General Information about the film Coraline

Film description:
Coraline is a 2009 American animated stop-motion 3-D fantasy film based on Neil Gaiman's 2002 novel of the same name. It was produced by Laika and distributed by Focus Features. Written and directed by Henry Selick, it was released widely in US theaters on February 6, 2009, after a world premiere at the Portland International Film Festival.
Plot Summary of the film adaptation of Coraline
Coraline Jones (Dakota Fanning) and her parents, Mel and Charlie Jones (Teri Hatcher and John Hodgman) leave their relatively comfortable lives in Pontiac, Michigan and move into the Pink Palace Apartments in Ashland, Oregon, which is a converted mansion that they share with retired actresses Miss Spink and Miss Forcible (Jennifer Saunders and Dawn French) and retired Russian circus performer Mr. Bobinsky (Ian McShane). Coraline's parents are busy working on a gardening catalog, which leaves them with little time for Coraline. She meets Wybourne "Wybie" Lovat (Robert Bailey Jr.), a talkative neighborhood boy and his nameless black cat (Keith David) while exploring her new home. Wybie has been told to avoid the house by his grandmother (who is the landlady of the Pink Palace), as her twin sister had disappeared there years ago as a child. The next day, Wybie gives Coraline a button-eyed doll that has an uncanny resemblance to her. She also finds a small locked door that had been wallpapered over, and when she insists her mother unlock it, she is surprised to find nothing but a brick wall.
That night, Coraline is awoken by the sound of mice, and follows their trail to the small door. Opening it, she finds a passageway instead of the brick wall, and crawls through it. On the opposite side, she finds herself in the "Other World", which is inhabited by button eyed doppelgangers of her parents, the Other Mother and the Other Father. The "Other Parents" seem to be much warmer and attentive than Coraline's real parents, particularly her Other Mother, who does everything she can to impress Coraline. Coraline continues to return to the Other World and is entertained by "other" versions of Wybie and the neighbors. But when she falls asleep, she finds herself back in her normal world. Coraline's attempts to compare her normal world with that of the Other World raise tension between her and her mother, who slowly tries to be more affectionate to Coraline.
On her third visit to the Other World, Coraline sees the black cat she saw earlier on. He warns her of the dangers of the Other Mother, but Coraline doesn't listen. Later, after a show performed for her by the Other Miss Spink and Forcible, Coraline's Other parents offer to let her stay there forever, but only if she agrees to allow them to sew buttons in her eyes. Scared, Coraline rejects the offer and tries to go to sleep, but finds she's unable to return to her normal world. When Coraline refuses to call the Other Mother her real mother, she becomes angry and transforms into a wretched witch, trapping Coraline in a mirror until she's "ready to be a loving daughter". In the mirror, Coraline meets the ghosts of three button eyed children, including that of Wybie's grandmother's sister, who explain the Other Mother or "Beldam" kidnaps children from the real world, sewing buttons over their eyes with the promise of a happier life, and slowly consumes their souls. They also explain that the rag dolls are actually the Beldam's spies. Just as she promises to find the childrens' eyes to free their souls, she is rescued from the mirror by Other Wybie, who helps her back into her world.
Back home, Coraline finds her parents have disappeared. Coraline visits the real Miss Spink and Forcible, who give her a seeing stone made from old candy for protection. After seeing an image of her parents shivering in the mirror, she realizes they have been kidnapped by the Other Mother. After preparing herself for the mission ahead, Coraline returns to the Other World, and demands that the Beldam return her parents. Coraline then challenges the Beldam to a game to find her parents and the eyes of the three children. If she loses, she will stay in the Other Mother's world and let her sew buttons on her eyes. If she wins, then everyone will be freed.
Coraline, with the help of the seeing stone and the Cat, is able to recover the three eyes. As she recovers the eyes, the Other World starts to de-materialize before her. The Beldam (now a monstrous spider-like wretch) throws the seeing stone into a fire, and then demands Coraline to reveal where her parents are. Knowing the Beldam will never let her leave, Coraline tricks her into opening the little door. The cat then spots her parents inside a snowglobe and tells Coraline where they really are. Though the Beldam attempts to trap her in a spider web, Coraline and the cat are able to escape, closing the door on and severing the Beldam's hand. Coraline finds her parents are back, having successfully gotten their catalog published, with no memory of the incident. That night, the freed ghost children tell Coraline through a dream that her task is not done, and that the Beldam will try to retrieve the key.
Coraline quickly gets the key and attempts to throw it down a well nearby. Just before she drops the key down the well, the hand arrives and attacks her. However, Wybie shows up at the last minute, they both manage to destroy the hand. Together, they drop the pieces of the hand and the key in the well, ending the Beldam's threat. Wybie reveals that he came to believe Coraline's story after finding an old photograph of his grandmother and her sister holding a button-eyed doll. The next day, Coraline has a garden party with her neighbors to celebrate the success of the garden catalog and the defeating of the Other Mother. Wybie's grandmother joins them and Coraline begins to tell her everything that has happened. At the Pink Palace sign, we see the cat licking himself. He stands up and gives us a mysterious look, disappearing behind the sign, probably telling us that the magic isn't over.

