Coraline (2009)

I'd read the book and this, unnecessarily, mucked with it.

The movie's Coraline, voiced petulantly by Fanning, came off as a brat from the first scene and her parents were more crabby than the simply overworked/tired ones I'd met in the book. The worlds on both sides of the door had a real meanness making the whole shebang feel aggressive and hopeless. Surprisingly, the only thing I thought really deserved praise was the voice work by Teri Hatcher -- an actress I generally think of as lucky to have a career.

The movie does, indeed, look great, but that gets old pretty quick when not in service of a great story.

C-