Coraline (Blu-ray/DVD Combo + Digital Copy w/ 3D) [Blu-ray]
Directed by Henry Selick
Average customer review:
A dark and creepy film about family relationships directed by Henry Selick of Nightmare Before Christmas and James and the Giant Peach fame, Coraline is based on the haunting book Coraline by Neil Gaiman. The first stop-motion feature shot in stereoscopic 3-D, Coraline features big-headed, stick-bodied animated characters with huge eyes and demonic grins set against menacing backgrounds and an undercurrent of spooky music. Coraline is a teenager who has just moved to an old house in the middle of nowhere with her writer parents and she is bored, bored, bored. 
Her only companions are an annoyingly talkative boy Wybie (short for Why Born), some eccentric neighbors from the theater and circus, and a strange, button-eyed doll with a marked resemblance to Coraline which Wybie found in an old trunk of his grandmother's. When Coraline finds an old door hidden behind an armoire and papered over with wallpaper, she convinces her mother to unlock it, only to find a wall of bricks. When Coraline revisits the door later that night, the bricks magically disappear and she discovers a strange pathway to another world where everything is just what she wishes for. 
In stark contrast to the real world where Coraline's parents just don't have time for her, her "Other Mother" and "Other Father" in this alternate world are the perfect loving, attentive parents who anticipate her every need and desire. Initially comforted and quite happy in this new world, suspicion that things may not be quite as they seem grows inside Coraline and her disquiet is furthered by the mute "Other Wybie" and a strange-talking cat that seems to move between both worlds. 
Eventually, Coraline discovers some dark secrets about her "other parents" and the seemingly perfect "other world," but it may be too late for her to escape back to the real world. Teri Hatcher is especially effective in her dual (voice) role as Mom and "Other Mom" and Dakota Fanning also gives a great performance as Coraline. Coraline is a disturbing, intriguing film that both captivates and frightens. (Ages 11 and older) --Tami HoriuchiProduct Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #2 in DVD
- Released on: 2009-07-21
- Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
- Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
- Formats: AC-3, Animated, Color, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, Dubbed, Subtitled, 3D, Widescreen
- Original language: English
- Subtitled in: English, French, Spanish
- Dubbed in: Spanish
- Number of discs: 2
- Running time: 100 minutes
"Coraline" Official Trailer
Customer Reviews
Delightfully creepy
This uncommon animation starts with tween-aged angst, the kind that demands independence but still wants mom and dad close by. Her busy parents don't have much time for her, though, and her new, remote home doesn't offer much reward for her explorations (other than some rather kooky neighbors). So, even if it's not wholly conscious, Coraline wishes for a nicer place and parents that pay more attention.
As the movie's tagline says, "be careful what you wish for." Like Alice down the rabbit hole, Coraline finds a secret passage to a more magical place. Soon, however, the magic turns dark. That's where the brilliant animation really comes into its own. The stop animation (or at least the look of it) bring to mind Tim Burton with a macabre touch of Brothers Quay. You know your child best - skittish ones might find some of the imagery a bit much. Still, kids' stories (like Alice in Wonderland) have always had dark edges. That deliciously spooky sense, plus some great animation, really set this movie apart from the usual.
-- wiredweird
DVD & BLURAY specs
Universal Studios Home Entertainment have announced the US DVD and Blu-ray Disc release of Coraline on 21st July 2009. Based on the book by Neil Gaiman, this stop-motion animation written and directed by Henry Selick follows an adventurous girl who finds another world that is a strangely idealized version of her frustrating home, but it has sinister secrets.
Available on single-disc DVD, two-disc Collector's Edition DVD and Blu-ray Disc, all include both the 2-D and 3-D version of the main feature and come packaged with 4 pairs of 3D glasses. Features are outlined below...
Single-Disc DVD
* 2-D and 3-D Presentations
* 1.85:1 Anamorphic Widescreen
* English, French and Spanish DD5.1 Surround
* English SDH, French and Spanish subtitles
* Feature Commentary with Director Henry Selick and Composer Bruno Coulais
2-Disc Collector's Edition DVD - As above plus a bonus disc with the following content:
* Digital Copy of Coraline 2-D Version (Expires 07/31/2010)
* Deleted Scenes
* The Making of Coraline
* Voicing the Characters
Blu-ray Disc - This is a Blu-ray Combo release which comes bundled with a standard-def DVD that includes the 2-D version of the film (AV specs as per the DVD releases), audio commentary, and a Digital Copy of the film. Features include:
* 2-D and 3-D Presentations
* 1080P 1.85:1 Widescreen
* English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio
* French and Spanish 5.1 DTS Surround
* English SDH, French and Spanish subtitles
* U Control - Picture in Picture (2-D Feature Only)
* U Control - Tours and Voice Sessions (2-D Feature Only)
* U Control - Picture in Picture Animatic (2-D Feature Only)
* Deleted Scenes
* The Making of Coraline
* Voicing the Characters
* Creepy Coraline
* Feature Commentary with Director Henry Selick and Composer Bruno Coulais
* D-Box
* BD Live - My Scenes Sharing
* BD Live - The World According to Henry
* Disc 2: DVD with standard-def 2-D version of the film, audio commentary & 2-D Digital Copy of the film (expires 31st July 2010)
Jeepers Creepers! Where'd You Get Those Peepers?
