Coraline

" 'I hope you weren't too old for it,' I told her, when she was done. 'I don't think you can be too old for Coraline,' she said, which made me very happy." - Neil Gaiman

          Coraline was directed by Henry Selick and is based on Neil Gaiman's novel of the same name. I wish I had read Coraline when it came out in 2002. I would have loved this as a kid. Alas, back then I mostly stuck to my mom's books and didn't read Coraline until quite recently. Obviously, I was well past the target age demographic by then; in fact, I only bought the book because it had Neil Gaiman's name on it. For those of you don't know, Gaiman is the most imaginative living writer I'm familiar with. His series Sandman is, along with Watchman, one of the most critically lauded comics of all time. After reading the first volume of Sandman and his written novel American Gods, I had already decided he was one of my favorite fantasy authors.

          I don't care that the back of the book says Coraline is for eight year-olds, this book is awesome! But don't take my word for it; here's what USA Today has to say about it.

"Not since Narnia has the simple act of opening a door unlocked such a fantastic journey. And not since Alice tumbled down the rabbit hole has that journey been so splendidly strange and frightening"

           Oh right, the movie. It's pretty good. It's stop motion, which is almost always a plus in my book. There's just something about how it looks that CGI can't capture. Selick also directed The Nightmare Before Christmas and I don't think I need to tell you that he knows what he's doing. The only thing about it that bugs me is the useless addition of a character named Wyborne. It might be nit-picky but I think he's really irritating. Why does Coraline need a sidekick that doesn't even do any sidekicking until the last five minutes? That brings me to the worst part, the film trades the book's original ending (where Coraline saves the day by being really clever for however old she is) for Deus Ex Wybie. Ugh. Also, Coraline is a bit, well, bitchier in the movie. She even calls Wyborne "Why-were-you-born" a couple of times. Look, it might be a legitimate question, but to ask him to his face is just cruel.

          In conclusion, buy the book, bask in the glory of Neil Gaiman, then, if you like it, see the movie. It is pretty.

"I wanted to write a story for my daughters that told them something I wished I'd known when I was a boy: that being brave didn't mean you weren't scared. Being brave meant you were scared, really scared, badly scared, and you did the right thing anyway. So now, ten years later, I've started running into women who tell me that Coraline got them through hard times in their lives. That when they were scared they thought of Coraline, and they did the right thing. And that, more than anything, makes it worthwhile." - Neil Gaiman