Coraline

Fantastic watch, will watch again, and do recommend. I really wish more movies would follow this simple and great movie structure. Instead of a typical 3-act structure (not that it isn't technically there), the story is much closer to that of a video game. You have a standard introductory act, but the rest of the movie is split into video game-esque "levels" that develop and unlock as Coraline makes new discoveries and completes different sections of the "map" / house. There is a lot of messaging here as well, mostly concerning relationships between children and parents and how to navigate those in regard to real life events, but everything is "do not tell" levels of subtle so it's not in your face at all. The Beldam itself is a magnificent creation of a "thing that bumps in the night" style of monster. While there is a lot left unexplained, there is plenty that is exampled about the Beldam and her world. The movie also reminds me a lot of "The Wizard of Oz" in a few different ways so its good that there are family friendly movies of this quality that make vague callbacks to classic movies.

Neil Gaiman is so contemporarily vital, both in literature and cinema, because he more than anyone else (with the possible exception of Terry Gilliam) notes that children and adults alike are fascinated with what lies outside our observable and tangible realms of existence. He realized the reasons storytelling have been significantly important since the dawn of mankind, and devised, as the Brothers Grimm did, that fairy tales and children's stories had to be haunting and entertaining to be both memorable and timeless. This is a great film depicting the growing sense as a child approaches adolescence that their parents and their world aren't exactly as they seem, and that through their trials and tribulations (the 'rites of passage', if you will) they'll reach the 'happy medium' they need to in order to find true happiness in their lifetimes. I definitely hope that all of Gaiman's books and graphic novels are made into movies (I most anticipate the 'Miracleman' graphic novels--both those by him and Alan Moore). Ones so well-written would truly be 'comic book movies' worth watching for me.

Quite dark, but entertaining and very well done. One of the few american animated movies I liked.