Dear Reader: Update, Movie Review Intelligence will
continue publishing this website through June (more...)
Search a Movie:
CORALINEMovie Reviews
Animated film based on Neil Gaiman's book about a young girl who walks through a secret door in her new home and discovers an alternate version of her life. Cast:Dakota Fanning, Teri Hatcher, Ian McShane, Dawn French, Jennifer SaundersDirector:Henry SelickRelease Date:February 6, 2009DVD Release:July 21, 2009From:Focus FeaturesRating:PGLength:1 hr 40 minIn 3D
Coraline played to very good reviews. • John DeFore wrote in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, "...charms children and adults alike." • Michael Phillips wrote in the Chicago Tribune, "...an adventurous movie with brains, personality, a look and a knack for inducing shivers..." • And Norman Wilner wrote in Toronto Now, "...cinematically inventive, dramatically involving..." More Reviews Below...
Richard Corliss, Time: VERY GOOD "This is the animated film as art film. 'Coraline' doesn't try to ingratiate; it just looms, like a cemetery gate, daring curious souls to tiptoe in and fend for themselves."(See all of Richard Corliss's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 1,426 words, 02/06/09
Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: OUTSTANDING(cg) "...a high point in Henry Selick's career of creating handcrafted wonderlands of beauty blended with deep, disconcerting creepiness."(See all of Lisa Schwarzbaum's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 346 words, 02/06/09
Christy Lemire, Associated Press: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "...visually dazzling, but strangely joyless.... the darkness that permeates definitely calls to mind Burton's trademark twisted sensibility.... But there's no lightness..."(See all of Christy Lemire's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 605 words, 02/05/09
Claudia Puig, USA Today: OUTSTANDING(cg) "...a visual marvel, but it's uneven in its story. The narrative lacks focus. Still, its exquisite images have an undeniable whimsical appeal."(See all of Claudia Puig's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 400 words, 02/06/09
we have an app for when you're out and about
get our iPhone app... or get our mobile web app...
movie review intelligence
NEW YORK/LOS ANGELES/CHICAGO/TORONTO (12 Reviews)
A.O. Scott, New York Times: OUTSTANDING "...likely to scare children. This is not a warning but rather a recommendation, since the cultivation of fright can be one of the great pleasures of youthful moviegoing."(See all of A.O. Scott's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 986 words, 02/06/09
Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News: VERY GOOD(cg) "An extraordinary achievement that nevertheless falls short of its full potential... absolutely worth seeing for children and adults alike."(See all of Elizabeth Weitzman's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 426 words, 02/06/09
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: VERY GOOD(cg) "Credit is due to those who backed this film.... I wonder if Selick's approach would be suited to films for grown-ups adapted from stories by August Derleth or Stephen King."(See all of Roger Ebert's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 838 words, 02/05/09
Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: OUTSTANDING "...a remarkable feat of imagination, a magical tale with a genuinely sinister edge.... you are captured completely by what is going on. How rare, and how wonderful..."(See all of Kenneth Turan's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 717 words, 02/06/09
Lou Lumenick, New York Post: OUTSTANDING(cg) "...an ideal way to experience the tactile delights of stop-motion... This is perhaps the most effective 3-D movie I have ever seen..."(See all of Lou Lumenick's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 418 words, 02/06/09
David Edelstein, New York Magazine: VERY GOOD "...exquisite, entrancing, very occasionally enervating... but I could have done with a touch less entrancement and a touch more... story."(See all of David Edelstein's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 567 words, 02/02/09
Jennie Punter, Toronto Globe & Mail: VERY GOOD(cg) "...engrossing. Selick uses the 3D technique brilliantly to enhance the comedy and horror that mingle in his more 'family-friendly' version of Neil Gaiman's dark story."(See all of Jennie Punter's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 621 words, 02/06/09
Scott Foundas, Village Voice/LA Weekly: OUTSTANDING "...the most affecting fables are those in which sweet dreams turn out to be trapdoors to nightmares. So enter 'Coraline' at your own risk, and watch where you step."(See all of Scott Foundas's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 653 words, 02/04/09
Desson Thomson, Washington Post: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "...an engaging spectacle more than a connective drama. We enjoy the surface design, but we're never so caught up in the story that we lose our awareness of it."(See all of Desson Thomson's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 622 words, 02/06/09
