Deliciously dark and creepy, if not quite to the same degree as the book from which it draws its inspiration. At times, Coraline reminded me of "The Path", a thoroughly atmospheric little game/immersive experience that I downloaded and spent some time with a while back, with its unsettling little-girl music and partly cropped explorations of apparently innocuous indoor and outdoor landscapes which acquire an increasingly ominous character as things progress, and also in a certain deadpan character which grounds the fantastic events which proliferate over its course. It looks great, with everything suitably shadowy and nocturnal (the 3d-ness adds an extra dimension (ha) to the experience), and the most fantastic sequences have a visual flair and crackling elan which befit the happenings that they depict. A really good adaptation, and an equally good film on its own terms.
(w/ M)
