Coraline
Coraline (Dakota Fanning) – not to be confused with Caroline (which invariably happens) is a bored pre-teen whose family has just move into the main floor unit of a somewhat rural heritage character home appropriately complete with a witch hat roof. In this computer generated animation (also screening in 3D) she’s cute as a button which is not really to her advantage since buttons become a real hazard for her. Her only hope for companionship is a mangy cat and the landlord’s flaky grandson so she takes to exploring the creepy old house they live in. She discovers a short wallpapered over door that opens to a brick wall by day but a portal to a parallel world by night – a world where mom and dad have nothing but quality time to spend with her, cats can talk and neighbours hold Busby Berkley type shows. Oh yeah and everyone has buttons for eyes just like the mirror image doll that Coraline has received. Eventually she realizes that the grass isn’t really greener on the other side but when her other mother (Teri Hatcher) morphs into her real personae (truly frightening with only one or two degrees of separation from the animation to the real Hatcher) Coraline understands that she is a prisoner. When she finally escapes she realizes that she must return one more time to rescue her trapped parents but escaping a second time isn’t so easy. Maybe a little intense for the very young Coraline is good family fun that may have you converting buttons to zippers when you get home.