Button Eyes

If you ever wish to have a better life with a better world, then you should watch this horror film. Coraline is a 2009 horror movie made for children. The story of this movie is based on Neil Gaiman's novel which was published on 2002. Coraline is different from any other 3D movies because it's a stop-motion animation.

I really like this movie because the story is really good and is my favorite horror movie. Coraline is the biggest smallest movie ever made. They didn’t use computer for making this movie but they used real models on a real set. They made a giant set on a tiny scale. And since they used stop-motion, they had to make thousands of real models. So imagine making thousands of hand-made hands for the models. Beside the models, they spent a week to make 2-7 seconds of the movie. So if it’s an 80-minute movie, they spent at least 685 weeks to work on it. That doesn’t include the decision of what will the characters look like. It took four months to decide the appearance of Coraline. And that also doesn’t include the making of Coraline model.

This movie is going to be scary for the first-time-watch. Even Neil Gaiman, the author of the story, was scared when he watched the movie at first. Honestly, the first time I watched this movie, I didn’t sleep well that night. So I’d give a three-thumbs-up for Henry Selick and Neil Gaiman.

The story is actually about a brave, 11-years-old girl named Coraline who moved to an apartment called Pink Palace. It isn't like the apartments we know today, instead it's more like a 150-years-old house and is divided into three residences. Ever since she left her hometown, her parents become so busy and have no time for Coraline. In the other day, her neighbor, Wyborne Lovat finds a doll that replicates Coraline's appearance and it has button eyes. Back to her house, she eventually finds a small door when she was exploring the house. So Coraline asks her mom to unlock the small door, but she only finds a wall of bricks.

That night, Coraline is awakened by a squeaking mouse that leads her to the small door again. But this time, the small door leads her into a corridor to another small door. She crawls in that door and finds the "Other World" with "Other Mother", "Other Father", and "Other Neighbors". Only, things are so much better than her real world. She enjoys being in the "Other World" and that's when she decides to go there the following nights.

Until one night, her "Other Mother" tells Coraline that she can stay there forever only if she let the "Other Mother" sew buttons in her eyes. Coraline denies it and retorts to her "Other Mother" so she let Coraline return to her real parents. The "Other Mother" suddenly turns into a horrifying woman and traps Coraline inside a mirror. Coraline finds herself in the dark and meets the ghost children. There, the ghost children tells Coraline that the "Other Mother" spied their lives through the doll's eyes and saw that they had a sad life. That's why they went to the "Other World" and let the "Other Mother" sew buttons in their eyes. But the "Other Mother" ate them up and lock their souls inside the mirror. They tell Coraline that the "Other Mother" hid their eyes and ask her to please help them find their eyes so their souls will be freed.

Eventually the "Other Wyborne" comes to rescue Coraline and bring her back to the real world. But Coraline finds her parents disappeared. She asks her neighbors if they saw her parents but none of her neighbors have any idea. Coraline cries to sleep at that night when suddenly a black cat wakes her up and shows her where her parents are. Coraline is horrified when she finds out that her parents are trapped in the mirror and finds a doll that replicates her real parents' appearance. The "Other Mother" has taken them.

This is a really good movie. So go to the loo before you watch Coraline because your seats might get wet. And make sure you don't watch it alone. ;)