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Coraline has been re-released in a remastered 3D print for its 15th anniversary, and while I do have a 3D trilogy boxset for this, Paranorman and The Boxtrolls, I just need to get round to watching it.
However, while I’ve not watched this film before, the big screen is always the best place for such an occasion, and clearly I’m not the only one who had this thought in its first week out, since surprisingly to me – given that I don’t remember hearing a great deal about it at the time, and given that kids will be swayed by the likes of Inside Out 2 and Despicable Me 4, when I checked the seat maps of a few screenings of this prior to watching it, they’ve were pretty packed.
Additionally – and unprecedently, compared to a lot of films of late – while the second week (and some days, since) retained the 3-4 screenings each day at my Odeon, whereas the first week had all but one screening in 3D, since then, they’ve ALL been 3D!
For a plot, 11-year-old Coraline Jones (Dakota Fanning, most recently seen in The Watched and The Perfect Couple) moves into a new house with her parents (Teri Hatcher and John Hodgman), soon gets bored – even to the point of swinging on a squeaky door, much to their annoyance, and is introudced to young boy Wyborne ‘Wybie’ Lovat (Robert Bailey Jr), even starting to get on his nerves, telling him in sarcastic tones, “Wyborne… WHY were you BORN?!”
But then, she discovers a secret door in the wall, which unfortunately is bricked-up, so must just be something linking to next door which is no longer used and, thus, was wallpapered over… until one night, when she wakes up and finds a portal in that place, into a similar house to her own, where she comes across her Other Mother and Other Father, both of whom are rather outlandish, yet have more time for her and the food and drink availabie to her is much more appetising.
The downside? Everyone on that side has buttons for eyes, including the equivalent of Wybie – who was loquacious on her own side, but here, he’s been made mute, at the hands of her mum. Oh, and a local cat CAN speak to her.
But then after waking up back home, where everything seems normal, what is real and what is Memorex?
The plot does get rather too random at time, along with being quite dark for a PG-certificate, but one point of note is in doing its bit for 3D.
While the 3D isn’t used to the fullest all the time, when it is, it’s great, especially when it does what a lot of more recent 3D films can’t be bothered to do, in that both foreground AND background aspects are kept in focus. All too often, these days, while they could do this, films will opt to keep the background area out of focus, like a regular 2D film would be, so they don’t have to give themselves twice the work, and render the entire film twice.
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Plus, if you watch this in the cinema, the film is followed by an additional 14-minute featurette about the making of the film. I wasn’t expecting this, so enjoyed it first time round, but the second time I saw it, a few days later, I had another film to get to, so bailed on a second viewing of that extra. That said, the first time I watched the film, I didn’t fully ‘get it’, but did get into it a lot more second time around.
Coraline is in cinemas now, and is available to buy on 3D Blu-ray and Laika Collection: Coraline / Paranorman / The Boxtrolls.
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 100 minutes (+14-minute featurette)
Release date: August 15th 2024
Studio: LAIKA Studios
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 (35mm, Digital Stills, Dolby Vision, Redcode RAW)
Cinema: Odeon Trafford Centre
Rating: 6/10
Director: Henry Selick
Producers: Claire Jennings, Bill Mechanic, Mary Sandell, Henry Selick
Screenplay: Henry Selick
Novel: Neil Gaiman
Music: Bruno Coulais
Voice Cast:
Coraline Jones: Dakota Fanning
Mel Jones / Other Mother / Beldam: Teri Hatcher
Miss April Spink / Other Spink: Jennifer Saunders
Miss Miriam Forcible / Other Forcible: Dawn French
The Cat: Keith David
Charlie Jones / Other Father: John Hodgman
Wyborne ‘Wybie’ Lovat: Robert Bailey Jr
Mr. Sergei Alexander Bobinsky / Other Bobinsky: Ian McShane
Sweet Ghost Girl: Aankha Neal
Ghost Boy: George Selick
Tall Ghost Girl: Hannah Kaiser
Photo Friend: Harry Selick
Photo Friend: Marina Budovsky
Magic Dragonfly: Emerson Hatcher
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.