Fatherhood Friday! On The Peanut's favorite movie - Coraline.

Fairy tales are more than true: not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten. - G.K. Chesterton

The Peanut has a new favorite movie. UP has been her reigning favorite for months now (like her daddy the girl is all about Pixar...in fact, she helped me compose this list) but it has been supplanted by a movie that is based on a book I have loved since the first time I read it many years ago. The film adaptation is not perfect (what film adaptation truly is?) but it is an excellent movie and I am thrilled that she has chosen it as her new favorite.

Coraline, a stop-motion animated film directed by Henry Sellick (The Nightmare Before Christmas), is based on the book of the same name, written by Neil Gaiman (The Chesterton quote at the beginning of this post is actually the epigraph for the novel Coraline. It was the hook that drew me to the book as I am a huge admirer of G.K. Chesterton. I was sad that the quote was left out of the film). Neil is a writer of astounding uniqueness. He is the 2009 winner of the Newbery Medal for The Graveyard Book. I have read Coraline aloud to my fifth graders for years now and this past year added The Graveyard Book to our read-aloud list. The kids loved both stories, eagerly anticipating the next day's reading. Many bought or borrowed copies to read along with me as I read. Neil does not write only for children. He has also written several novels and many short stories for adults. His novel American Gods is an amazing book that will completely blow your mind. It is in my top ten list for the best novels of all time. If you have never read anything by Neil Gaiman you should.

Now.

Well, finish this first but then get on over to your local independent book store (if you live in Delaware, Browseabout Books is the best) and see for yourself what I am talking about.

I couldn't wait to show Coraline to The Peanut. As an already avowed fan of The Nightmare Before Christmas, I knew she would not be spooked by it. It does have some admittedly creepy parts but I wasn't worried. So last Tuesday night we popped some popcorn, turned off the lights, fired up the big screen, and sat back to enjoy. The Peanut has watched the movie once a day since that night. She has shown it to her auntie and her uncles. She talks about it to whomever will listen. She has called her grandparents to tell them about it. She loves the character Coraline, in fact she wants to be Coraline for Halloween, something that makes me very, very happy.

For the unfamiliar, Coraline Jones is a 12 year old girl who moves into a huge Victorian house that has been chopped up and divided into several apartments. She has no brothers or sisters and since she has just moved, has no one to talk to or play with. Her mother and father are both writers and are seemingly more concerned with their daily work than spending time with Coraline. They repeatedly tell her to leave them alone, find something to do and let them work. The only people Coraline has to talk to are two retired, dotty actresses (Misses Spink and Forcible) who occupy the basement apartment of the house, and a strange and possibly insane Russian man (Mr. Bobinski) who lives in the attic apartment of the house and claims to talk to mice. The film introduces a boy named Wybie who is about Coraline's age (he is not in the novel) who is also very peculiar. Coraline also encounters a black cat, who in the film version, hangs around with Wybie. In the book, the cat is aloof and alone, very cat like behavior for sure.

Without any real options for interaction Coraline sets off to investigate the old house and finds a strange door. This door ends up leading to a world that is a mirror image of Coraline's own but with some very real changes. The most noticeable is that her parents, not her actual parents but her "other" parents, have black buttons sewn into where their eyes should be. They are as attentive and loving to Coraline as her real parents are not. Her Other Mother cooks wonderful feasts with every imaginable food a 12 year old could ever want and her Other Father sings wonderful, Coraline centered songs and tends an amazingly beautiful garden that comes to animated life for Coraline. The other parents dote all their time, energy, and attention on Coraline. It is a world that seems designed primarily for her enjoyment. All the people from Coraline's new life in the real world, the two actresses downstairs, the Russian mouse circus trainer from upstairs, and even Wybie are present in the Other World, all with black buttons sewn into their eyes, all there for one purpose - to please Coraline. The cat also makes an appearance in the Other World, but aside from Coraline he is the only creature who does not have the button eyes. And he has no love for the Other Mother.

