Usually, when I discuss the movie “Coraline” with other people, vague memories of childhood trauma and unease creep into the conversation, as countless children were given nightmares by this delightfully creepy children’s flick. And for good reason: The premise of a spider-lady threatening to sew buttons into your eyes while pretending to be your mother is deeply unsettling. OK, the plot is actually a bit more complex than that: Eleven-year-old Coraline Jones (Dakota Fanning, “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood”) and her family move across the country where, in her new home, Coraline discovers an idyllic parallel world occupied by her “Other Mother.” Of course, I’m sure most kids forgot about those small details once the spider-lady came out.
But I never had this experience with “Coraline.” “Coraline” has actually been a source of comfort to me in the past. It probably helped that I watched it after the period of my life when I was scared of the dark, but there’s something deeply charming about it that captivated me on my first watch.
I remember having a particularly rough day during my freshman year of high school. I was at a point in my life where my mental health was finally starting to stabilize, but for some odd reason, this day I was on the verge of tears. I may have been agonizing over some social interaction, or maybe I was just feeling insecure, but I just couldn’t calm myself down. The night dragged on as I began to realize I needed to distract myself, so I resolved to watch a movie. I’d been meaning to watch “Coraline” for a while, but until that point, I never had the time or the energy to do so. Naturally, I decided that was as good of a time as ever to finally watch it.
As I sat onto my bedroom floor, gently sipping my cup of mint tea, I started streaming the movie on my phone. It was difficult not to immediately be drawn in. In spite of being stressed moments before, I soon got lost in the world that director Henry Sellick built, taking joy in the oddities and wonders of both the “Other” world and the boring “real” world. The stop-motion animation, with richly realized colors and delicately crafted environments, was mesmerizing.
The opening shot with neighbor Mr. Bobinski (Ian McShane, “John Wick”) doing handstands on the roof of the washed-out Pink Palace Apartments showed an incredible attention to detail and atmosphere. This becomes even more apparent when the real world is contrasted against the Other world, with vibrant and bright colors and none of the “boringness” Coraline hates so much. Every scene had personality, and the smallest details added to the overall ambience of the film.
However, none of this compared to the charm of the film’s writing and characters. I can’t describe the emotions I felt when I realized that Coraline’s two 80-year-old neighbors, Misses Spink (Jennifer Saunders, “Absolutely Famous”) and Forcible (Dawn French, “French and Saunders”), were retired exotic dancers, with credits such as “King Leer” and “Julius Sees-Her” to their names, but this sort of unabashed playfulness pervades the movie. The characters are at times so bizarre, so eccentric, that suppressing a laugh proves really difficult, and I definitely needed a laugh when I first sat down to watch “Coraline.”
By the time I had finished the film I felt better. Having finished my second cup of tea, and a bit bleary-eyed, I finally went to bed, but with a feeling of warmth. The movie itself wasn’t inherently heart-warming, but the love and care put into it certainly was. Since that night in freshman year of high school, “Coraline” has always held a warm place in my heart. Now, however, I take comfort in it for a different reason. When I watch it, I think of the people who were in my life back then, and of all the good memories we had. I think of the day after I first watched the film, when a couple of my friends helped ease my anxiety. I think of a warm cup of tea, slowly emptying as my anxieties are gradually pushed away.