he TV ads use a blurb of “BEST FILM I’VE EVER SEEN in three-d,” which is some­thing like damning with faint praise it seems to me. Irrespective of it’s three-d projection – which is, in fact, the best three-d movie I’ve ever seen too – it’s got to be con­sid­er­ed a masterpiece of storytelling and animation. And it’s without a doubt the best stop-mo­tion animation I’ve since The Adventures of Prince Achmed!

I wasn’t too crazy about Henry Selick’s Nightmare Before Christmas or James and the Giant Peach. They were good, but didn’t affect me the way Coraline has. Nightmare was shot at too low a frame rate, or at least it seemed so to me – I got a headache watching it. And Night­mare’s music, even thought it was Danny Elfman’s, just didn’t grab me (and I like musicals as a rule). Giant Peach I barely remember, perhaps the story was too juvenile for me to help it lodge in my memory. But Coraline transcends on every level. It’s filled with tons of great ani­ma­tion moments, too, like when she’s looking out a window and raindrops flow very naturally down the pane. Hard to do in stop-motion! There’s also a great scene when she’s talking to her father and while he’s ignoring her, she flops her body around in a very “I’m board!” kind of way that is just beautifully expressive in the way it’s animated.

See it in three-d if you can! Not a headache kind of deal like the last one I saw, . And, while it avoids the stomach-churning kind of “Gotcha” tosses to the camera, there are a few excellent moments of deep-three-d. Watch for the mice that move between dimensions.

And lastly, for you hard-core animation fans, stay through to the very end of the credits for a surprise!