By Hannah Martin, News Staff

Pop on some 3-D shades, sit back and enter a world of fanciful creatures and dreamlike absurdity.
Henry Selick, director of ‘The Nightmare Before Christmas’ and ‘James and the Giant Peach,’ brings his work to a new level with the first stop-motion animated film shot entirely in 3-D:’ ‘Coraline.’
Adapted from Neil Gaiman’s titular best-selling children’s book, ‘Coraline’ is a work of exquisite beauty.
Coraline (voiced by Dakota Fanning) is a spry 11-year-old with blue hair, lanky limbs and a tiny, pointy-nosed face.
When her parents (voiced by Teri Hatcher and John Hodgman) move into an eerie old house in the middle of nowhere, Coraline feels neglected, lonely and bored. Led by a mischief of paper mache mice to investigate her new surroundings, Coraline finds a secret door in the house and travels through to a different, better world. There, most importantly, a pair of ‘other parents,’ as they’re called, shower her with love.
Still, skeptical Coraline refuses to allow the perpetual smiles of these parents to lure her into their arms forever.
The movie traces Coraline’s adventures in these parallel lands as she discovers what seemed like a perfect world isn’t quite so perfect after all.
The stop-motion method makes ‘Coraline’ a gorgeous visual experience, mixing different textures and mediums while juxtaposing drab reality with chilling fantasy. In this technique, frame-by-frame still shots are pasted together to create a distinct sort of movement. The intricate process took over three years to complete and the result is a spasmodic yet beautiful motion of all the characters’ awkward limbs.
This cut-and-pasted look gives each scene infinite dimension. For instance, as the film opens, the audience watches as a small, button-eyed doll is disemboweled and recreated by eerie wire hands. The cut of the fabric and the pull of thread at the seams have a look and sound with the crispness of reality.
‘Coraline’ is available without 3-D effects, but this innovative twist enhances the film, and, admirably, Selick didn’t go over the top. Rather than having things constantly pop out in every direction, 3-D was simply used to highlight fantastical aspects of the story.
Though considered a kid’s movie, ‘Coraline’ lacks most qualities one might suspect. It’s neither warm nor fuzzy, and humor is never derived from bodily functions or face-planting falls. It’s a dark work of cinematic and artistic genius children could hardly appreciate, but they may still enjoy its healthy doses of action and adventure.
Ultimately, Coraline is a sign of hope, straying from no-brain-required plot lines and stock characters to ones that are thoughtful, original and bizarre, allowing kids, their parents and those in between to enjoy the same film.