“I’m your Other Mother, silly.”

After seeing the trailer for this movie, one might assume that this is a horrible movie for children. In this movie about a little blue haired girl named Coraline (not Caroline), the giant bugs alone could give some kid nightmares for a month. But who said that all animated movies were just for kids, anyway? It’s a trend for many teenagers to put down animated films as merely ‘kid’s stuff’, while the live action movies are more fitting for their mature selves. It’s not true.

Coraline Jones desperately wants love and attention from her parents. But because of their busy work schedules, they really don’t have time. Coraline resorts to exploring the old house they recently moved into, and finds a hidden door containing a secret passage. She crosses the passage, and finds herself in a beautiful alternate universe, where her Other-Mother and Other-Father want nothing more than to make her life as fun as possible. Coraline’s Other-Mother invites her to stay forever, on condition that she follow the only bizarre custom about that alternate world; she must sew buttons onto her eyes. Coraline panics and runs. However, the Other-Mother is determined to have Coraline as her ‘daughter’, and isn’t willing to give up any time soon.

At one hour and forty minutes, Coraline is the longest stop-animation movie to date. It’s a brilliantly crafted, vivid movie. The attention dedicated to minuter details is pretty astounding, making the over-all style of this movie very spectacular. The ‘settings’ created for this movie are each amazing, adding so much to the emotions conveyed. This film also hosts a fair cast, including Dakota Fanning as Coraline herself, Ian McShane as Mr. Bobinsky, and John Hodgman (perhaps most famously known as “PC” in Apple’s “I’m a Mac” advertisements) stars as Charlie Jones and the Other-Father.

As a stated before, this isn’t necesarrily a kid’s movie. In fact, I would never recommend it for any little kids. But I don’t think it was exactly intended for kids. Remember, just because it’s animated, doesn’t make it a movie merely for children. It’s a pretty bizarre and at times pretty creepy film, but the creepiness definitely improves the overall theme/moral portrayed here. Initially, Coraline is upset and annoyed that her life is so boring, and that her parents have no time for her. Obviously, the Other-World seems enchanting. Over there, she can eat as much candy as she wants, she can play whenever she wants, and best of all, her parents just want to love her and make her life fun. Initially. But nothing good ever comes without a price it seems, and the price Other-Mother demands is a bit too much for Coraline. Other-Mother is furious and kidnaps Coraline’s real parents, hoping to lure Coraline into another trap. Coraline wants to save her parents, but the beautiful Other-World suddenly slides about ten notches up the creepy scale, making things very difficult for Coraline. In the end, she realizes that her actual life and her actual parents are definitely preferable to the charade created by Other-Mother. This rings true to what we know of life. The world beckons to us, luring us with things we our parents would never give us. At first we’re tempted with all the fun and candy. But soon we realize that the world really isn’t our friend, and just wants to consume us, as it did to so many before. We realize that while our home may not be extraordinary, or our parents may not be perfect, they only seek to protect us from the monster outside, until we’re old enough to face it on our own.

While Coraline herself might not be a perfect little girl, she is more like all of us than we know. She can be selfish, angry, and demanding. As are we, at times. Coraline learns her lesson, and instead of outsmarting her parents, like in most movies about kids, learns to love and respect them. We can all learn a lesson from Coraline.