Chalk this one up to mom-brain: I was going through something the other day, and I discovered I had written this one up last September, but never published it. Sigh….

I think I really should have seen this one in the theaters. I think, for maximum chills, this one should really be seen on a large screen with surround sound. Granted, it’s too late now (unless you have friends like ours who have an in-home movie system), but still. If you saw it in the theaters, lucky you.

I wasn’t necessarily attached to the book, but I still found myself comparing the movie to the book to see how it held up (which, I suppose, if you’re a reader, that’s inevitable). And, it held up pretty well.

The biggest difference (aside from making it American — I got the distinct impression when reading the book that Coraline was supposed to be British) was the addition of a boy character, Wybie. I’m not sure why they did that — perhaps the movie makers felt that if there wasn’t a boy character, boys wouldn’t want to see the movie (because, you know, it’s about a girl). But, really, Wybie didn’t do anything, or at least not much of anything. Sure, he gave her a doll that allowed the other mother access to Coraline, and he helped Coraline in the end, and he was her (non-talking) companion in the other world. But the movie would have been just as good without him as it was with him. Sorry, boys. (And while we’re at it: the ending in the book is better. In my humble opinion.)

What the movie did get spot on was the mood. This was one creepy, scary movie. (My girls watched it without me — I wasn’t even home — and they were still up when I got back late, watching “happy things” in order to counteract the scary.) The Danny Elfman-esque music aided immensely, as did the animation. I really like how they envisioned the other mother, dissolving slowly into a spider-like entity. And the other world was exotic and terrifying all at the same time.

Sure, there were issues: I didn’t like Coraline’s parents, and was baffled as to why she’d want to rescue them, since they were such jerks. But, that’s a minor thing. It was a grand movie experience. One that would have only been better had it been on a larger screen.

Verdict: nearly as good as the book (but read it first!).