Coraline

***1/2 Stars

One of the most imaginatively abstract animated films this side of The Nightmare Before Christmas is here. And wouldn't you know it, it is helmed by the very same director. Coraline is a wonderfully fresh and off-beat experience that pushes the boundaries of every tool it chooses to use. Henry Selick, I'm hoping from now on to see you more than a few times per decade.

Dakota Fanning is perfectly cast as the title character Coraline, a young girl living at the Pink Palace (a housing complex in the middle of nowhere) with her parents who forced her to move there and leave the town she grew up in. On the brink of insanity due to extreme boredom, Coraline ventures around her new home in search of an adventure. Well that, or just something to pass the time. She befriends a boy named Wybie Lovat (Robert Bailey Jr.) a strange young boy who lives with his grandmother and tells Coraline past legends of the Pink Palace and the inmates living among them. Wybie has a black cat who voyeuristically follows him around the complex. This cat has that all-knowing presence where it has the answers to everything, but not the strength to bring them into question on its own.

One day, Coraline tumbles upon a small door in her living room. Naturally, like any young spirit, she urges to venture through it. "What's behind this door?" is the universal force behind Coraline's imagination.

She opens the door and heads into another world. What is this world? At first glance, it looks like the Pink Palace. But this new world has a twist. It seems like this new world is everything Coraline dreams the Pink Palace should be. Her Mom and Dad are now very fun, becoming great cooks with happy spirits, and willing to do anything Coraline asks. What Coraline will fail to see is that this is all a trap, one that could keep her locked in this world forever. While it all sounds lovely at first, things turn for the worst. This new world demands all inhibitors to lose their souls and remain confined in the compounds of Coraline's "new mother" and her evil rules to live by.

There is no reason why Coraline shouldn't be nominated for Best Animated Feature at next year's Oscars. Note to the Academy: Do not punish this film because of its release date! Coraline is rich with flavor, alive with excitement, and layered with the substance created by the work of a born artist. Henry Selick has an extremely gifted eye for the future in the maturity and bewilderment of animated motion pictures.