"Coraline" is a frighteningly beautiful fantasy, filled to the brim with delightfully bizarre visuals and one-of-a-kind characters. Some may say that it's too dark for young children, and indeed, it is, in essence, a family-friendly horror movie. But I suspect that most children will find it more dazzling than scary; through the painstaking but rewarding process of stop-motion animation, writer/director Henry Selick retains the essence of the original novel by Neil Gaiman, crafting a tale that's just creepy enough to thrill audiences without sending them running out of the theater. It's also presented in 3-D, although the process isn't as impressive as you might think it is. I stared at the screen through a pair of special glasses, and yet I never flinched or covered my eyes when something came at me from off the screen. No matter--dimension isn't important as long as a fun story is being told.
With "Coraline," we're once again invited to explore an alternate world hidden amongst our own, specifically within the walls of a house (Gaiman has tackled this subject before with films like "Mirrormask" and stories like "The Wolves in the Walls"). In this case, the alternate world is a lot like ours, except it's better. That's exactly why it appeals to Coraline Jones (voiced by Dakota Fanning), an adventurous young girl leading a very dull life. Her parents (voiced by Teri Hatcher and John Hodgman) are too busy writing articles for a gardening catalogue to take any notice of her. She's surrounded by eccentric but boring neighbors in her new home, which was once a Victorian house but is now an apartment complex. There's nothing worth exploring inside or outside. Worst of all, she never feels as if anyone is listening to what she's saying. Maybe it would help if they didn't keep calling her Caroline.
Then she discovers a small door hidden behind a wall of an old parlor, a door that covers a tube-like portal leading to the alternate version of our world. Things are so much more interesting there, including the people, who are reflections of the people in Coraline's world. There's one small physical difference: They all have black buttons instead of eyes. When we first see Coraline's Other Mother (also voiced by Teri Hatcher), we immediately sense that something sinister lurks behind that vacant, artificial stare; she's a little too sweet-natured, a little too accommodating. It's as if she wants Coraline to stay in this alternate world forever, not as a daughter, but as a prized possession. Coraline's suspicions are confirmed when the Other Mother hands her a box containing two black buttons, a spool of thread, and a needle.
There comes a point when Coraline must not only rescue her real parents, who have been kidnapped, but also free the souls of three dead children, who have been imprisoned in the alternate world for who knows how long. With the help of a special green stone, Coraline will play a game with the Other Mother, a hide-and-go-seek game, a finding-things game. If she loses ... well, let's just say that losing won't be a good thing for her.
Another fitting way to describe this film would be to call it a Good vs. Evil fable, where a wise but non-complacent hero battles it out with a malevolent force. Coraline is daring, but she certainly isn't fearless, which only makes her that much more relatable as a character. She even has to be helped at specific points, as seen when the local cat appears in the alternate world; we quickly learn that, once in this world, he has the ability to speak like a human, specifically in the voice of Keith David. (Is it the independent nature of cats that inspired Gaiman to make this character a bit haughty?)
As with any good fantasy, "Coraline" features a number of side characters, each with a unique personality quirk. Coraline's downstairs neighbors are Miss Spink and Miss Forcible (voiced by Jennifer Saunders and Dawn French), former actresses who speak as if they were trying to be heard in the balcony section. I don't know whether or not it's unfortunate that we only see their Other selves giving a performance (to an audience primarily made up of Scottish terriers). Her upstairs neighbor is Mr. Bobinsky (voiced by Ian McShane), an eccentric circus performer who gets from point A to point B using only acrobatic poses. He claims to have a troupe of mice training for their next performance, although the only mice we see belong to the Other Mr. Bobinsky; the show they put on for Coraline is one of the film's best scenes.
Finally, there's Wybie Lovat (voiced by Robert Bailey, Jr.), a boy not much older than Coraline. He's awkward and timid, always hunched over, always sneaking up on Coraline, forbidden from entering the apartment complex because of his grandmother. This character was not in Gaiman's novel, and truth be told, I'm not sure he was needed for the film. He and Coraline have a few interesting scenes together, but there's always the sense that the story would have been just fine without him. It certainly was when Gaiman wrote it. Be that as it may, "Coraline" is still a fantastic explosion of creativity, a haunting, vibrant fantasy teeming with visual goodies. It's a dark film--not unpleasantly dark, but dark nevertheless. It works in much the same way as a bedtime story, many of which hint at the possibility of bad things happening. You know your children better than I do, but keep in mind that many are more fascinated by the macabre than by the mundane.
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