Amy Biancolli, Houston Chronicle: OUTSTANDING(cg) "Any fantasy worth its fairy dust takes us by the hand and leads us to another world. A good one makes us believe we're actually there. But only a great one traps us."(See all of Amy Biancolli's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 696 words, 02/06/09
John DeFore, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "...a movie for kids mature enough to deal with unsettling content, one that doesn't condescend to them or ever feel like the echo of some soulless television franchise."(See all of John DeFore's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 544 words, 02/06/09
Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: VERY GOOD(cg) "...the mind-melding attempt to get home is exciting... Tales of alternate worlds are always fascinating when done right, and 'Coraline' fits that description."(See all of Bill Goodykoontz's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 568 words, 02/06/09
Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: OUTSTANDING(cg) "...a movie that everyone will acclaim as beautiful, when perhaps the most beautiful thing about it is the sheer ugliness of it all."(See all of Mick LaSalle's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 757 words, 02/06/09
Carrie Rickey, Philadelphia Inquirer: OUTSTANDING(cg) "Boys and girls, be careful what you wish for, 'cause you just might get it. Repeat. You just might get it. You just might. Get it?"(See all of Carrie Rickey's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 653 words, 02/06/09
Ty Burr, Boston Globe: VERY GOOD(cg) "Do not take a 5-year-old to 'Coraline' unless your health plan covers therapy.... Like its heroine and like its audience, it has a soul."(See all of Ty Burr's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 862 words, 02/06/09
Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star-Tribune: VERY GOOD(cg) "...deliciously creepy... a miraculous achievement. Movies often promise a magical experience and welsh on the deal. 'Coraline' delivers."(See all of Colin Covert's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 559 words, 02/06/09
Moira Macdonald, Seattle Times: OUTSTANDING(cg) "...sneaks up on you like a cat in a night-lit hallway. Children who like being scared will get a kick out of this wildly creative movie; adults needn't have a child in tow to enjoy..."(See all of Moira Macdonald's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 577 words, 02/06/09
Julie E. Washington, Cleveland Plain-Dealer: EXCELLENT(cg) "...an interesting film that leaves its audience with two thoughts. Normal life is perfect, even when it isn't, and beware of dreams with fangs."(See all of Julie E. Washington's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 404 words, 02/06/09
Shawn Levy, Portland Oregonian: EXCELLENT(cg) "...the obsessive, miraculous detail that has been brought to bear in animating the film overwhelms all else in it.... a movie of extraordinary depth, intricacy and precision..."(See all of Shawn Levy's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 596 words, 02/06/09
Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: VERY GOOD(cg) "Presented in 3-D, it's packed with enough ghoulish details and psychological subtext to seep into a kid's dreams. But in a good way."(See all of Joe Williams's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 306 words, 02/06/09
Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald: VERY GOOD(cg) "...essentially a horror movie for kids, but it is also gentle and funny and whimsical... Still, some young children might have a nightmare or two after seeing it."(See all of Rene Rodriguez's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 580 words, 02/06/09
Carla Meyer, Sacramento Bee: VERY GOOD(cg) "...this PG-rated film, though visually splendid and thoroughly engaging, is also too eerie for most kids. Eeriness, unlike violence or shock, is hard to quantify."(See all of Carla Meyer's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 525 words, 02/06/09
Michael Sragow, Baltimore Sun: OUTSTANDING(cg) "The combination of 3-D photography and puppet-animation - centered on actual figures designed by hand - creates a world that's dense, active and fluid: a sensory Jacuzzi."(See all of Michael Sragow's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 923 words, 02/06/09
Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "It's eerie stuff. At times, 'Coraline' (adapted from a Neil Gaiman novel) feels like a primer for future Goth kids everywhere."(See all of Lisa Kennedy's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 321 words, 02/06/09
ALTERNATIVE/INDIE PRESS (7 Reviews)
Scott Foundas, Village Voice/LA Weekly: OUTSTANDING "...the most affecting fables are those in which sweet dreams turn out to be trapdoors to nightmares. So enter 'Coraline' at your own risk, and watch where you step."(See all of Scott Foundas's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 653 words, 02/04/09
Peter Keough, Boston Phoenix: MODERATE(cg) "Too deep for kids? They can probably handle it better than adults -- just take a look at Lewis Carroll, Rudyard Kipling, and the Brothers Grimm."(See all of Peter Keough's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 640 words, 02/05/09