Characters:
Coraline Jones – The young heroine and explorer, she is clever, curious, resourceful, and brave. Coraline is often irritated by rain, crazy grown-ups (as they all seem to be), and not being taken seriously because of her young age and quiet demeanor, though perhaps her biggest annoyance is that everyone mistakes her name for Caroline (everyone in the real world at least, except the mice and her parents). She also likes apples and limeade.
Wyborne "Wybie" Lovat- the strange, nervous 11-year-old grandson of Coraline's landlady. Wybie is a character introduced for the film adaptation so that the viewer "wouldn't have a girl walking around, occasionally talking to herself." He wears a metallic skull mask with a three-piece turret lens, as well as a handmade motorized bicycle used to patrol the woods. He is known to be overly talkative and annoying. Coraline calls him a "psycho nerd," a "jerk wad," and "Why-Were-You-Born." His Other World counterpart, Other Wybie is very sweet and has been rendered incapable of speech by the Other Mother as she thought Coraline would prefer him that way. He later turns out to be one of the most helpful people Coraline finds in the Other World, but is punished and eventually destroyed by the Other Mother for his disobedience. It's implied that Wybie and Coraline appear to have a love/hate relationship, which seems to be hinted throughout the film whether Coraline is in the Real World or Other World.
Mel Jones – Coraline's mother works at her house on the computer. She is very busy most of the time, and sometimes a little inattentive, but she loves and cares about Coraline. She is pretty, nice, helpful, and outgoing, though Coraline considers her to be rather boring.
Charlie Jones– Coraline's father works at his house on the computer which he spends most of his time on his job. He cares about Coraline very much and is kind, gentlemanly, brave, and helpful. But like Coraline's mother, she finds him rather boring.
The Cat – A black cat from Coraline's world. The cat acts as a mentor to Coraline and guides her through her journey. He claims to have no name, explaining that cats do not need names to tell each other apart. Unlike many of the characters in the novel, he does not have an "other world" counterpart, saying that unlike other creatures in the world, cats can "keep themselves together". He moves freely from one world to the next, although he can talk in the Other Mother's world. He is very sarcastic and helpful towards Coraline and defiant of the Other Mother, but seems to tremble at the thought of being stuck in the Other Mother's world.
The Other Mother or The Beldam – The creature that created much of the 'Other' world and the main villain of the novel. She looks a little like Coraline's real mother but taller and thinner, with long black hair that seems to move by itself, black button eyes, paper-white skin, and extremely long, twitchy fingers with long dark red nails. She might have the ability to impersonate different people as well since she was most likely identical to the ghost children's mothers when they went to the Other World before Coraline. She cannot create, but only copy, twist and change things from the real world when constructing her version of it. She collects children, with whom she quickly becomes bored or frustrated, and imprisons them behind a magical mirror, slowly sucking the life from them; she intends to do the same with Coraline. She is referred to several times as "the beldam", a Middle English word meaning "Grandmother" or "Old Woman". It could also be a reference to "La Belle Dame sans Merci", a poem by John Keats in which a knight is enthralled by a fairy's daughter in the same way the other mother enthralled all the other children before Coraline.
The Other Father – A creation of the Other Mother, who was used to try to help trick Coraline into staying in the Other Mother's world. Like her real father he has a study and sits there during the day and will not talk to Coraline for long. He does not work however, he merely occupies the study as he is not permitted to talk to Coraline by himself. He is much more fun than Coraline's real father and always tries to be cheerful and fun in front of Coraline. In reality the Other Father is sad and nervous. The Other Mother ends up punishing him for revealing too much to Coraline by locking him in the empty flat and transforming him into a grub-like creature. He is not evil like the Other Mother and he manages to resist the Other Mother's control long enough to warn Coraline that the other mother is trying to make him kill her. He loses control and turns into a savage monster who tries to attack Coraline, most likely the Other Mother's command. After getting away Coraline leaves him trapped in the cellar.
Miss April Spink and Miss Miriam Forcible – A pair of retired actresses, who live in the flat under Coraline's. They own many Scotties, such as Hamish, Angus and Bruce, and talk in theater jargon, often referencing their time as actresses. They recognize the danger Coraline is in after reading her fortune through tea leaves and give her a stone with a hole in it to help protect her. In the other world they are young, pretty, and perform unendingly in front of many different dogs, who, in the Other World, behave like humans, such as talking and eating chocolate, which can kill dogs in real life.
Mr. Bobinsky – A retired circus performer living in the flat above Coraline's. Over the course of the film he claims to be training mice to perform in a mouse circus, and often brings Coraline messages from the mice, though at first Coraline doubts he even has mice to train. His counterpart in the Other World trains rats, and is in fact made of rats.
The Three Ghost Children – A trio of children who were previously victims of the other mother, two girls and one boy. The boy is described as having a dirty face and red trousers. One of the girls has two butterfly wings, blond hair, and a silver circlet, the other has a brown bonnet and brown dress. They were trapped by the Other Mother at different times before Coraline, and resided in the dark space behind the mirror until Coraline found herself in the same prison. She promises to rescue them after hearing about their vulnerability due to their lack of souls. After having their souls restored, they go to the afterlife once they thank Coraline.
Interesting Links for fun and research!