Coraline returns to this magical world repeatedly, each time having more and more fun. When the Other Mother asks her if she would like to stay, Coraline tells her of course she would. Who wouldn't? Coraline is given whatever she wants in this world, even the toys in her room fly around her room and talk to her. It is a child's dream world come to life. The Other Mother is happy to hear that Coraline wants to stay. There is one catch. Coraline has to let the Other Mother sew black buttons onto her eyes. Then Coraline can stay - forever. Naturally, Coraline balks at this horrifying idea and at last the movies tagline, Be Careful What You Wish For, makes sense. Coraline now sees the Other Mother's world for what it really is - a trap. Coraline then sets out on a quest...but to give any further away would spoil the story for you.

There is much about the character of Coraline that as a father I hope to see my own daughter grow to exhibit in her own character.

Coraline is unique, a trait she seeks to cultivate instead of hide like I see so many kids(and adults for that matter) doing today. Everyone wants to be the SAME, same clothes, same hair, same friends, same music, etc. Coraline strikes the watcher (and more so in the book, the reader) as a young girl who is very comfortable in her own skin. She has a self confidence that says I am who I am. I love that about her.

Coraline is a very brave girl. Not only is she brave, she understands the definition of true bravery. A beautiful line of dialog from the book that illustrates this was not included in the movie. Coraline is talking with the black cat as they are walking down the tunnel and back into the Other World. She is talking about being brave in the face of what they had to do, confront the Other Mother. She tells the cat a story about a time when Coraline was much younger and she and her dad were out exploring. They had startled a wasps nest and her father took the brunt of the stings so she could get away unharmed. Later he had to go back and retrieve his glasses which had fallen off in the mad dash to get away from the wasps. Her father told her that protecting her from the wasps wasn't the truly brave thing...it was his only real option, the only thing he could do in that situation. But going back to that place later to retrieve his glasses, knowing those wasps were still there, that was the truly brave thing. Coraline tells the cat "But going back again to get his glasses, when he knew the wasps were there, when he was really scared. That was brave." The cat then asks why that was brave. Coraline replies, "Because, when you're scared but you still do it anyway, that's brave." That's a good reminder for all of us, myself certainly included. Bravery is not the absence of fear. It is continuing on and doing what needs to be done in the face of fear itself.

Coraline is also extremely smart. Many times throughout the course of the story she is called upon to use her wits to get her out of tough situations. Sadly the movie fails to show this trait as strongly as the book because the movie changes the end (if you really want to see how clever this character truly is, read the book). A character of lesser intelligence and quickness of wit would be is deep trouble against the Other Mother. Coraline uses all her talents to their utmost effectiveness.

Coraline is not only smart, she is also wise. On Coraline's quest to escape the web that is the Other Mother's world, a character attempts to entice Coraline to stay. The dark figure first recounts for her all that is negative about life in her real home; how she will be bored, how her real parents will pay more attention to their computer screens than to Coraline herself, how she is too smart for the people in her world, how they are so neglectful and unintelligent that they cannot even get her name right (the adults in Coralines house always call her Caroline instead of Coraline, a mistake the adults in the Other Mother's world never make). The dark figure then tells Coraline to stay away from all of that foolishness, to stay in the Other Mother's world where everything will be perfect, where every day will be better and brighter than the one before it. Coraline then strings the figure along, asking if she can have all manner of things she wants, no matter how fantastical or expensive or impossible they may be and the figure ensures her that she can have all that and even more. Coraline than stops the figure short with an exasperated sigh. "You really don't understand, do you?" she asks the figure. Here the movie slips up again by leaving out the great dialog from the book. In the book Coraline goes on to say, "I don't want whatever I want. Nobody does. Not really. What kind of fun would it be if I just got everything I ever wanted? Just like that, and it didn't mean anything. What then?" The dark figure doesn't understand. Coraline understands at age 12 that the wish to be given everything your heart desires is a foolishly empty one. What meaning would your life have if you got everything you wanted? What would you have to dream about, to strive for? Such a lesson from a novel written for young people.

If you have not seen the movie or read the book, I encourage you to do so. Watch the movie first. As excellent as it is, the book is far superior to the film (which is always the way it is, and in my humble opinion, always should be). Coraline is an excellent role model for girls. She is an excellent model for boys as well, but so much of the literature available for young people focuses on male protagonists. It is good to have a tale where the girl is the hero. This is an excellent book (and movie) for a young girl to experience and learn from. It is storytelling at its finest, a tale that entertains, moves, scares, and ultimately teaches. What more could we want from a book or a movie for our children?

It also has many important lessons and reminders for all of us "grown-ups" as well.