Coraline (2009)

Coraline is a 2009 American animated dark fantasy horror film based on Neil Gaiman's 2002 novel of the same name. It is the first feature film produced by Laika, and is distributed by Focus Features. Written and directed by Henry Selick, the film was made with Gaiman's approval and co-operation.

The film depicts an adventurous girl finding an idealized parallel world behind a secret door in her new home, unaware that the alternative world contains a dark and sinister secret.

Plot
Coraline Jones and her parents move from Pontiac, Michigan, to their new home in Ashland, Oregon, the dilapidated Pink Palace Apartments. Her eccentric new neighbors include Mr. Bobinsky, Miss Spink and Miss Forcible. Due to her parents constantly working, Coraline frequently explores the area. Whilst exploring, she meets a black cat and Wyborne "Wybie" Lovat, the grandson of the landlady, whose twin sister mysteriously disappeared years ago. Wybie gives Coraline a button-eyed ragdoll that resembles her. The doll then lures her to a small door in the living room, which is bricked up and can only be unlocked by a button key.

That night, a mouse guides her through the door, where the bricks have been replaced by a corridor to the Other World, inhabited by button-eyed doppelgängers of people from her world. Coraline meets her Other Mother and Other Father, who are much more attentive and entertaining than her real parents. After dinner, she goes to sleep in her Other Bedroom, but awakes in her real bedroom. Despite cryptic warnings from her neighbors, Coraline visits the Other World three times, where she meets the Other Mr. Bobinsky, who performs a mice circus, the Other Miss Spink and Miss Forcible, who perform a never-ending burlesque act and the Other Wybie, who is mute. Despite having no Other World counterpart, the black cat is able to speak in the Other World.

The Other Mother invites Coraline to stay forever, under the condition that a pair of buttons will be sewn over her eyes. Terrified, Coraline attempts to flee, but the Other Mother sees through her plan and blocks all the exits to the real world. The cat reappears and reveals to her the sinister truth about the Other World and the Other Mother. The Other Mother, appearing taller, thinner and more grotesque, then "disciplines" Coraline by imprisoning her behind a mirror. There, Coraline meets the ghosts of previous victims, including the missing twin sister of Wybie's grandmother. They reveal that the Other Mother, whom they refer to as the Beldam, created and sent button-eyed rag dolls that resembled them in order to spy on their lives. With the promise of a better life, she lured them into the Other World, where she sewed buttons over their eyes and consumed their lives. To free their souls, their real eyes need to be found. Coraline promises to help.

Coraline is suddenly rescued from the mirror by the Other Wybie, whose mouth has been stitched by the Beldam. He helps her escape back to the real world, but Coraline discovers that her parents are missing. She eventually deduces that they have been kidnapped by the Beldam and returns to the Other World, but not before Spink and Forcible grant her a stone with a hole in it. The cat advises Coraline to propose a "game". Coraline proposes a game to the Beldam: if Coraline cannot find her parents and the ghosts' eyes, she will let buttons be sewn over her eyes, but if she can, they will all be set free. The Beldam reluctantly agrees.

Using the stone, Coraline finds the ghosts' eyes in the Other World, now turned into nightmarish, from its monstrous, freakish, deranged inhabitants. As she does, the Other Pink Palace Apartments' surroundings gradually disintegrate until only the living room is left. Inside, Coraline sees the Beldam in her skeletal-arachnoid form. Warned that the Beldam will never accept Coraline's victory, she tricks her into unlocking the door. While the Beldam is distracted, Coraline finds her parents trapped in a snow globe, grabs it, and throws the cat at the Beldam's face, ripping her button eyes out. The Beldam furiously converts the floor into a spiderweb but Coraline and the cat manage to climb out of it, slam and lock the door shut on the Beldam's hand, severing it.

Her parents reappear in the real world, with no memory of what happened. That night, the ghosts warn her to get rid of the button key to prevent the Beldam from accessing the real world. As Coraline prepares to drop it down the well, the severed hand attacks her and tries to drag her back to the Other World. Wybie smashes it with a rock, then throws the remains and the key into the well and seals it shut to prevent anyone else from entering the Other World. The next day, Coraline and her parents, who have finally finished their work, host a garden party for the neighbors. Coraline also prepares to tell Mrs. Lovat the truth about her twin sister whilst the cat disappears behind the pink palace welcome sign.

Cast

 * Dakota Fanning as Coraline Jones, a curious 12-year-old girl
 * Teri Hatcher as Mel Jones, Coraline's mother, and the Beldam / Other Mother, the ruler of the Other World
 * Jennifer Saunders as April Spink, a retired burlesque actress
 * Dawn French as Miriam Forcible, a retired burlesque actress
 * Ian McShane as Sergei Alexander Bobinsky, a former Chernobyl liquidator and one of Coraline's neighbors, who owns a jumping mice circus, and whose nickname is "Mr B."
 * John Hodgman as Charlie Jones, Coraline's father and the Other Father
 * John Linnell as Other Father's singing voice
 * Robert Bailey Jr. as Wyborne "Wybie" Lovat, the geeky, nervous 11-year-old grandson of Coraline's landlady
 * Keith David as The Cat, a sarcastic, mysterious, nameless black cat from Coraline's world who appears and disappears at will and has the ability to speak in the Other World
 * Caroline Crawford as Mrs. Lovat, Wybie's grandmother and the owner of the Pink Palace Apartments
 * Aankha Neal as Sweet Ghost Girl, Mrs. Lovat's twin sister, Wybie's great-aunt and the most recent victim of Beldam.
 * George Selick as Ghost Boy, the second and only male victim of Beldam.
 * Hannah Kaiser as Tall Ghost Girl, the first victim of Beldam interpreted by her Midwestern clothing.
 * Marina Budovsky as Photo Friend #1, a friend of Coraline's back home in Michigan.
 * Harry Selick as Photo Friend #2, a friend of Coraline's back home in Michigan