Official interactive Website (fun for kids):
http://www.coraline.com/
Coraline is even on Facebook! (You can become a fan…)
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Coraline-e-la-Porta-Magica/82008309470
Wikipedia gives information on both the original novella and the film adaptation:
original novella by Neil Gaiman: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coraline
Film adaptation directed by Henry Selick: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coraline_(film)

Lesson plan for Coraline
Before viewing the film Coraline:
Useful vocabulary. See how many words you know! Use a dictionary for the other words!
Doll:
To move (change houses):
Kid/kids:
Poison oak:
Witch:
Mangy old cat:
A Dowser:
A Well:
To sew:
Buttons:
Circus:
Rat:
Mouse/mice:
Scared:
A trap:
Danger:
Selfish:
Evil:
Parents:
Other:
Fun Expressions
“What’s shakin’?”—How are you?
To get the hang of something—to understand how to do something
Open-ended discussion questions

  1. Have you ever had a scarey nightmare? Describe it.
  2. What is the most annoying thing about adults in your opinion?
  3. Do you think most adults understand young people?
  4. Do your parents understand you?
  5. In your opinion, what would perfect parents be like? (describe their personalities and their behavior).

After viewing the film:
Open-ended discussion questions
Describe Coraline. What does she look like? (physical description)
What is Coraline like? (describe her personality)
What are Coraline’s parents like? (explain their personalities)
What is Coraline’s reaction to finding out she has OTHER parents?
Compare and contrast Coraline’s parents with her “other” parents when she first meets them.
Mother- Other Mother
Dad/father- Other dad/father
How does Coraline’s mother change in the story?
How does Other Mother change in the story?
Activities:

Writing exercises for students:

  1. Compare and contrast Coraline’s parents with her “other” parents when she first meets them.
    1. Mother- Other Mother
    2. Dad/father- Other dad/father
  2. Pretend that YOU find a doll that looks EXACTLY LIKE YOU! Describe your other “perfect” parents.
    1. What do they look like?
    2. How do they treat you?
    3. What do they do?
  3. Your are in the Other World and meet “other Teacher.”  Describe this perfect teacher and perfect school.
    1. What does your Other Teacher look like?
    2. What is his/her class like?
    3. What is Other School like?

Skits for students to perform:

Students may prepare and act out the following scenes (5-10 min in-class preparation time before performing in front of class. They should improvise and not take notes. Encourage them to prepare in English using what they know. Both characters should contribute equally).

  1. Coraline and Mother having breakfast together.

        Coraline and Other Mother having breakfast together.

  1. The cat and Coraline have a conversation about the Other World.
  2. Coraline’s parents talk together about Coraline’s strange behavior since they moved into the new house.
  3. You are in the Other World, in particular you are in Other School. Act out a conversation between YOU and OTHER TEACHER. (Have fun with this one!)

Illustrate it! Draw:

  1. Your very own Other World.
  2. Your favorite part of the film.
  3. A doll that looks like YOU!