Coraline

Day 49 - 2/18/09 - Movie #48

BEFORE: First time I've been to a movie theater in some time - 2 years? My company paid for the ticket, so that I can talk about the film with the party guests tomorrow. Working for the animation company's NYC commercial rep - sort of precludes me from being objective here.

THE PLOT: An adventurous girl finds another world that is a strangely idealized version of her frustrating home, but it has sinister secrets.

AFTER: What an amazing film! Far better than "Mirrormask" or "Pan's Labyrinth", which had similar themes. This is more on a par with "Wizard of Oz"! The animation was technically stellar, of course the story by Neil Gaiman was wild (glad I didn't read the book first, in a way). Voices by Teri Hatcher, John Hodgman, and Ian McShane were well cast - and the film had just the right amount of creepiness. Maybe too scary for kids, but fine for me - actually some kids probably deal with scary movies better than I do.

RATING: 9 out of 10 performing mice