Without the music, this film wouldn’t have the same atmosphere. To add to the childhood wonder of this story, the film’s composer, Bruno Coulais used gibberish to add lyrics to some of his pieces in the film. Coraline’s Other Father from Coraline (right). Jack Skellington from The Nightmare Before Christmas (left). Claymation, to some, is unsettling in itself, but Henry Selick, after having worked on The Nightmare Before Christmas and James and the Giant Peach, knew how to manipulate the characters in unnatural ways that are described vividly onto the screen. Even deleted scenes were in production for months. It was shot to be 24 frames per second, which required approximately 1400 photos per minute of film. Coraline was in production for four years. As for the film, claymation is no simple feat. Sprinkled throughout the novella are ink drawings of scenes that can be described as nothing less than unsettlingly dark. The artistic choices in both mediums play into the scare-factor. The film was released in theaters in 2009 with a PG rating and an option to view in 3D - nine year old me chose the latter. The novella, written by Neil Gaiman, was published in 2002 and was picked up by LAIKA Studios for a claymation adaptation under the direction of Henry Selick.

Coraline is a dark fantasy story following a little girl by the same name through a dangerous adventure in another world.

Coraline book