I want you to stop and think for a moment. What bothers you? What does your ideal world look like? If you lived in your ideal world everything should be perfect right? For me, months without in person schooling sounded like a dream, I guess you could say my “ideal world.” Boy, was I dreadfully wrong, and just like Coraline in the 2009 movie I wanted my life to go back to the way it used to be.

 Coraline presents the idea that we shouldn’t take the things in our life for granted, because once they are gone, only then will we realize their importance. The movie is nothing short of whimsical as it has made its way into many of our hearts through its enchanting stop-motion medium. If you have seen the movie, it is time to watch it again or if you have not, watch it for the first time.

With her iconic blue hair and yellow raincoat, Coraline wonders what her perfect world would look like. Her parents would work less, make her the center of attention, her mom would get her those cute gloves from the mall, and Wyvie would talk less. Just to her luck she finds a door that leads her into this world.

There she playfully explores the depths of her imagination with opera singers and a circus performer with dancing rats. It couldn’t be more fun, even her parents make her a garden that looks like her. It’s everything she could ever wish for. 

Then her “mom” offers her these button eyes, but she’ll have to stay there permanently. Coraline soon misses her original parents, dull as she used to think they were, because she finally recognizes how much they really loved her.

The whole movie could be silent and the viewer would still understand what’s going on because of the stunning visuals. 

Coraline spans generations. As Kristen Song, who is 15, beautifully puts it, “Coraline’s stop motion is great honestly, I love how it conveys different thematic tones between the real world and the “ideal” one. Especially through its color pallets of bright neon to express artificiality, while expressing a more grim/cloudy look on the real world. It represents Coraline’s perspective as a child very well.” 

Maria Yolanda, who is 70 year old, adds on, “It’s magical. The movie’s elements of music, story, and visual, are so well sewn together that it reaches the hearts of any age.”

Every time I watch Coraline I can relate to her in a different way. At five, I was mesmerized by the thought of finding a door that led me to my own paradise. Now, I watch this and I strive to find the bits of paradise that already exist in my reality, look at everyday as a gift, and be grateful for the people in my life, and hopefully you do too.

“Coraline Button Box” by Scott Beale is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0