With Coraline, Selick proves that much of what made Nightmare special was his own creative vision. Based on the novella by fantasy author Neil Gaiman, the film follows Coraline Jones, a plucky young girl who moves into an old boarding house with her constantly-busy parents. Feeling unwanted, she finds a small door in her living room that leads her to a fantasy world much more exciting than her own. There, Coraline’s “Other Mother” and “Other Father” are always attentive, giving her gifts and food and a spectacular bedroom. There’s only one catch: everyone has eery black buttons for eyes, and Coraline needs them too if she wants to stay. When she refuses, the Other Mother turns nasty in a way only fairy-tales allow. The film’s imagery may be too frightening for young children, but the message is even scarier: what do you do when your parents disappear?
Selick treats everything like a live-action production, using elaborate cinematography (shadows dance and flicker off the walls) and lavish set design. The dreary color palette and downcast skies of reality give way to a lush and magical world on the other side of the door. Entire gardens bloom at once in blasts of color while her “other father” rides around on a mechanical grasshopper. Scottish Terriers line the seats of an old theatre while her aging neighbors put on shows. Circus mice perform for her, in an amazing sequence involving over thirty figures on screen at once.
When one considers that each frame was moved by hand, the level of detail is even more astounding. The animation process involves painstaking frame-by-frame camera shots using moveable puppets. When played back at film speed, they spring to life, providing a level of immersion impossible with CGI. Coraline was specifically shot with 3-D cameras in mind, and the effect is a subtle and unobtrusive one. The differentiation of foreground and background allows the little details Selick creates to shine even more. Like a good painting, Coraline is a world worth exploring again and again.
