Henry Selick's stop-motion animation version of Neil Gaiman's celebrated children's book is just as darkly original as the director's earlier feature The Nightmare before Christmas. Here, stuck in dreary rural Oregon, 11-year-old Coraline (voiced by Dakota Fanning) discovers a parallel world to her family's new home. This alternative reality offers more thrills and surprises than her own, seemingly dull, life. However, her near-perfect "Other Mother" (a deliciously wicked pantomime turn by Teri Hatcher) has a hidden agenda and schemes to make Coraline the latest in a long line of trophies. Coraline's dangerous predicament, coupled with the eye-popping set design, makes for a sinister and menacing universe that provides excitement and thrills, but may be a little too intense for younger viewers used to more sanitised fare.

Wandering her rambling old house in her boring new town, 11-year-old Coraline discovers a hidden door to a strangely idealized version of her life. In order to stay in the fantasy, she must make a frighteningly real sacrifice.