Coraline is bored. It's raining outside, and her parents are too busy to play. Everything is drab and gray. But "Coraline," the film, is everything but. Our heroine soon finds herself drawn into a different world, one full of color and light that makes for an intriguing plot and some stunning visuals.

The stop-motion animation used in the movie, like the techniques used in "The Nightmare Before Christmas" or "James and the Giant Peach," grated on me at the beginning of the movie. However, I think my vision adjusted to the stop-motion as the movie went on, as I quit noticing it except in very specific instances - and then only for a moment.

But those moments were crucial to my appreciation for the medium. Through most of the picture, everything just looks beautifully animated, like a stylized Pixar flick. The brief jolts of ragged movement helped hammer into my brain that someone actually adjusted Coraline's arm eleventy-billion times to make her wave. The fact that the film looks at smooth as it does, then, is a testament to the skill of the filmmakers, especially in elaborate sequences like a mouse circus, a garden blooming and a lively stage performance.

The voice-acting is done adequately - Teri Hatcher grates a little as Coraline's mother, though she is much better as the Other Mother. Dakota Fanning, as Coraline, doesn't turn in a show-stopping performance, but neither is it bad for a girl of 13. (She's gotten a few years older during the eleventy-billion arm movements they had to film.)

Jennifer Saunders and Dawn Finch shine as a pair of aged actresses, and Keith David lends just the right amount of gravel, rumble and rasp to the voice of the black cat.

I worry that "Coraline" is a little too scary for the young'uns. I actually jumped at one point in the movie, and the last 45 minutes or so is one slow burn to the climax, the fear and urgency growing with each passing moment. I guess if my hypothetical children were mature enough to read the book by Neil Gaiman without being too unduly frightened, I'd sign off on the movie-viewing as well.

Overall, though, "Coraline" has a beautifully done visual landscape on which an interesting and original tale unfolds. I was drawn in by the zany characters until the satisfying end.

'Coraline'

Starring: Voices of Dakota Fanning, Teri Hatcher, Keith David

Director: Henry Selick

Run time: 1 hour, 40 minutes

Rated: PG for thematic elements, scary images, some language and suggestive humor.

Now playing at: College Square

4/5