Coraline 4K 2009 Ultra HD 2160p

Story Movie

Coraline, a little girl, finds herself in another world, hidden behind a secret door. This world is her alternative life, which never ceases to please her, all is well here, but only for the time being. One day she realizes that her real parents are in mortal danger for her shenanigans. Coraline has to find a way out of the haunted world and into real life...

Review 4K Movie

Do you remember the buttons in the Oscar-winning The Mystery Story of Benjamin Button? I thought at the time that the buttons in that film would have some hidden meaning, but, alas, apart from a passing reference to Papa Button's button-making there was nothing mysterious about the buttons in "The Story". Quite another thing is Coraline: Henry Selick's ("The Nightmare Before Christmas") spooky new tale based on a Neil Gaiman novel in the now current 3D animation format.

Young Coraline (yes, yes, it's spelled with an "o") moves into a new home with her parents. She is in the worst of moods: her parents pay no attention to her, the house is creaking and about to fall apart, and her neighbors are one oddity over another: an eccentric Russian circus performer who trains mice, a couple of old theatrical ladies who mummify their Scotch terriers, and the never-ending chatterbox of a neighbor boy fantasist. In one of the rooms of his house, Coraline discovers a secret door leading to... a parallel world. There is the same house, only better. And the same parents - only kind, attentive and able to cook deliciously. The neighbors are real talents! But instead of eyes, everyone in the world has buttons... And very soon Coraline realizes that behind the bright cover of this world lies a real nightmare...

I really loved this cartoon and never once regretted that I went to watch it at night, squeezing it into my busy schedule of business trips :-) I don't even know what's more captivating about it - the authors' playful fantasy, the characters sincere to the point of reality, the transparent, airy music, the 3D special effects, or the intricate plot, even by the standards of Alice in Wonderland. Here the old ladies shed their bodies by unzipping their bellies, the theater stalls are full of scotch terrier spectators, sharp spider fingers reach for their throats, and the buttons take on a meaning so sinister that it gives you shivers.

I just had my eyes scattered with the mass of cinematic and literary undertones that can be glimpsed in "Coraline." Like Alice, Coraline crawls through a small door into a dangerous fairy tale - and the Cat will be there too, not the Cheshire one, but quite the talking one. The thread of directorial affinity between "Coraline" and "Nightmares Before Christmas" will inevitably lead us to Tim Burton's melancholy macabre: to the atmosphere of "Sleepy Hollow" and to Edward with scissor hands, only those hands have turned into needle hands, and they now belong not to the peaceful hero, but almost to Freddy Krueger! As they say, a fairy tale is not for the faint of heart - how about the scene in which the girl is offered to sew on buttons instead of eyes (the color - a choice), "calming" by the fact that "the needle is so sharp - you do not even feel anything"? How about a smile sewn up to your ears in the literal sense of the word? Jason is resting!

When the cartoon will be shown in Russia, one can only hope that the voiceover will be as good as the original. At Coraline just can not be another voice than that of young Dakota Fanning: long ago she did not please us with their roles - growing up, I guess. And while the cartoons voiced - and how! But thanks to the Russian character, even at a midnight movie theater in Kentucky I got to hear her native voice, including such words as "bastards," "sweetheart," and, of course, "good-bye.