Day 25- Movie 22. Coraline (2009)

Honestly, I'm not sure how I ended up watching this movie. It was late Christmas evening, my family was going to bed, and I decided I needed to squeeze one more movie in to make up for taking the week off. I was flipping through all the on demand channels, and nothing looked good. After a certain point, I just gave up and decided to watch the next movie I came across that I had not seen. That film was Coraline. One of the reasons I love watching movies is because you never know when an expected movie will come along and impress you. That happened here.

I actually knew nothing about Coraline. That is rare, because I do a lot of reading and studying movies. For some reason, I kept getting this film confused with some other movie. Regardless, I decided to give this a try. The film is about a young girl who finds a doorway into another world. That world seems perfect and wonderful- however, she eventually realizes that something sinister lives underneath the facade of perfection and bliss.

What I found with this film was an inventive, unique, entertaining story that didn't flinch or pull any punches in its story. So many family films feel like they are watered down, because they don't want to offend or scare any of their viewers. That is not the case here. This movie was dark, occasionally nightmarish, but still family appropriate (for the most part). I was impressed with the film's unrelenting portrayal of a dark, twisting and different world. The film's villains have evil intentions, and the story is told without trying to coddle the audience.

The movie is done completely in stop-motion, and is beautiful to watch. The world is depicted so vividly (and occasionally hauntingly) that you almost cannot tear your eyes away from the screen. The movie was directed by Henry Selick, who also directed The Nightmare Before Christmas, so that gives you some frame of reference for this film.

I really enjoyed this movie. I understand it was adapted from a book, but it still gives moviegoers something unique and interesting to watch. The story is certainly original (similar to Alice in Wonderland, but different enough to truly feel distinct) and entertaining. I was engaged throughout the film. I was surprised by how much I liked this film, and would give it a very solid 7.5/10.

I really try hard to see as many of the important  and good films that come out each year. I do watch a lot of crap, but I try to view the ones I need to see. However, every single year, I know there are dozens and dozens of gems that I just never get around to seeing. Sometimes it takes a night like tonight, when I can't seem to find anything else on, when I get to watch a surprisingly good film like Coraline. I just don't see how I would have ever watched this movie otherwise. Does that ever happen to you- you randomly catch a film you wouldn't normally watch, but are so glad you did?

Well, I started today 5 movies behind pace, and I'm going to end it only 3. That isn't too bad, considering how much else I did today. I really hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas, and I hope you enjoy the few remaining days of 2010. I'm coming up on finishing my first month of this 100 movie challenge, and I'll need to take a close look then at how I'm doing, and whether or not I think I can actually accomplish this goal. I hope I can, but I have some busy, busy weeks up ahead.