CORALINE- NEIL GAIMAN'S MODERN CLASSIC COMES TO LIFE

Neil Gaiman 's wonderful children's book Coraline has become a suitably magical feature film directed by none other than Henry Selick, the man that helmed the 1993 cult classic animated movie 'The Nightmare Before Christmas'. If anyone was capable of bringing Gaiman's surreal story of Button-eyed people in an alternate version of our real world, it would be Selick. The look of the film is a beautiful example of stop-motion animation, a filmmaking method that can truly be magical when pulled off well.

Where the book was of the same dark and twisted nature that we've come to expect and crave from Neil Gaiman , the look of the film version took some people by surprise with it's use of vibrant colour and the style of animation. It is a wonderful thing to look at, and will thrill viewers young and old with it's odd story and thoroughly entertaining characters.

The voice talent attached to the stop motion action is rather special too. Dakota Fanning takes the role of Coraline herself, and the cast has a trio of British TV legends involved, namely Ian McShane, Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders. Teri Hatcher provides the voice of both versions of Coraline's mother. Coraline's sarcastic cat is voiced by John Hodgman.

It is quite fitting that such a strange book is adapted in such a manner as to capture the essence of a dream. Stop motion has that wonderful otherworldly quality to it that CG is yet to possess. There is something wonderfully unnerving about stop motion. It may be the knowledge that the viewer is watching inanimate objects moving around on the big screen, or it may just be that the finished look of a stop-mo movie is so different to other animated films of the current era.

While Coraline is nowhere near as packed with iconic images as The Nightmare Before Christmas, it is certainly not without it's visual treats. Just wait for the musical numbers, the strange transformations of the characters, and yes, the weird buttons that people have instead of eyes in the alternate world. Viewers that haven't read the book are in for a real treat as they discover the strange world that Gaiman created, a world that is like ours, just better.

For people who are familiar with the book (and it has been enjoyed by just as many adults as children), the film is as near a faithful representation of the source material as it's possible to get. This is one kid's film that is going to become a much-loved classic for all ages. I recommend that when you've seen it, you track down a copy of Mirrormask, and enjoy that too for the full Gaiman effect. Magic.