Coraline

Tim Burton, who wrote the story for The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993), has since topped it with another animated chiller, Corpse Bride (2005), while Henry Selick, who directed Nightmare, has been struggling to better it ever since. Like his James and the Giant Peach (1996), this is adapted from a popular children's fantasy—Neil Gaiman's 2002 horror novella Coraline, which won the Hugo and Nebula awards. The intrepid Coraline, frustrated with her parents after they move her to a new town, discovers a portal to an alternate universe where everyone has buttons sewn over their eyes. It's the first stop-motion feature filmed entirely in stereoscopic 3-D, and the technique makes Selick's artwork even more wondrously creepy. The problem is Gaiman's story, which keeps accumulating otherworldly mythology but doesn't establish a clear line of action in the home stretch. Among the voice talent are Dakota Fanning, Teri Hatcher, John Hodgman, and Ian McShane. PG, 100 min. By J.R. Jones

Official Site: www.coraline.com
Director: Henry Selick and Mike Cachuela
Writer: Henry Selick
Producer: Bill Mechanic and Mary Sandell
Cast: Dakota Fanning, Teri Hatcher, Dawn French, Jennifer Saunders, Keith David, John Hodgman, Robert Bailey Jr. and Ian McShane