Coraline, Henry Selick's latest film, is enjoyable on many levels and brings a unique style not often seen in animation today. 

Coraline, based on Neil Gaiman's book of the same name, is a story about a girl, Coraline (Dakota Fanning), not content with her life, who discovers a world "better" than her own through a door in her new house.  The world is complete with excellent food, wonderful sights and sounds and parents who, to Coraline, care about her. 

She soon finds out that this world is not as it seems.

I would not ruin such an imaginative story, and fans of the book, like myself, will not be disappointed.  Although Selick certainly takes some liberty and introduces a couple of new characters, the story is just as unique even in film. 

The film is great in its own right, but it really shines when seen in 3D, and I believe it is only offered in 3D in Knoxville theaters.  The reason it should be seen in this format is because the movie was shot in 3D. 

Coraline's animation style, for those unaware, is called stop motion animation.  The film is a technical masterpiece.  Everything you see on screen has been built out of clay or other materials and moved for every frame by hand.   

Fans of Selick's work might recall The Nightmare Before Christmas and James and the Giant Peach, as stop motion is used in both of those films. 

I would venture to say Coraline outdoes both of those films in terms of technical achievement.  It is truly amazing to sit and watch a movie in 3D knowing it took four years and the hands of some very talented artists to make it. 

For those concerned about whether 3D is just a gimmick, I can safely say that it has proven itself for use with animation since Monster House first utilized the RealD technology. 

The format is certainly not ready for live action after seeing the atrocious Journey to the Center of the Earth and immediately taking aspirin for the headache it induced. 

Coraline is truly a pleasure to watch, and I thoroughly enjoyed seeing a book I enjoy really come to life in a style only Selick could employ.  It is one of the most beautiful animated films I have ever seen, and it brings back "true" animation in a medium where CGI is the standard. 

If you have children, and decide to bring them, make sure they are old enough to deal with some of the disturbing images.  The story is, after all, a kind of "children's horror".