, The Corpse Bride (animated by Laika for Warner Bros), and even the Aardman Wallace & Gromit shorts – and Laika’s Coraline took that to the next level. The film is essentially a family-friendly thriller, with scares packaged in bright colors and monsters wrapped in clever designs.
Coraline is rated PG for thematic elements, scary images, some language and suggestive humor. It’s cool but creepy, and may not be suitable for children younger than 7 (depending on the child, really).
Check it out:
Netflix
Amazon ($)
Google Play ($)
iTunes ($)
VUDU ($)
YouTube ($, Free)