I saw Coraline on Monday (based on the book by Neil Gaiman) and thought it was wonderful. It didn't hurt that it was in the Ziegfeld, which is a fabulous old-school movie theatre (which, if not the original Ziegfeld, is still very cool), and that it was in 3D. Which is much much better now than the last time I saw a 3D movie ages ago--I was honestly impressed with how realistic and cool the effects were.
Henry Selick's stop-motion animation is breathtaking--truly gorgeous and beautiful, and that's before you realize how much work stop-motion involves. Everything, from Coraline to the mouse circus to the garden, just worked. And the other Mother is wonderfully, believably creepy. They do a great job of matching images to the already spooky text. I saw a number of kids in the audience, and only one had to leave, which surprised me, since parts are definitely a bit scary.
The 3 ghosts felt a bit off to me, less in their introduction than later in Coraline's quest, but that was the only quibble I had with it. Otherwise I was completely enchanted. This one's definitely worth seeing on the big screen, and preferably in 3D if you can.
-- Diana
P. S. If you want to see behind-the-scenes and how they created all the incredible special effects, etc., check out CORALINE: A VISUAL COMPANION. And you can read the first part of the book itself here.
