Coraline Is Left-Handed!

There are so many movies out right now. So many that I have not seen, but need to see. (Revolutionary Road, The Reader, Frost Nixon, Milk...)  Yet, when I found myself at the theater  yesterday, it was none of these award-nominated movies that I wanted to see.

No. I wanted to see Coraline, in 3D.

Coraline is the story of a little tween whose work-absorbed parents up and move her from Michigan to a hillside in Oregon.  She is bored and living in a very old house that has been split up into three separate apartments.  In the sub-level are two old actresses who are eccentric and a bit intuitive.  In the attic apartment is an older gentleman who was formerly part of a circus act.  None of the neighbors pays much attention to Coraline; they can't even get her name right - constantly referring to her as "Caroline."

Not living in the building is Wybie, a boy the same age as Coraline whose grandmother used to live in Coraline's house as a girl.  Coraline becomes Wybie's reluctant friend.

Coraline, tired of being stuck in the middle of nowhere with two busy parents, finds herself drawn into an alternative world connected to the house through a secret doorway in her living room.  

She ventures "down the rabbit hole" in search of a cure for her boredom and for her feelings of being unimportant.  In the alternative world, she is the center of the universe to her neighbors and her parents.  And everyone gets her name right.

I loved this movie.  The details, the 3D effects and little Coraline's fashion sense (raincoat, wellies, blue bobbed hair and barrette) were well-crafted.  She is a creative child, something I picked up on right away when I noticed she was writing with her left hand at the beginning of the film.

But, despite seeming like a children's film...  It really isn't for younger children.  It is very dark. And can be quite scary.  In fact, now that I think about it, the afternoon showing I was in yesterday was all adults.