Coraline

A creepy, hugely imaginative story about a young girl, Coraline (Dakota Fanning), who discovers a door into a world of seeming perfection. Her parents aren't the boring, uninterested people she knows in the real world; they treat Coraline like a princess. Trapeze artists, jumping mice and cannons that shoot out cotton candy are just some of the pleasures in this Other world. The fact that all of its inhabitants have buttons where their eyes should be seems a little strange, but that's easy to overlook with everything else the Other world has to offer.

For a children's film, Coraline sure is suspenseful. We know there's something wrong about this world but what is it? And when will Coraline realise it? As with all films aimed at children though, it does have a message, this one being "be careful what you wish for". Behind that though there's something more subtle at work. Like Coraline, the viewer also has to come to an understanding of her parents. The Other world seems so seductive because, in part, we agree with Corlaline: her parents are boring, obsessed with work and slow to show their feelings. Selick turns the table on his viewer by suggesting that a retreat to dull normality is, in fact, the preferable option. All of a sudden, Coraline's parents don't just seem dull, they seem safe. Which is important when your Other mother has turned herself into a creepy spider lady.

I can't rave enough about the design of the film. The Other world is colourful and exciting but there's an eeriness that suffuses every single scene. A frightening, hugely imaginative children's film, much like the sort of children's films we used to get in the 80s (but that could be the rose-tinted glasses talking).