Discuss: Will 'Coraline' Be Too Creepy for Kids?

I saw the preview of Coraline with my son at another family movie which I can't recall because they all blur together after awhile. It was on a humongous screen and was very loud. But that alone was too scary for him. Granted he's only 6, but he told me that he would not be seeing Coraline. No way, no how. I on the other hand am dying to go because I love fairy tales and I looove 3D. But I can't go see it alone. That's just too weird for a dude in his 40's.

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My 7 yr old (who's a HUGE fan of horror movies anyway) thinks this movie looks (in her words) AWESOME! She's dying to go. And well I have to admit I'm more than a little curious myself!

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I think we need more creepy kids' movies out there for them to ingest. Obviously you have to take your own kid's personality into account to decide whether or not he/she should watch something (which, yes, means that parents are going to have to be parents), but there's nothing wrong with a "gateway" scary film that has elements of horror and fantasy, yet still maintains a fairytale setting. For me that gateway film was the animated "Watership Down" - cute fuzzy bunnies killing each other while pretty freaky visions of the future play out before us. It might have been a bit heavy for a 6-year old kid, but I wore out my Betamax tape and I really think it helped influence my interest in film today.

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Don't take this the wrong way but I hope it does creep out kids. If I was a kid and saw a movie where people with button eyes wanted to sew buttons onto my own eyes... I'd you know be creeped out. Let alone in 3D...

I still have to hear about how scared I was of Anjelica Huston in The Witches or the crazy mechanical spider chick from Captain Eo from my family at Halloween.

I don't want kids to be emotionally scarred but it would be nice to know that the next generation of kids aren't desensitized to everything.

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Anybody here scared to death of the Wizard in the The Wizard of Oz? NBC showed it once a year in the 60s, and every year from age 4 to about 8 or 9 I was shaking just as much as the Cowardly Lion. Floating head, billowing smoke and fire, and his voice, from "COME FORWARD!" onward sounded just like my dad yelling at us for misbehaving. I survived. This generation will too. But if you had asked me, then, if I wanted to go see it in a movie theater, vs. I HAD to watch it because we were all watching it on TV, I'm pretty sure I would have turned you down.

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This article strikes me as a misrepesentation, and an overreaction. "Creepy" children's films have done extremely well in the past, and there's no reason to think Coraline will fail for its creep factor.

A Series of Unfortunate Events made $118M Domestic. While comical, it was terribly dark. The parents actually died in the film, leaving the children orphaned. There's nothing worse to a kid than the loss of parents. And the final revisit to the home is heart rending (and well-done).

Corpse Bride, which deals with at least one zombie, and the land of the dead, and casts life as depressing and boring (in B&W) while death was fun and exciting (and in color)... made $53M.

Nightmare Before Christmas, mentioned in the article, made $74M. And of course, there's the creepified version of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (which took all the childlike wonder, joy and magic of the original and replaced with darkness, creepiness and depression) made over $200M.

Coraline looks positively upbeat compared to these other films... Unfortunately, to my eye, it doesn't look very interesting, not even in terms of animation (and I was absolutely floored by Corpse Bride's animation). So I won't be going to this -- not because of creep factor, but because it just doesn't like like an enjoyable story.

Obviously parents have NOT been "afraid to let their kids read Charlie Brown in case they get too depressed." (Sheesh.) If this movie tanks, please blame it on the real problem (story and lack of interest), not this made up "overprotective parents" line.

-Pie

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From Gaiman's own blog:

http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2009/01/is-coraline-right-for-insert-age-here.html

Hello Neil:

I am planning in taking my 6 year old boy for his birthday party to see your new movie coming out soon "Coraline'
I was wondering in your opinion if this film would be too scary for 6 years old.

Thank you for your response.

Graciela Jenkins

...and the only real reply I can give, is that it's a bit like saying "I'm planning to cook a mushroom omelette tomorrow, and do you feel this food would be welcomed by a six year old?"

Answer: I don't know. I don't know your six year old. They tend to like different things and respond differently. Does your six year old like mushrooms or omelettes?

And the answer to is Coraline right for six year olds is, I don't know. What sort of thing does your six year old like?

I think a good rule of thumb would be, that if your child can cope with The Nightmare Before Christmas and the original Wizard of Oz then they should be able to cope with Coraline just fine.

As a general rule, Coraline the book is much creepier for adults than it is for kids, who tend to read it as an adventure. I suspect that this will be true of the film as well.

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When I was 7 I begged my parents to take me to see Nightmare Before Christmas. I knew it was an exciting amazing movie, and this one looks no different. I cannot wait to see it.

I think its great that there are creepy stories for the kids, but they can still have some happy "sunshine and puppies hurray" types of movies too, just to get over the nightmares mind you. ;)

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Overprotective parents are turning children into pussies and cowards these days. I mean, my parents were already way too protective and negatively affected me by this. However, not letting a child watch a movie like Coraline or read a book like Charlie Brown is ridiculous. I'm sorry, but any kid over the age of 4 who can't handle this has issues. And any parent who has an issue with their child possibly getting frightened has even bigger problems than their kid.

