From KIDS FIRST!: Ever sometimes wish you had an “other-mother?” Well in the case of Coraline, she needs to be careful what she wishes for. This film feels like it is straight from Tim Burton’s reel, for it conveys the same kind of dark but whimsical world as The Nightmare Before Christmas and Edward Scissorhands; however this time it is Henry Selick to be credited. Coraline is a strong and confident girl who is well versed in magical tactics even before she moves to a very old house with her work-driven parents. In Coraline’s boredom, she finds a small door behind the wallpaper which leads to a charmingly dark parallel universe. Here she finds her “other-mother” and “other-father” who give Coraline everything she longs for in her own home. However, this other- world quickly loses its charm and becomes simply dark. Coraline must defeat her deceptive “other-mother” using her clever intellect and her newfound eclectic community. A particularly effective color score helps differentiate between Coraline’s real and parallel worlds as well as to subtly guide the viewer’s emotions. This film achieves effective subtleties in its animation, making the “real life” animation feel more life-like and the parallel universe animation feel more surreal. Though this film exhibits beautiful animation, it is consistently dark with quite a few scary sections. This film shows a dark world that a courageous little girl is able to navigate, a journey through which she realizes that her dull-colored world really wasn’t so bad. 100 min.; Ages 8-12.