45001: Coraline

I was an anxious child, and the transition from summer break to the new school year always filled me with dread. Unusual, right? My parents would usually take my brother and me out for a special dinner or something fun on the night before, so as to help ease the transition. One year, it was a movie. I was ten years old, it was August of 1989, and my Dad took me—and just me—to see The Abyss. I cannot remember why it was just me and not my brother. Maybe my brother thought James Cameron was overrated, maybe he'd already seen it. I don't know. But what I do know, and what's stuck with me for 35 years, is that my Dad made me feel special, and important, and seen. I don't think for one minute that he was excited about The Abyss, or going to the movies at all. I cannot think of a time he went to see a movie "just because." But he took me. On a school night. I sat next to him, and for 140 minutes we floated together through a shared dream. I will cherish that evening for as long as I have the power of memory.

This year, on the Saturday before school started, I took my ten year-old daughter—and just my daughter—to go see Coraline in the theater. Just like my Dad, I knew nothing about it (she had read the book and seen the movie on the small screen) and was really just interested in being good company for my daughter, who, it should be noted, also experiences some anxiety around the beginning of the school year. It was my hope that seeing a delightful, animated movie would help to quell her anxiety. I didn't realize it was a horror movie gateway drug. Fortunately, my daughter did, and she was excited to see it on the big screen (and in 3D, no less). There were a few moments where she said, "I'm scared," and if I didn't console her quickly enough, she reiterated, in a hushed tone, "I'm SCARED." But other than that, she was all in on the movie, creepy bits and all.

I was pleasantly surprised by Coraline from start to finish. The script, based on Neil Gaiman's novel, is funny and chilling, often in the same scene. It hits on all the tropes you'd find in a "family just moved into a creepy old house" horror movie. There's a mysterious landlady, a weird goth boy stalking the new girl, unusual neighbors with old secrets, a tiny door, a doll that moves on its own... okay, maybe the creepy doll isn't specific to this canon, but you get the idea. Coraline manages to pull off some very unsettling scenes, including a meeting with the ghosts of three children who were killed by the same monster threatening Coraline, and still slid by the MPAA with a PG rating. Well done, Coraline.

The film also has the benefit of some top-tier voice talent. Dakota Fanning does an incredible job as Coraline, breathing wit and scrap and a general angsty vibe into the character without crossing over into irritating precociousness. Teri Hatcher is fantastic as the evil Beldam and the not-so-evil mother of Coraline, while John Hodgman exudes warmth and well-meaning as the befuddled father. Most importantly, however, Keith David plays a supernaturally wise cat, and there is no project that doesn't benefit from his voice.

Structurally, Coraline is beautiful in its symmetry, building a universe beat by beat and then breaking it back down like clockwork. The film begins with Coraline in her new space, and everything pretty much sucks. She finds the doorway to another world where everything is the same but better. It's like a dream come true. Over the course of three nights, she is shown three miracles to try and woo her into staying forever, of her own free will. She resists, however, and everything goes to hell.

To free herself, and save her parents, she engages in a battle of wits with the evil Beldam, and in doing so she unravels the carefully constructed illusion the Beldam wove to try and trap her. The miracles are turned into deadly snares, the smiling faces revealing rows of sharpened teeth, which Coraline must survive through pluck and planning and quick thinking.

After her apparent victory over the evil Beldam and escape to her real home, Coraline finds herself threatened by a piece of the monster that has followed her through the door to her world, much as Coraline once pushed her way into the other world. Worry not, Coraline manages to smash the monster and throw its remains into a deep, abandoned well, in a scene that could just as easily have come from a Friday the 13th film.

In a nice coda, Coraline is working in her house's garden, along with her parents and all their neighbors, to build a real world that can compete with the fantasy. She's back where she was, but now she's in control, and she's weaving her own reality.

Coraline, like "The Spider and the Fly" before it, is a cautionary tale about the dangers of those who would try to love bomb you into emotional submission. I feel like all kids should watch this movie several times before they go to college. It would probably make it harder for cults to recruit them. For my part, I'm glad I saw it, and I'll be on the lookout for big love bombs and tiny doors.

Moreover, I'm glad I saw it with my daughter. I think she had a good time, and we got to share our thoughts about the movie with each other. It made me proud to be her dad, thankful for growing up with my Dad, and hopeful that I can continue to follow his footsteps. Will my daughter still be thinking about that day in 35 years? I don't know, but if I'm alive and still possessed of my memories, I'm sure I'll revisit it from time to time.