Tricia Olszewski, Washington City Paper: OUTSTANDING "...viewers will want to watch it repeatedly to catch everything -- that is, if the ghost children that appear in the final acts don't spook them away for good."(See all of Tricia Olszewski's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 799 words, 02/05/09
Bob Mondello, NPR All Things Considered: EXCELLENT "...the first stop-motion film to be actually conceived in 3-D, so it's worth finding a theater playing it that way, so you can get the full effect..."(See all of Bob Mondello's reviews...)(Listen to the full review...) 227 seconds, 02/07/09
A.O. Scott, New York Times: OUTSTANDING "...likely to scare children. This is not a warning but rather a recommendation, since the cultivation of fright can be one of the great pleasures of youthful moviegoing."(See all of A.O. Scott's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 986 words, 02/06/09
Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: MODERATE "...distinguished by a creepiness so deep as to seem perverse... it finally succumbs to terminal deficits in dramatic energy, narrative coherence and plain old heart."(See all of Joe Morgenstern's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 191 words, 02/06/09
David Denby, New Yorker: VERY GOOD "...a beautifully designed, rather scary answered-prayer story... Animation is the art in which all wishes, sweet and sour, eventually come true."(See all of David Denby's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 281 words, 02/23/09
Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: OUTSTANDING "...a remarkable feat of imagination, a magical tale with a genuinely sinister edge.... you are captured completely by what is going on. How rare, and how wonderful..."(See all of Kenneth Turan's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 717 words, 02/06/09
MOVIE INDUSTRY (5 Reviews)
Justin Chang, Daily Variety: EXCELLENT "...deliriously inventive... finds stop-motion auteur Henry Selick scaling new heights of ghoulish whimsy, buoyed by a haunting score that works its own macabre magic."(See all of Justin Chang's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 934 words, 02/02/09
Kirk Honeycutt, Hollywood Reporter: OUTSTANDING "Selick's imaginative sets and puppets are in perfect pitch... The 3-D effects aren't overdone but are used intelligently to make this world come brilliantly to life."(See all of Kirk Honeycutt's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 512 words, 02/02/09
Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: OUTSTANDING "...a remarkable feat of imagination, a magical tale with a genuinely sinister edge.... you are captured completely by what is going on. How rare, and how wonderful..."(See all of Kenneth Turan's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 717 words, 02/06/09
A.O. Scott, New York Times: OUTSTANDING "...likely to scare children. This is not a warning but rather a recommendation, since the cultivation of fright can be one of the great pleasures of youthful moviegoing."(See all of A.O. Scott's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 986 words, 02/06/09
Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: MODERATE "...distinguished by a creepiness so deep as to seem perverse... it finally succumbs to terminal deficits in dramatic energy, narrative coherence and plain old heart."(See all of Joe Morgenstern's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 191 words, 02/06/09
14.6 Percentage Points Average Difference Between Reviews (Norm is 18.4pp; <18.4pp = More Consistent; >18.4pp = More Mixed)
Coraline's reviews are separated by an average 14.6 percentage points. The norm for this measure is 18.4 percentage points. Less than 18.4 indicates more consistent reviews; greater than 18.4 indicates more mixed reviews. In the chart below, each dot represents a review, with the dots at the top more positive than the dots at the bottom. From left to right, the dots represent reviews in big, bigger and biggest publications. Roll over each dot for more detail.
Coraline (47 reviews) Roll over dots for each review
Coverage:Coraline's reviews cover 86.3% of potential readers (average is 67.9%). Volume:The film's reviews total 26,531 words involume (average is 20,194 words). Length:The film's reviews average 564 words in length (the norm is 517 words).
Reviews Broke 12.5 Hours Before Release (Norm is 1.2 Release)
Coraline's reviews on average broke 12.5 hours before opening. Norm for this measure is 1.2 hours before. The chart below shows reviews on opening day and the days before and after opening; the left side is earlier and the right side is later. The red bars extending above the horizontal mid-line represent more positive reviews, and the red bars extending below represent more negative reviews. The white space/red bar in the middle is Coraline's opening day. Click on any bar for a list of the reviews for that day.
Mobile Web App version 1.2 shows a list of all current movies and review information. You can click through to the cast, director, synopsis, release date and rating on page two, plus individual reviews on page three. The information is updated on a live/real-time basis. You can also search our database of films. Designed for when you're on the move and want the latest info, this app will work on any mobile web browser. From your mobile device -- only from a mobile device -- open our Mobile Web App here...
