Love it.

I saw "Coraline" today and it was perfectly bizzare, creepy, and brilliant. The movie is based on a horror novella of the same name by Neil Gaiman, one that is now on my short list of must-reads. It tells the story of a young girl who moves to a creepy old house with her distracted and distant parents. While exploring, Coraline discovers a small door hidden behind wallpaper in one of the house's many rooms. When she opens it, there is only a brick wall to greet her, but she later finds that the wall has turned into a tunnel to a parallel world where her parents are doting, fun, and loving, but where everyone has buttons for eyes. As the movie progresses, Coraline becomes increasingly aware that this parallel world is evil, and yet it still intrigues her enough that she continues to visit. Eventually this bad decision catches up with her.

The movie, in 3D, is visually stunning and looks very much like a Tim Burton production, though he had nothing to do with the film (it's all a bit confusing, however, because the previews say "From the director of 'The Nightmare Before Christmas'--said director is actually Henry Selick.). There are some incredibly imaginative and wickedly fun ideas that went into the plot of the movie, and I'm curious to see how many came from the book. I'm reminded of "The Halloween Tree" by Ray Bradbury, along with "El Orphanato" to a lesser degree.

You should definitely pay the (gulp) $11.50 (due to the 3D aspect) to see this movie...you won't walk away disappointed (and if you have kids younger than probably 10, you should NOT bring them unless you want to deal with them wanting to sleep with you for the next month or so). I'll probably buy it once it comes out on DVD, and if you know me very well, you know I don't buy movies very often. I have to really love what I saw. And creepiness is definitely one way to my heart. ;)

Here' s a little sneak peek:



And here is a really kick ass video of another version of the film, apparently. I'm not sure where you'd be able to find this one, but I love how the sweet (lullaby music, paper cutouts, a pretty little girl) is tinged with sinister. If anyone can translate the Spanish (Becky?), I'd love to know what it says...