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My nearly five-year-old has been begging me to take her to see Coraline. She loves Nightmare Before Christmas and creepy things--she honestly doesn't get scared by much she sees on tv or at the movies. Real life things and situations are scarier to her, which is appropriate, I think.
Every time she sees the trailer she has to tell me all about it and how cool it'll be.
I think she'll be just fine with this one.

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You want creepy? Read the book. It scared the hell out of me and I was 24 when I read it. It totally gave me nightmares. The thought of the other mother and her button eyes gives me the creeps to this day. This movie is gonna blow my mind all over my face! I'm there on opening night!

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My 5 yr old son loves (and has since he was 3 - Nightmare Before Christmas). However, for some reason, the commercials/previews for Coraline have been giving him nightmares. He is completely freaked out by the buttons sewn over the eyes thing. Now part of me thinks I should really try to convince him to see it - I'm sure it'll end up being less scary than he thinks and will probably end his fears. But, then, I feel like maybe it's cruel to pressure a small child into seeing a movie they're already afraid of?

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I don't understand todays parents. The whole my child is playing video games where they murder kill and mame. Kids are so desensatized to violence that when you finally put your foot down and say no, they turn around and have you murdered.

The kid who just murdered his parents over them taking his Tom Clancey video game. When he was found he had the game on him. I'm old school, my parents had me hooked at a young age. I was younger than Linda Blair when I saw The Exorcist in the theatre. I watched Night Shadows, The Ghoul, Twilight Zone, all of it.

But I have to say my niece was freaked out by Glenn Close in 101 Dalmations. The hair and the voice, she sat through the movie but barely. I kept reassuring her we could leave we did not have to stay. She's 21 now and still remembers being freaked out by Glenn Close. But she loves the gory movies. Thinks Saw is cool and The Exorcist is lame.

She's like me she loves to be scared by a good flick.

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As many of you have said (and Neil is quoted as saying), I think it depends on the child.

I'll be seeing it. I love Gaiman's writing--all of it, whether for adults or children--and Selick is great. Plus 3D?? I'm so there.

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Um...Jessica - do you actually HAVE kids? We all know childhood isn't all about sweetness and light, but have you ever had to deal with a kid who can't sleep because of a creepy movie? I have a friend whose daughter was terrified of the shower for months after seeing Jumanji. Nightmares are very real for kids and parents. My 9 year-old loves Star Wars, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Edward Scissorhands and other dark stuff, but he and his friend informed us they will NOT be seeing Coraline. I think it's not so much the buttons as it is seeing your parents turn into monsters. Personally - I'm glad my kid is still sensitive to stuff. And I'm grateful he's savvy enough to self-monitor. Too many kids are pushed into seeing too much too early. The last thing we need is more aggressive, bullying tough guys calling other kids wimps because they have enough sense to stay away from books and movies that push their buttons and freak them out. Parents who haven't seen the trailer - show it to your 6 year-old before you decide to go. It's freakier than you might think.

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Like everyone else keeps saying, it all depends on your kid.
My niece was terrified by The Brave Little Toaster at about six years old; tell me, what is scary about the Brave Little Toaster? Apparently, at some point the toaster's cord catches on fire. It scarred her for life. She's fifteen now, and on an old VHS tape, she saw a commercial for The Brave Little Toaster Goes To Mars; she almost started crying.
Her brother, however, has never been scared by any movie in his life. He's seen all kinds of movies and to my knowledge has never had any nightmares or anything.
Know your kid. That's all it comes down to.

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My six year old daughter saw the trailer and begged to see Coraline. So... Saturday I took her to see it. The movie started out interesting enough and my little girl seemed to be enjoying it. About halfway through... where Coraline understood that her other parents wanted to sew buttons into her eyes... I noticed my daughter was sitting on the edge of her theater seat. From there the movie grew progressively darker. It became a horror film. At the moment Coraline was on the verge of taking the 3rd soul from the Russian mouse trainer, my daughter stood up, walked over to me and whispered, "I'm tired of watching this movie." We left. My daughter has no problem with dark-themed fantasy films (such as A Nightmare Before Christmas). But this one was just too dark.

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I agree, this movie degenerated into a souless horror film. I was reading about Neil Gaiman's involvement in Scientology and their theories about the emotional tone scale, where feelings like regret, shame and sorrow are negative and power and domination are encouraged. I saw elements of this in the story, work was more important than human relationships, there was fear of the outside world (or maybe your the dark side of your parents trying to get you to replace your eyes with buttons) and finally acceptance of your miserable lot in life without the ability to change anything. Ugh. This film left me feeling hollow, like surviving emotional torture. I can't even imagine what a little kid would feel.

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