I have wanted to see Coraline ever since I saw only the poster and read that it was helmed by the director of The Nightmare Before Christmas, one of the best animated films of all time. I’m also usually interested in stop motion animation films, as it is one of my favorite genres. Then when I found out that it was playing in 3-D, I just knew I had to experience this movie.

Now I’ll get to the 3-D experience in a bit; it’s difficult to talk too much about this film without giving key plot points away. But let’s try: After a few visits to the Otherworld, Coraline discovers that her Other Mother intends to keep her there forever, and this was her plan from the start. And the first thing that tips Coraline off is that her new “perfect” Other Mother wants to sew buttons in her eye sockets as well. Coraline gets trapped in the Otherworld and with the Other Mother knowing that Corlaine is on to her plot to trap her there forever, she has to find a way to escape.

This was a great movie all around. The animation was phenomenal, the story was certainly intriguing, and the overall look and feel of the movie is something that doesn’t come along very often. There wasn’t a boring shot or moment in this entire film. I will say, however, that in the end, I felt that not everything was explained in an airtight way. Now, I’m not the type of moviegoer who needs to everything spelled out for them. Shrouded mystery and oddities do have their place (I even invite and hope for them) and this film certainly has them, but there were just a few plot points that just didn’t 100% add up like I felt they should have been. For instance, Coraline meets up with ghost children previously held captive by the Other Mother and they need Coraline’s assistance to set their souls free, but the way they went about finding their freedom just didn’t make too much sense. But even with these few moments of uncertainty, the movie is still falls within the must-see category in my book.

One thing about the movie that I was definitely and pleasantly surprised by was the suspense and just how creepy and scary this movie was -- far scarier than anything I had expected, and without a doubt the scariest animated movie ever. In fact, it was so scary that I thought it should have been rated PG-13.

Now to the 3-D experience. Just like in the 3-D version of The Nightmare Before Christmas that came out a few years ago, he 3-D glasses are great; they’re black plastic with dark lenses and are flexible enough to fit over regular eyewear, which was the case for me (and you get to keep them). They are light years ahead of the 1950s white paper glasses with one blue and one red lens. And just as usual, the ticket price for the 3-D showing is $2 more, but that should only be an encouragement in this particular case.

This was a great 3-D movie. It enhanced the theatergoing experience tremendously. Unlike its Nightmare counterpart of a couple of years ago, this movie was made for a 3-D showing and not as an afterthought. The 3-D runs throughout the film, either simply to give depth to what was on the screen or to have something pop out at the audience. The filmmakers obviously put overwhelming thought into this in order to make it work, and work it does. My only complaint about the 3-D is that when I return to this movie to watch it again on DVD, I’m just going to be thinking about how much better the film was in 3-D, and that might make the home viewing of Coraline a bit disappointing. But I can’t hold that against it.

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